PROCESS TECHNIQUES FOR IMPROVING PERFORMANCE OF POSITIVE TONE SILYLATION

Two approaches that control the overflow of silylated material that ca n occur subsequent to surface imaging of acid-hardened resists are int roduced. Treatment of the resist surface with a cross-linking agent [b is(dimethylamino)dimethylsilane] prior to silylation can produce a sur face layer with the physical integrity to constrain silylated material . Alternatively, the unexposed areas of the resist may be partially re moved by development with a basic solution. The surface depressions th us produced allow volume expansion to occur during silylation without causing overflow.