Nanocomposite resists for electron beam nanolithography

A novel nanocomposite resist system was developed for sub-100 nm resolution e-beam lithography by dispersing surface-treated silica nanoparticles in a commercial ZEP520((R)) resist. At 4.0 wt % loading of silica nanoparticles, the system exhibited a much higher resolution than ZEP520((R)) without sacrificing the intrinsic high sensitivity and contrast of the starting polymer. The first major result is that 46 nm-wide isolated lines were obtained in the nanocomposite system, whereas comparatively 130 nm-wide lines were obtained in ZEP520((R)) under the same experimental conditions. Moreover, it was shown that the addition of silica nanoparticles resulted in a higher resistance of the nanocomposite to plasma etching with O-2 gas. The major resolution improvement indicates that the nanocomposite is a promising candidate resist for sub-100 am resolution e-beam lithography. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.