The electron-beam and x-ray lithographic performance of the high resolution CAMP and ARCH family of chemically amplified resists

The electron-beam and x-ray (lambda centered at 1.4 nm) lithographic performance of the single and multi-component chemically amplified (CA) resists termed CAMP and ARCH were evaluated for their applicability to the patterning of <100nm structures. Copolymers of 4-t-butoxycarbonyloxystyrene and sulfur dioxide have been shown to generate acid upon exposure and act as sensitive single component positive acting CA resists. The second generation CAMP-6 resist exhibited similar behavior but both were plagued by excessive film loss after the process post exposure bake (FEB) step and limited resolution to 150 nm. Reduction in film loss and improvement in exposure contrast was observed with the multi-component CA resist ARCH. Process control optimization and compatibility of the resist to the environments of the x-ray and electron-beam exposure tool enabled the reliable patterning of 100 nm features when exposed to x-rays and 75 nm dark field and 90 nm bright field line and space features when exposed to the same dose of 50 keV electrons.