Novel silicon-containing resists for EUV and 193 nm lithography

Two families of polymers have been prepared and evaluated as silicon-containing bilayer resist candidates at both 193 nm and 13.4 nm (EUV). Both families of polymers are based on a tertiary ester protecting group in which the ester group contains a silicon cluster. The PRE family of polymers are random methacrylate copolymers and the PRC family are alternating maleic anhydride/norbornene polymers. The PRE family shows good resolution and sensitivity at both 193 nm and EW, but suffers from adhesion failure between the imaging layer and the underlayer. The PRC polymers show; good adhesion to underlayers and can print features at less than or equal to 0.12 mu m at 193 nn and less than or equal to 0.10 mu m at 13.4 nn.