Shin-etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.

Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.

Tomohiro Kobayashi

Jun Hatakeyama

Koji Hasegawa

Takeru Watanabe

Masayoshi Sagehashi

Takeshi Kinsho

Masaki Ohashi

Tsunehiro Nishi

Youichi Ohsawa

Yuji Harada

Kazuhiro Katayama

Ryosuke Taniguchi

Seiichiro Tachibana

Masahiro Fukushima

Kenichi Oikawa

Satoshi Watanabe

Takayuki Fujiwara

Kazunori Maeda

Teppei Adachi

Kenji Funatsu

Akihiro Seki

Kentaro Kumaki

Toshinobu Ishihara

Mutsuo Nakashima

Yuichi Okawa

Takeshi Nagata

Tadahiro Sunaga

Tsukasa Watanabe

Osamu Watanabe

Yoshio Kawai

Shigehiro Nagura

Jun Watanabe

Takanobu Takeda

Takayuki Nagasawa

Katsuhiro Kobayashi

Wataru Kusaki

Satoshi Shinachi

Chuanwen Lin

Hiroki Nonaka

Shinya Yamashita

Tsutomu Ogihara

Katsuya Takemura

Yusuke Biyajima

Takeshi Sasami

Takao Yoshihara

Masahiro Kanayama

Hirofumi Io

Eiji Fukuda

A resist composition containing: (A) a resin containing a repeating unit having an acid-labile group; (B) a photo-acid generator shown by a general formula (B-1); and (C) a solvent, where Wrepresents a cyclic divalent hydrocarbon group having 4 to 12 carbon atoms and containing a heteroatom; Wrepresents a cyclic monovalent hydrocarbon group having 4 to 14 carbon atoms and not containing a heteroatom; Rf represents a divalent organic group shown by the following general formula; and Mrepresents an onium cation. This provides a resist composition and a patterning process that uses the resist composition that show a particularly favorable mask dimension dependency (mask error factor: MEF), LWR, and critical dimension uniformity (CDU) particularly in photolithography where a high-energy beam such as an ArF excimer laser beam is used as a light source.

Resist composition and patterning process

A resist composition containing: (A) a resin containing a repeating unit having an acid-labile group and further containing at least one repeating unit having an aromatic substituent; (B) a photo-acid generator shown by a general formula (B-1); and (C) a solvent, where Wrepresents a cyclic divalent hydrocarbon group having 4 to 12 carbon atoms with a heteroatom; Wrepresents a cyclic monovalent hydrocarbon group having 4 to 14 carbon atoms without a heteroatom; Rf represents a divalent organic group shown by the following general formula; and Mrepresents an onium cation. This provides a resist composition and a patterning process of using it that show a particularly favorable mask dimension dependency and CDU in photolithography where a light source is a high-energy beam such as a KrF excimer laser beam, an electron beam, or an extreme ultraviolet ray.

The present invention is a resist material containing: (i) a compound (i-1), which is a (partial) condensate or a (partial) hydrolysis-condensate of a metal compound shown by the following general formula (A-1), or a compound (i-2), which is a reaction product of the compound (i-1) and a dihydric or trihydric alcohol shown by the following general formula (A-2), (ii) a photo-acid generator, (iii) a basic compound, and (iv) an organic solvent. An object of the present invention is to provide a metal-containing resist material having high sensitivity and high resolution particularly in EUV and electron beam lithography; and a patterning process using this material.M(OR)  (A-1)R(OH)  (A-2)

Resist material and patterning process

The present invention is a resist material containing: (i) a metal compound shown by the following general formula (M-1) and (ii) an organic solvent. An object of the present invention is to provide a metal-containing resist material having high sensitivity and high resolution particularly in EUV and electron beam lithography; and a patterning process using this material.

An onium salt having formula (1) serving as an acid diffusion inhibitor and a chemically amplified resist composition comprising the acid diffusion inhibitor are provided. When processed by lithography, the resist composition exhibits dissolution contrast, acid diffusion suppressing effect, and excellent lithography performance factors such as CDU, LWR and sensitivity.

Onium salt compound, chemically amplified resist composition and patterning process

A composition comprising (A) a polymer comprising recurring units (a1) having a carboxyl group protected with an acid labile group and recurring units (a2) having a cyclic ester, cyclic carbonate or cyclic sulfonate structure, (B) a thermal acid generator, and (C) an organic solvent is suited to form a protective film between a substrate and a resist film. Even when a metal-containing resist film is used, the protective film is effective for preventing the substrate from metal contamination.

Substrate protective film-forming composition and pattern forming process

A method for measuring a distance of diffusion of a curing catalyst for a thermosetting silicon-containing material includes the steps of: forming a silicon-containing film from a composition containing a thermosetting silicon-containing material, a curing catalyst and a solvent; coating the silicon-containing film with a photosensitive resin composition containing a resin whose solubility in alkaline developer is increased by the action of an acid, an acid generator and a solvent, and subsequently heating to prepare a substrate on which the silicon-containing film and a resin film are formed; irradiating the substrate with a high energy beam or an electron beam to generate an acid and heat-treating the substrate to increase the solubility of the resin in an alkaline developer by the action of the acid in the resin film; dissolving the resin film in an alkaline developer; and measuring a film thickness of the remaining resin.

Method for measuring distance of diffusion of curing catalyst

A resist composition comprising a sulfonium salt having formula (1) as PAG, a base polymer, and an organic solvent, when processed by lithography, has light transmittance, acid diffusion suppressing effect, and excellent lithography performance factors such as DOF, LWR and MEF. A lithography process for forming a resist pattern from the composition is also provided. 

A pattern having a good balance of sensitivity, resolution and LWR is formed by providing a resist film comprising a base resin comprising recurring units having a C-Ctertiary alkoxy or alkoxycarbonyl group as an acid labile group and recurring units capable of generating a backbone-bound acid upon exposure, exposing the resist film to radiation, optionally post-exposure baking the resist film at a low temperature of 30-70&#xb0; C., and developing the film.

Patterning process

A sulfonic acid anion-containing polymer having an alkylsulfonium cation not in covalent bond thereto can be readily prepared by reacting a sulfonic acid anion-containing polymer having an ammonium or metal cation with an alkylsulfonium salt under mild conditions. A resist composition comprising the inventive polymer is effective for suppressing acid diffusion since the sulfonium salt is bound to the polymer backbone. When processed by the ArF lithography, the polymer exhibits a lower absorption at the exposure wavelength than the triarylsulfonium salt form PAGs, resulting in improved resolution, mask fidelity, and LWR.

Polymer, making method, resist composition, and patterning process

A resist composition comprising a polymer comprising recurring units having an acid labile group of cyclopentyl with tert-butyl or tert-amyl pendant is coated onto a substrate, baked, exposed to high-energy radiation, PEB and developed in an organic solvent to form a negative pattern. A fine hole pattern can be formed from the resist composition with advantages including high dissolution contrast, good size control and wide depth of focus.

Patterning process and resist composition

A negative pattern is formed by coating a resist composition comprising (A) a polymer having an acid labile group, adapted to change its polarity under the action of acid, (B) a photoacid generator, and (C) an organic solvent onto a substrate, baking, exposing the resist film to high-energy radiation, PEB, and developing in an organic solvent-based developer to selectively dissolve the unexposed region of resist film. The photoacid generator has the formula: R&#x2014;COOC(CF)&#x2014;CHSORRRSwherein Ris a monovalent hydrocarbon group, R, Rand Rare an alkyl, alkenyl, oxoalkyl, aryl, aralkyl or aryloxoalkyl group, or may bond together to form a ring with the sulfur atom.

A caboxylic acid sulfonium salt having formula (1) is provided wherein Ris hydrogen or a monovalent hydrocarbon group, Rand Rare hydrogen or a monovalent hydrocarbon group, at least one of R, Rand Rhas a cyclic structure, L is a single bond or forms an ester, sulfonate, carbonate or carbamate bond with the vicinal oxygen atom, R, Rand Rare monovalent hydrocarbon groups. The sulfonium salt functions as a quencher in a resist composition, enabling to form a pattern of good profile with minimal LWR, rectangularity, and high resolution. 

Sulfonium salt, chemically amplified resist composition, and pattern forming process

A negative pattern is formed by applying a resist composition onto a substrate, prebaking, exposing to high-energy radiation, PEB, and developing the exposed resist film in an organic solvent developer to dissolve the unexposed region of resist film. The resist composition comprising a polymer adapted to form a lactone ring under the action of an acid so that the polymer may reduce its solubility in an organic solvent displays a high dissolution contrast. A fine hole or trench pattern can be formed therefrom.

Patterning process, resist composition, polymer, and monomer

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Joetsu, Japan

Tomohiro Kobayashi