Polycyanoacrylate electron beam resists deposited by the Langmuir-Schaefer technique

New co-polymers based on cyanoacrylates were used for the deposition of negative electron beam resists. Sensitivity and contrast were measured and patterns in chromium films were obtained using a wet etching process. One type of resist was found suitable for use in dry etching processes, but was not sensitive enough. On the contrary, the films of co-polymers of two other types based on heptylcyanoacrylate exhibited high values of sensitivity and contrast. The remarkable feature of studied co-polymers is the ability to form extremely uniform defectless films when deposited by the Langmuir-Schaefer (LS) technique onto heated substrates. This opens the way to deposit in few minutes films composed of 20-30 monolayers, which possess high protective properties, onto the substrates of large areas usually used in microelectronics. Such an approach enables one to decrease dust accumulation and to suppress formation of defects of other types. The films of various thicknesses were thus deposited onto glass plates of 126 x 126 mm size with chromium coatings and the quality of deposition was examined. Properties of films of these co-polymers and ordinary polycyanoacrylates were compared with each other. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.