H. Namatsu et al., NANO-PATTERNING OF A HYDROGEN SILSESQUIOXANE RESIST WITH REDUCED LINEWIDTH FLUCTUATIONS, Microelectronic engineering, 42, 1998, pp. 331-334
A new resist system providing small linewidth fluctuation has been dev
eloped for nanolithography. Hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ) resist used
here has a small polymer size because of its three-dimensional framewo
rk. This framework reduces the size of aggregates in the resist film w
hich strongly influence linewidth fluctuation of resist patterns. The
scission of SiH bonds in HSQ by e-beam leads to the crosslinking requi
red for the nega-patterning. In addition, the application of a TMAH de
veloper realizes higher contrast an less thickness loss. Consequently,
20-nm-wide nega-patterns with a rectangular cross-sectional shape are
successfully formed with linewidth fluctuation less than 2 nm.