AFM study of positive chemically amplified resists

Abstract

A series of de-protected polymers with pre-determined levels of de-protection were prepared in two types of high-resolution 248nm positive chemically amplified (CA) resists: conventional resists and silicon containing resists. The morphology and surface roughness of blend films of the protected and the de-protected polymers were monitored throughout the standard resist processing steps by using atomic force microscopy (AFM). Results suggest that resist line edge roughness stems in a large part from the phase incompatibility of the protected and the de-protected polymers in the line edge regions for positive CA resists.