Development of advanced silylation process for 157-nm lithography

The top surface imaging (TSI) process is a very important technology to ext end photolithography down to 0.1 mum or smaller dimensions. For the TSI pro cess, we are evaluating an advanced silylation process applying a vapor pha se silylation treatment after an alkaline wet-development of the top layer (SILYAL). We could apply a very thin poly-vinyl-phenol type resist with 0.0 7 Rm or less thickness as the top silylation layer in order to improve the optical contrast during the exposure. In this paper, we report the high cap ability and progress of this SILYAL process for 157-nm lithography. (C) 200 1 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.