Electron dynamics in chemically amplified resists

Abstract

As fabrication dimension has ever shrunk, the understanding of reaction mechanism has become essential for the development of chemically amplified resists. On the exposure to ionizing radiation such as electron beam, most of the radiation energy is deposited on base polymers through ionization processes. The acid generation in chemically amplified electron beam resists involves the radical cations of base polymers and electrons, both of which are generated via the ionization of base polymers. This leads to the spatial separation between protons and counter anions. In this paper, the spatiotemporal dynamics of electrons in chemically amplified resists were investigated using benzene as a model compound of aromatic polymers such as poly(4-hydroxystyrene) and novolak. The separation intrinsic to the reaction mechanism of chemically amplified resists is not negligible in the nanoscale fabrication.