Chemically amplified phenolic fullerene electron beam resist

Abstract

Molecular resist materials for electron beam lithography have received significant interest as a route to reducing line width roughness and improving resolution. However, they have often required the use of hazardous solvents in their processing. A new family of fullerene based negative tone chemically amplified e-beam resists, using industry compatible solvents, has been developed. A sensitivity of ∼40 μC cm-2 was achieved at 20 keV. Isolated features with a line width of 13.6 nm as well as ∼20 nm lines on a 36 nm pitch have been patterned, whilst one variant has demonstrated resolution to 15 nm half-pitch at slightly higher dose. © 2014 The Royal Society of Chemistry.