ELECTRON-BEAM-INDUCED ETCHING OF RESIST WITH WATER-VAPOR AS THE ETCHING MEDIUM

H2O vapor as the etching medium has been investigated for electron bea m induced etching of an organic resist. The aim was the determination of the dependencies on the process parameters. The etch rate increases with decreasing beam energy and increasing H2O vapor flux (i.e., mole cules per time and area). At 5 keV beam energy, the achieved etch rate is 55 nm/min. By lowering the beam energy to 1 keV (maximum of the se condary electron yield) and increasing the scan speed (approximately 1 -5 MHz), a pronounced rise to the etch rate is expected. (C) 1996 Amer ican Vacuum Society.