Plasma polymerized methylsilane. II. Performance for 248 nm lithography

Some of the major limitations of top surface imaging schemes are now well d ocumented: critical dimension (CD) control across the wafer can be a seriou s issue as well as line edge roughness. A primary focus of our work has bee n to investigate the performance of the 248 nm bilevel negative tone approa ch of the chemical vapor deposition photoresist process based on the plasma polymerization of methylsilane. In this article, CD control data within a field and across the wafer are presented, CD control is shown to be very st rongly dependent on the uniformity of the development step. The best result s are obtained when using straight chlorine for the plasma etch development step. (C) 2000 American Vacuum Society. [S0734-211X(00)05502-5].