SPECIFIC BEHAVIOR OF CHEMICALLY AMPLIFIED SYSTEMS WITH LOW-ACTIVATIONENERGY UNDER ELECTRON-BEAM EXPOSURE - IMPLEMENTATION OF 248 AND 193 NM RESISTS

Low activation energy resists are studied through two formulations rep resentative of these systems, namely, Shipley 248 nm XP9493 and MCC 19 3 nm TER-1 resists. It is shown that their specific behavior can be ea sily demonstrated by using differential scanning calorimetry technique s at different steps of the lithographic process. As these resists pre sent a low activation energy for their deprotection, the postexposure bake (PEB) is not necessary so a comparison between processes with and without a PEB step can be made. Processes without PEB are interesting as they allow deconvolution and an emphasis on different phenomena (e vaporation, diffusion, and recompaction) which are of tremendous impor tance for chemically amplified resists. Finally, processes without FEB can allow a correlation of the mechanisms involved in the resists to lithographic performance. (C) 1997 American Vacuum Society.