Tokyo Ohka Kogyo Co., Ltd.

Shinichi Kono

Toshimasa Nakayama

Yusuke Nakagawa

Hidekatsu Kohara

Kousuke Doi

Akira Katano

Hayato Ohno

Atsushi Sawano

Yasuo Masuda

A composition includes (A) an alkali-soluble resin having Mw of 1500 to 10000, (B) a quinonediazide ester of, for example, the following formula, and (C) a phenolic compound containing an acid-decomposable group. When a resin film 1 &mgr;m thick is prepared from the alkali-soluble resin (A), the resin film is completely dissolved in 2.38% by weight tetramethylammonium hydroxide aqueous solution at 23&deg; C. within ten seconds.

Positive photoresist composition and method of patterning resist thin film for use in inclined implantation process

A composition includes (A) a novolak resin containing at least 20% by mole of a m-cresol repeating unit and having a 1-ethoxyethyl group substituting for part of hydrogen atoms of phenolic hydroxyl groups, (B) a quinonediazide ester of, for example, the following formula, and (C) 1,1-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)cyclohexane.

Phenolic compound (a) is polycondensed with mixed aldehyde (b) consisting essentially of 5-30 mol % of unsaturated aliphatic aldehyde (b-1) and 70-95 mol % of saturated aliphatic aldehyde (b-2) to give alkali-soluble novolak resin (A) as the product of polycondensation reaction. The alkali-soluble novolak resin (A) is used with quinonediazido group containing compound (B) to produce a positive photoresist composition. According to the present invention, there are specifically provided a positive photoresist composition that has high feature integrity in spite of high sensitivity and which yet provides a great depth of focus, a process for producing such positive photoresist composition, as well as an alkali-soluble novolak resin that can advantageously be used in such composition, and a method of forming patterns with high reproducibility using such positive photoresist composition.

Positive photoresist compositions and a process for producing the same

Proposed is an improved positive-working photoresist composition for use in the photolithographic patterning works for the manufacture of semiconductor devices, which is capable of giving a patterned resist layer on a substrate surface having excellent resolution and heat resistance without formation of scum in the development treatment. The photoresist composition comprises: (a) an alkali-soluble novolac resin as a film-forming ingredient and (b) a naphthoquinone diazide group-containing compound as a photosensitizing ingredient, of which the novolac resin is a condensation product of a phenolic compound and an aldehyde compound, the condensation reaction being undertaken in a solvent system containing, in addition to water, .gamma.-butyrolactone or a combination of .gamma.-butyrolactone and a propyleneglycol monoalkyl ether in a limited proportion.

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Kanagawa, Japan

Shinichi Kono