THE SURFACE SILYLATING PROCESS USING CHEMICAL AMPLIFICATION RESIST FOR ELECTRON-BEAM LITHOGRAPHY

This paper describes the surface silylating process for electron beam (EB) lithography. Surface reaction and dry development processes have many advantages for electron beam lithography. The original three components resist named SIMPLE (SIlylating resist using chemical aMPLification for Electron beam) is developed for EB silylating process. High sensitivity is attained by using chemical amplification reaction and the optimization of resist contents. The reaction mechanism is examined using Fourier transform infrared spectrometry and Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy. It is found that the silylation rate in the unexposed area is controlled by the reaction rate at the silylation front, and the silylation is suppressed by the limited diffusion rate of the silylating agent in the exposed area. Submicron resist patterns with a thickness of 1.4 mu-m are successfully fabricated even in a single layer process.