Shin-etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.

Toppan Printing Co., Ltd.

Shin-etsu Polymer Co., Ltd.

Ryuji Koitabashi

Satoshi Watanabe

Takanobu Takeda

Tamotsu Watanabe

Osamu Watanabe

Keiichi Masunaga

Yukio Inazuki

Hideo Kaneko

Hiroki Yoshikawa

Youichi Ohsawa

Takashi Haraguchi

Yoshio Kawai

Hideo Nakagawa

Yosuke Kojima

Tomohito Hirose

Akinobu Tanaka

Shozo Shirai

Wataru Kusaki

Tsutomu Suzuki

Shinichi Igarashi

Shinichi Ohori

Hiroshi Fukuda

Shogo Ito

Takahiro Kinoshita

Takuro Takasaka

A photomask blank substrate container having an inner member, inner cassette and retainer member, container main body having a lower box and an upper lid, and a sealing tape, in which the container main body and inner member include a polymer-based material in which when 0.1 g of a sample thereof is retained at 40&#xb0; C. for 60 minutes to release an outgas component, the outgas total amount detected by a gas chromatography mass spectrometer is 1.9&#xd7;103 ng or less in terms of n-tetradecane, and the sealing tape is a material in which when a size of 10 mm&#xd7;10 mm of a sample thereof is retained at 150&#xb0; C. for 10 minutes to release an outgas component, the outgas total amount detected by a gas chromatography mass spectrometer is 1.8&#xd7;103 ng or less in terms of n-tetradecane. This photomask blank substrate container allows storing and transporting the photomask blank substrate while suppressing influence on the resist pattern.

Photomask blank substrate container, method for storing photomask blank substrate and method for transporting photomask blank substrate

According to one embodiment, a photomask blank wherein a second film is stacked on a first film, the first film containing chromium and which is not substantially etched by the dry etching using fluorine and which is etchable by the dry etching using oxygen-containing chlorine, and the second film containing no chromium and which is etchable by dry etching using fluorine and dry etching using oxygen-containing chlorine.

Photomask blank and method for manufacturing photomask

A chemically amplified negative resist composition comprises a polymer comprising recurring hydroxystyrene units and recurring styrene units having electron withdrawing groups substituted thereon. In forming a pattern having a fine feature size of less than 0.1 &#x3bc;m, the composition exhibits a high resolution in that a resist coating formed from the composition can be processed into such a fine size pattern while the formation of bridges between pattern features is minimized.

Chemically amplified negative resist composition and patterning process

A photomask blank is provided comprising a transparent substrate, a single or multi-layer film including an outermost layer composed of chromium base material, and an etching mask film. The etching mask film is a silicon oxide base material film formed of a composition comprising a hydrolytic condensate of a hydrolyzable silane, a crosslink promoter, and an organic solvent and having a thickness of 1-10 nm. The etching mask film has high resistance to chlorine dry etching, ensuring high-accuracy processing of the photomask blank.

Photomask blank, processing method, and etching method

A light pattern exposure method is by irradiating ArF excimer laser light to a resist film through a halftone phase shift mask. The mask includes a transparent substrate and a pattern of halftone phase shift film of a material comprising a transition metal, silicon, nitrogen and oxygen and having an atomic ratio (Met/Si) of 0.18-0.25, a nitrogen content of 25-50 atom %, and an oxygen content of 5-20 atom %. The mask may be irradiated with ArF excimer laser light in a cumulative dose of at least 10 kJ/cm.

Light pattern exposure method, halftone phase shift mask, and halftone phase shift mask blank

A light pattern exposure method is by irradiating ArF excimer laser light to a resist film through a photomask. The photomask includes a transparent substrate and a pattern of optical film of a material comprising a transition metal, silicon, nitrogen and oxygen, with contents thereof falling in a specific range. The photomask may be irradiated with ArF excimer laser light in a cumulative dose of at least 10 kJ/cm.

Light pattern exposure method, photomask, and photomask blank

A photomask blank has a film of a transition metal/silicon base material comprising a transition metal, silicon, oxygen and nitrogen, having an oxygen content of at least 3 atom %, and satisfying the formula: 4&#xd7;C/100&#x2212;6&#xd7;C/100&#x3e;1 wherein Cis a silicon content in atom % and Cis a transition metal content in atom %.

Photomask blank and making method, photomask, light pattern exposure method, and design method of transition metal/silicon base material film

Provided are a preparation method of a resist composition which enables stabilization of a dissolution performance of a resist film obtained from the resist composition thus prepared; and a resist composition obtained by the preparation process and showing small lot-to-lot variations in degradation over time. The process of the present invention is for preparing a chemically amplified resist composition containing a binder, an acid generator, a nitrogenous basic substance and a solvent and it has steps of selecting, as the solvent, a solvent having a peroxide content not greater than an acceptable level, and mixing constituent materials of the resist composition in the selected solvent.

Preparation process of chemically amplified resist composition

A photomask blank has a resist film comprising (A) a base resin, (B) an acid generator, and (C) a basic compound. The resist film further comprises (D) a polymer comprising recurring units having a side chain having a fluorinated hydrocarbon group which contains a carbon atom to which a hydroxyl group is bonded and vicinal carbon atoms bonded thereto, the vicinal carbon atoms having in total at least two fluorine atoms bonded thereto. Addition of polymer (D) ensures uniform development throughout the resist film, enabling to form a resist pattern having high CD uniformity.

Photomask blank, resist pattern forming process, and photomask preparation process

There is disclosed a resist patterning process with a minimum line width of 65 nanometers or less may be formed by using a resist composition containing a polymer, as a base polymer of a chemically-amplified resist composition, composed of a styrene unit whose hydroxyl group is protected by an acid labile group, and an indene unit, and/or an acenaphthalene unit, wherein the polymer has the weight-average molecular weight of 4,000 to 7,000, and in particular, 4,500 to 5,500. One of the currently existing problems to be solved is the line edge roughness. To solve this problem by an acid-generator and a basic compound, there is a problem of the trade-off relationship with a resolution power. There can be provided a resist composition having a high resolution containing a base polymer such as hydroxystyrene that is protected by an acid labile group, a resist patterning process with a pattern rule of 65 nanometers or less having a reduced line edge roughness.

Resist patterning process and manufacturing photo mask

A chemically amplified positive resist composition comprises a compound having an amine oxide structure as a basic component, a base resin, a photoacid generator, and an organic solvent. The resist composition exhibits a high resolution, significantly prevents a line pattern from collapsing after development, and has improved etch resistance.

Resist composition and patterning process

There is disclosed a polymer at least comprising repeating units represented by the following general formulae (1) and (2), and the polymer having a mass average molecular weight of 1,000 to 500,000. There can be provided a polymer, and a resist composition, in particular, a chemically amplified positive resist composition that exhibit higher resolution than conventional positive resist compositions, good in-plane dimension uniformity of developed resist patterns on substrates such as mask blanks and high etching resistance. 

Polymer, resist composition and patterning process using the same

A chemically amplified positive resist composition comprising a specific 2,4,6-triisopropylbenzenesulfonate compound as a photoacid generator, a polymer which changes its solubility in an alkaline developer under the action of acid, and a basic compound has a high sensitivity, a high contrast of dissolution of resist film, a high resolution, and good storage stability.

Chemically amplified positive resist composition and patterning process

A negative resist material, which comprises at least a high polymer containing repeating units represented by the following general formula (1) and having a weight average molecular weight of 1,000 to 500,000. There is provided a negative resist material, in particular, a negative resist material of chemical amplification type, which shows high sensitivity, resolution, exposure latitude and process adaptability as well as good pattern shape after light exposure, and further shows superior etching resistance.

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Joetsu, Japan

Ryuji Koitabashi