Recent advances in resists for 157 nm microlithography

The synthesis and characterization of several new fluoropolymers designed for use in the formulation of photoresists for exposure at 157 nm will be described. The design of these platforms has in some cases been inspired by ab initio quantum mechanical calculations of excited state transition energies and by interpretation of gas phase VUV spectrophotometric data. We have explored anionic polymerizations, free radical polymerizations, metal-catalyzed addition polymerizations and metal-catalyzed copolymerizations with carbon monoxide in these studies. The polymers and resist formulations were characterized by VUV spectrometry and variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry (VASE). Resist formulations based on these polymers were exposed at the 157 nm wavelength to produce high-resolution images that will be presented. (C) 2002 American Vacuum Society.