AN ENVIRONMENTALLY STABLE-CHEMICAL AMPLIFIED DEEP-UV RESIST

Within the joint european project ''JESSI E 162'' we pursue deep UV im age processing for 0.35 mu m lithography in chip production. To reach this goal, major advancements have to be made in three areas: stepper, resist and track. In order to obtain a good photosensitivity, the res ist has to be a chemical amplification type (CA) resist. In general, C A-resists are very sensitive against airborne contaminations, especial ly bases. The most important effects are seen after exposure prior to further work-up. Based on the SUCCESS resist concept an environmentall y stable resist was developed, which does not suffer any changes in pe rformance for a reasonable amount of time. The major achievements are: linewidth stability for 0.35 mu m lines and larger ones during delay times up to 120 min between exposure and FEB, 0.24 mu m lines stable f or 30 min, linearity down to 0.35 mu m (NA 0.42), resolution of 0.22 m u m with phase-shift mask (NA 0.42).