ALL-DRY AND IN-SITU MICROSTRUCTURING OF CARBIDE POLYIMIDE LAYERS/

The capacities of a new 'all-dry' resist system for in situ microstruc turing have been investigated. The system consists of a 1000 nm thick vacuum deposited polymer (polyimide) layer and a 40 nm thick E-beam ev aporated carbide (TiC or B4C) film. The bilayer system is patterned in situ in two stages. The microstructuring of the carbide film is carri ed out by a single pulse excimer laser exposure at threshold fluencies of 27 mJ/cm(2) and 23 mJ/cm(2) for TiC and B4C, respectively. The las er generated image is transferred into the bottom polyimide layer by r eactive ion etching in an O-2 ambience. The proposed all-dry lithograp hic system provides an attractive scientific and technological basis f or the integrated microstructuring processes, easily adaptable to the existing microelectronic technologies. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Sci ence Ltd.