WATER-SOLUBLE CONDUCTING POLYANILINES - APPLICATIONS IN LITHOGRAPHY

A new class of water soluble conducting polyanilines has been develope d. This is accomplished by oxidatively polymerizing aniline monomers o n a template such as a polymeric acid. The resulting polyanilines read ily dissolve in water. These materials can be applied as removable dis charge layers for electron-beam lithography and for mask inspection by scanning electron microscopy. They can be spin-applied directly on to p of resists without any interfacial problems. Image distortion as a r esult of charging during resist exposure is not observed with these ma terials. After exposure the polyaniline is readily and cleanly removed during the resist develop. By incorporating cross-linkable functional ity on the polyaniline backbone, water soluble polyanilines that are r adiation curable are attained. Upon irradiation these materials cross- link and become insoluble and thus can be utilized as permanent conduc ting coatings for electrostatic discharge applications. In addition, t he cross-linkable polyanilines can be used as water developable conduc ting resists. 1.0 mum conducting lines have been patterned with electr on-beam irradiation.