Metal sensitizer in chemically amplified EUV resist: A study of sensitivity enhancement and dissolution

Abstract

Metal containing non-chemically amplified EUV resists have gained growing attention in recent years due to superior line space patterning performance, high etch resistance and ultrahigh sensitivity. Their favorable performance and sensitivity are believed to correlate with metals-light interactions. However, there is very few report of metal containing resists on EUV contact holes patterning. In this work, we study an alternative type metal containing resist, which utilizes conventional CAR with metal salts as sensitizer. CAR with metal sensitizer has shown enhanced sensitivity and slightly increase LCDU, yet reduced LWR is also observed in some cases. Therefore, this work is dedicated to studying the influences of metal sensitizer on resist physical properties and the underlying sensitivity enhancement mechanism.