Tokyo Ohka Kogyo Co., Ltd.

Fumitake Kaneko

Toshikazu Tachikawa

Katsumi Oomori

Mitsuru Sato

Yoshiki Sugeta

Kiyoshi Ishikawa

Etsuko Iguchi

Miwa Miyairi

Toshimasa Nakayama

Hideo Hada

Naotaka Kubota

Takako Hirosaki

Koutaro Endo

Yoshiyuki Utsumi

Hiroaki Shimizu

Kazumasa Wakiya

Kazufumi Sato

Yoshihiro Sawada

Jun Koshiyama

Keita Ishiduka

Yasuhiro Yoshii

Kensuke Matsuzawa

Kyoko Ohshita

Hidekazu Tajima

Atsushi Miyamoto

Tomoyuki Hirano

Masakazu Kobayashi

Takahiro Dazai

Akiya Kawaue

Hiroshi Komano

Takehiro Seshimo

Satoshi Fujimura

Kotaro Endo

Naohisa Ueno

Mitsuro Sato

Hiroshi Shinbori

A resist composition including a base component which exhibits changed solubility in an alkali developing solution under action of acid and an acid-generator component which generates acid upon exposure, the acid-generator including an acid generator consisting of a compound represented by general formula (b1-1) shown below: In which Rrepresents a hydrocarbon group which may have a substituent exclusive of a nitrogen atom; each of Qand Qindependently represents a single bond or a divalent linkage group; Yrepresents an alkylene group or fluorinated alkyl group of 1 to 4 carbon atoms; and Zrepresents an organic cation exclusive of an ion represented by general formula (w-1).

Compound and method of producing the same, acid generator, resist composition and method of forming resist pattern

A resist composition including a base component (A) which exhibits changed solubility in an alkali developing solution under action of acid and an acid-generator component (B) which generates acid upon exposure, the acid-generator component (B) including an acid generator (B1) consisting of a compound represented by general formula (b1-1) shown below: wherein Rrepresents a hydrocarbon group which may have a substituent exclusive of a nitrogen atom; each of Qand Qindependently represents a single bond or a divalent linkage group; Yrepresents an alkylene group or fluorinated alkyl group of 1 to 4 carbon atoms; and Zrepresents an organic cation exclusive of an ion represented by general formula (w-1).

A positive resist composition including: a base component (A) which includes a polymeric compound (A1) containing a structural unit (a0) represented by the general formula (a0-1) and a structural unit (a1) derived from an acrylate ester having an acid dissociable, dissolution inhibiting group; and an acid generator component (B) which includes an acid generator (B1) containing an anion moiety represented by the general formula (I): (in the formula (a0-1), Rrepresents a hydrogen atom, a lower alkyl group of 1 to 5 carbon atoms or a halogenated lower alkyl group of 1 to 5 carbon atoms; Rrepresents a bivalent linking group; and Rrepresents a cyclic group containing &#x2014;SO&#x2014; within the ring skeleton. In the formula (I), X represents a cyclic group of 3 to 30 carbon atoms, Qrepresents a bivalent linking group containing an oxygen atom; Yrepresents an alkylene group of 1 to 4 carbon atoms or a fluorinated alkylene group of 1 to 4 carbon atoms).

Positive resist composition and method of forming resist pattern

It is disclosed a method of forming fine patterns comprising: subjecting a substrate having photoresist patterns to a hydrophilic treatment, covering the substrate having photoresist patterns with an over-coating agent for forming fine patterns, applying heat treatment to cause thermal shrinkage of the over-coating agent so that the spacing between adjacent photoresist patterns is lessened by the resulting thermal shrinking action, and removing the over-coating agent substantially completely.

Method of forming fine patterns

It is disclosed an over-coating agent for forming fine-line patterns which is applied to cover a substrate having thereon photoresist patterns and allowed to shrink under heat so that the spacing between adjacent photoresist patterns is lessened, further characterized by comprising a water-soluble polymer which contains at least methacrylic acid and/or methyl methacrylate as the constitutive monomer thereof. Also disclosed is a method of forming fine-line patterns using the over-coating agent. The advantages of the invention are that the exposure margin is large, that the dimension control of photoresist patterns can be reflected on the dimension controllability in forming fine-line patterns, that the dimension control and planning of forming fine trace patterns after treatment for thermal shrinkage can be attained with ease in the stage of photoresist patterning, that the original photoresist pattern profile can be kept as such and the top of the photoresist pattern is not rounded after thermal shrinkage, that the degree of thermal shrinkage of the over-coating agent is large and thus the agent is effective in forming fine-line patterns.

Over-coating agent for forming fine patterns and a method of forming fine patterns using such agent

It is disclosed an over-coating agent for forming fine patterns which is applied to cover a substrate having thereon photoresist patterns and allowed to shrink under heat so that the spacing between adjacent photoresist patterns is lessened, with the applied film of the over-coating agent being removed substantially completely to form or define fine trace patterns, further characterized by containing either a water-soluble polymer and an amide group-containing monomer or a water-soluble polymer which contains at least (meth)acrylamide as a monomeric component. Also disclosed is a method of forming fine-line patterns using any one of said over-coating agents. According to the invention, the thermal shrinkage of the over-coating agent for forming fine patterns in the heat treatment can be extensively increased, and one can obtain fine-line patterns which exhibit good profiles while satisfying the characteristics required of semiconductor devices.

A method of producing a high-quality product without damaging the physical properties of a pattern to be formed by a rinsing process based on a principle totally different from that for a conventional pattern collapse preventing method. A method for forming a resist pattern by subjecting a photo-resist layer provided on a substrate to image-forming exposure and then developing the resultant layer, wherein the resist pattern is formed, after the developing process, by the process of reducing a contact angle with respect to a contact liquid on the surface of the resist pattern to up to 40 degrees, then by the process of increasing it to at least 70 degrees, and further by drying it.

Resist pattern forming method and composite rinse agent

The invention provides a novel rinsing fluid which can convert an easily wettable resist pattern surface having a contact angle of 40&#xb0; or below into one having a contact angle of 70&#xb0; or above to inhibit pattern collapse effectively and thereby give high-quality products. The rinsing fluid consists of a solution containing at least one fluorine compound soluble in water or alcoholic solvents which is selected from among compounds represented by the general formula (I), those represented by the general formula (II), and those represented by the general formula: R'&#x2014;COOH: wherein Rand Rare each optionally substituted Calkyl whose hydrogen atoms are partially or wholly replaced by fluorine, or Rand Rtogether with the SOgroups to which they are bonded and the nitrogen atom may form a five- or six-membered ring; Ris optionally substituted Calkyl whose hydrogen atoms are partially or wholly replaced by fluorine; m and n are each an integer of 2 or 3; and R&#x2032; is at least partially fluorinated alkyl having 8 to 20 carbon atoms.

Rinsing fluid for lithography

It is disclosed a method of forming fine patterns comprising: covering a substrate having photoresist patterns with an over-coating agent for forming fine patterns, applying heat treatment to cause thermal shrinkage of the over-coating agent so that the spacing between adjacent photoresist patterns is lessened by the resulting thermal shrinking action, and removing the over-coating agent substantially completely by way of bringing thusly treated substrate into contact with a remover solution for over 60 seconds.

It is disclosed an over-coating agent for forming fine patterns which is applied to cover a substrate having photoresist patterns thereon and allowed to shrink under heat so that the spacing between the adjacent photoresist patterns is lessened, further characterized by containing a water-soluble polymer and a surfactant. Also disclosed is a method of forming fine-line patterns using the over-coating agent. According to the invention, one can obtain fine-line patterns which exhibit good profiles while satisfying the characteristics required of semiconductor devices, being excellent in controlling the dimension of patterns.

Agent for forming coating for narrowing patterns and method for forming fine pattern using the same

It is disclosed a method of forming fine patterns comprising: covering a substrate having photoresist patterns with an over-coating agent for forming fine patterns, removing the unwanted over-coating agent that has been deposited on the edge portions and/or the back side of the substrate, applying heat treatment to cause thermal shrinkage of the over-coating agent so that the spacing between adjacent photoresist patterns is lessened by the resulting thermal shrinking action, and removing the over-coating agent substantially completely. The invention provides a method of forming fine patterns which has high ability to control pattern dimensions and provide fine patterns that have a satisfactory profile and satisfy the characteristics required of semiconductor devices, with an additional capability of preventing the occurrence of particles which are a potential cause of device contamination.

Disclosed is a novel multilayered body for photo-lithographic patterning of a photoresist layer from which a patterned resist layer having an excellent cross sectional profile can be obtained when the multilayered structure comprises, on the surface of a substrate, an underlying water-insoluble anti-reflection film and a negative-working photoresist layer of a specific photoresist composition comprising:

Multilayered body for photolithographic patterning

Disclosed is a novel negative-working chemical-amplification photoresist composition comprising (A) an alkali-soluble resin, (B) an acid-generating agent and (C) a crosslinking agent, of which the component (B) is an onium salt compound selected from the group consisting of iodonium salt compounds and sulfonium salt compounds, having a specific fluoroalkyl sulfonate ion as the anionic moiety and the component (C) is a specific ethyleneurea compound substituted for at least one nitrogen atom by a hydroxymethyl or alkoxymethyl group. The photoresist composition is particularly suitable for the formation of a photoresist layer on a substrate surface provided with an undercoating of a water-insoluble organic anti-reflection film exhibiting excellent pattern resolution and orthogonal cross sectional profile of the patterned resist layer with a good temperature latitude in the post-exposure baking treatment for latent image formation.

Negative-working photoresist composition

The invention discloses improvements in the so-called coated thermal flow process for reducing the pattern dimension of a patterned resist layer on a substrate to accomplish increased fineness of resist patterning, in which a coating layer of a water-soluble resin formed on the patterned resist layer is heat-treated to effect thermal shrinkage of the coating layer with simultaneous reduction of the pattern dimension followed by removal of the coating layer by washing with water. The improvement of the process is obtained by using an aqueous coating solution admixed with a water-soluble amine compound such as triethanolamine in addition to a water-soluble resin such as a polyacrylic acid-based polymer. Further improvements can be obtained by selecting the water-soluble resin from specific copolymers including copolymers of (meth)acrylic acid and a nitrogen-containing monomer such as N-vinylpyrrolidone, N-vinylimidazolidinone and N-acryloylmorpholine as well as copolymers of N-vinylpyrrolidone and N-vinylimidazolidinone in a specified copolymerization ratio.

Method for reducing pattern dimension in photoresist layer

The present invention provides a negative working resist composition comprising a diazosulfonic acid compound capable of generating an acid with irradiation of radiation and an organic amine compound. The negative working resist composition is excellent in sensitivity, resist pattern profile, and aging stability.

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Kanagawa-ken, Japan

Fumitake Kaneko