Metal-containing resists for EUV lithography (Conference Presentation)

Metal-Containing Resists for EUV Lithography Robert L. Brainard State University of New York Polytechnic Institute - CNSE, 257 Fuller Rd. Albany, NY 12203 Since 2009, the photoresist community has shown a great deal of interest in EUV photoresists containing metallic elements. This interest was initiated by two events: (1) Publication of the pioneering work of OSU1 and Cornell;2 (2) The realization that increasing the EUV optical density of resists will improve stochastics.3 Since these two events, photoresist chemists all over the world have begun investigating the possibility of creating photoresists containing metals that strongly absorb EUV photons. Figure 1 shows the periodic table that is color-coded to indicate the relative EUV optical density of the elements.4 This table also shows all of the elements for which EUV resists have been published. This keynote presentation will attempt to review the most successful EUV resist platforms containing metals. In particular, the work of Inpria,5 Cornell, SUNY Poly6 and ARCNL7 will be described and discussed. The presentation will also describe some of the critical issues facing the industry as it evaluates the merits and challenges of using resists containing metals.