Photoreactive Polymer for Photoresist Acid Diffusion Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Chemically amplified photoresists face issues with acid diffusion leading to non-uniform patterns and increased surface roughness, and quenchers used to mitigate these problems require higher exposure doses.
Innovation Solution
A photoreactive polymer compound with a short acid diffusion length (ADL) is developed, featuring a specific repeating unit structure that improves etch resistance and dispersibility, allowing for effective pattern formation with reduced quencher amounts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If quenchers are used to reduce acid diffusion, then pattern uniformity is improved, but exposure dose must be increased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a photoreactive polymer compound as an intermediary substance that generates acid locally upon light exposure. This mediator confines acid generation to the exposed region, preventing acid diffusion to unexposed areas without requiring additional quenchers, thus maintaining pattern uniformity while avoiding the need to increase exposure dose
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the chemical parameters of the resist system by incorporating a photoreactive polymer compound with specific functional groups that generate acid only upon photoexcitation. This parameter change enables localized acid generation, improving pattern uniformity without the trade-off of increased exposure dose associated with traditional quencher approaches
2Manufacturing precision
If quenchers are added to prevent acid diffusion, then surface roughness is reduced, but the complexity of the resist system increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the functions of the base resin and the acid-generating agent into a single photoreactive polymer compound. This integration eliminates the need for separate quenchers and simplifies the resist system composition while still achieving effective acid confinement and reduced surface roughness
Solution Approach 2:
The photoreactive polymer compound performs multiple functions simultaneously: it serves as the base resin matrix, the photoacid generator, and the quencher. This multi-functionality reduces system complexity by eliminating the need for separate components while maintaining surface roughness control through effective acid diffusion prevention
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The photoreactive polymer compound enhances pattern uniformity and surface smoothness by reducing acid diffusion length and improving etch resistance, while maintaining effective performance with lower quencher doses.
Implementation Method 1
In chemically amplified photoresists, acids formed when light reacts with photoacid generators react again with base resins
Implementation Method 2
a formed acid may diffuse to an unexposed region, which may cause a problem such as a reduction in uniformity of patterns
Data Source
AI summary
Provided are a photoreactive polymer compound including a first repeating unit represented by Formula 1 below, a photoresist composition including the same, and a method of forming a pattern by using the photoresist composition:A description of Formula 1 is provided herein.