The serious problem associated with 193-nm lithography using an ArF photoresist is roughness formation of photoresist polymer during plasma processes. We have previously investigated the mechanism of roughness formation caused by plasma. The main deciding factor for roughness formation is a chemical reaction between photoresist polymer and reactive species from plasma. The lactone group in photoresist polymer is highly chemically reactive, and shrinking the lactone structure enhances the roughness formation. In this paper, on the basis of the mechanism of roughness formation, we propose a novel ArF photoresist polymer. The roughness formation was much more suppressed in the novel photoresist polymer during plasma etching process than in the previous type. In the novel photoresist polymer, chemical reactions were spread evenly on the photoresist film surface by adding the polar structure. As a result, decreases in the lactone group were inhibited, leading to suppressing ArF photoresist roughness.
We designed and proposed a focusing device for the localization of photons in nanometric region by surface plasmon
excitation. The focusing device is a metal-coated axicon prism. The cone angle of the prism and the metallic film
thickness are designed to match the excitation conditions for Kretschmann configuration. A collimated Gaussian beam is
irradiated to the prism and the excited surface plasmons propagate along the sides of the prism and converge at its apex.
The resulting nanofocusing was investigated by the simulations and experiments of the intensity distributions around the
apex of the prism. For incident radial polarization, a localized and field enhanced spot is generated by the constructive
interference of surface plasmons. We observed the light scattered at the apex and the light reflected by the prism. Each
polarized light of the radial, azimuthal, and linear provided field distributions of bright and dark intensities according to
the surface plasmon excitation. We have demonstrated that surface plasmon waves are excited at the sides of the prism in
the Kretschmann configuration and that they converge to its apex.
For a purpose of decreasing a defect risk, a primary structure of a polymer such as molecular weight, composition of
comonomer and its sequence plays significantly important roll. Concerning to a typical radical polymerization, molecular
weight and composition are controllable by regulating feed rate of initiator and monomers. At first, a simulation program
predicting the radical polymerization was constructed. Then, the conventional polymerization procedure was modified
by simulation to give the ideal primary structure. After that, the optimized procedure was verified by an actual
experiment. The obtained homogeneous polymer showed good lithographic performance. In addition, a direct
observation of the developed surface was achieved by scanning probe microscopy.
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