Resist Underlayer Polymer for Semiconductor Lithography
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current semiconductor manufacturing processes face challenges with photoresist film thickness, etching selectivity, thermal stability, and solubility issues, particularly in achieving high-resolution patterns below 30 nm, where existing polymers with high carbon content struggle with storage stability, line compatibility, and coating uniformity.
Innovation Solution
A novel polymer with a specific repeating unit structure, capable of high carbon content and solubility in organic solvents, is developed to enhance thermal stability, etching resistance, and coating uniformity, suitable for use in resist underlayer films as a hard mask in semiconductor lithography processes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If high carbon content polymer is used to improve etching resistance, then etching resistance is improved, but storage stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent modifies the polymer structure by introducing specific functional groups (carboxyl, hydroxyl, or amine groups) and controlling the carbon content range (70-85%) to achieve optimal balance between etching resistance and storage stability. This parameter optimization resolves the contradiction by finding the precise compositional window where both requirements are satisfied.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite polymer system combining high carbon content polymers with specific functional groups that enhance both etching resistance and storage stability. The composite structure integrates the beneficial properties of carbon-rich materials with stabilizing functional groups, resolving the trade-off between these two critical properties.
2Reliability
If high carbon content polymer is used to improve etching resistance, then etching resistance is improved, but coating uniformity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the carbon content parameter within the specific range of 70-85% and introduces functional groups that improve polymer-solvent interaction and film formation characteristics. This parameter control ensures uniform coating while maintaining high etching resistance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces specific functional groups at particular locations within the polymer structure to enhance local properties such as solubility and coating behavior, while maintaining high overall carbon content for etching resistance. This localized modification resolves the contradiction between global carbon content and local coating quality.
3Measurement precision
If photoresist film thickness is reduced to achieve high resolution patterns, then resolution is improved, but etching selectivity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an underlayer film as an intermediary between the photoresist and the substrate. This underlayer film provides the necessary etching selectivity that would be difficult to achieve with thin photoresist alone, while allowing the photoresist to maintain thin dimensions for high resolution patterning.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite structure consisting of the photoresist layer combined with an underlayer film having specific compositional characteristics. This composite system achieves both high resolution (through thin photoresist) and high etching selectivity (through the underlayer's optimized composition).
4Ease of manufacture
If spin-coating method is used instead of CVD to reduce initial investment cost, then ease of manufacture is improved, but etching resistance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the compositional parameters of the spin-on hard mask material, specifically controlling carbon content (70-85%) and incorporating functional groups, to achieve etching resistance comparable to CVD-deposited hard masks. This parameter optimization enables spin-coating to replace CVD while maintaining etching performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent develops a spin-on hard mask material that is easier and cheaper to manufacture than CVD hard masks, accepting that the material may be consumed or require replacement. This approach trades material longevity for manufacturing simplicity and cost reduction, resolving the contradiction between ease of manufacture and etching resistance.
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 novel polymer improves storage stability, line compatibility, and etching resistance while maintaining excellent thermal stability and coating uniformity, enabling effective high-resolution pattern formation and minimizing pattern collapse during semiconductor manufacturing.
Implementation Method 1
a spin-on hard mask composition that is easily capable of performing spin-coating using a track system
Implementation Method 2
low decomposition of a polymer at 400° C. and a film decrease by 5% or less are generally required
Data Source
AI summary
Provided are a polymer used for a manufacturing process of a semiconductor and a display, a resist underlayer film composition containing the polymer for a manufacturing process of a semiconductor and a display, and a method for manufacturing semiconductor device using the composition, and more specifically, the polymer of the present disclosure simultaneously has optimized etching selectivity, planarization characteristic, and excellent thermal resistance, such that the resist underlayer film composition containing the polymer is usable as a hard mask for a multilayer semiconductor lithography process.