Multi-trigger resist for electron beam and extreme ultraviolet lithography

The multi-trigger resist (MTR) is a new negative tone molecular resist platform for electron beam lithography, as well as extreme ultraviolet and optical lithography. The performance of xMT resist, the precursor to MTR resist, which shows a good combination of sensitivity, low line edge roughness and high-resolution patterning has previously been reported.[1] In order to overcome limitations induced by acid diffusion, a new mechanism - the multi-trigger concept - has been introduced. The results obtained so far as the behaviour of the resist is driven towards the multi-trigger regime by manipulating the resist formulation are presented. A feature size of 13 nm in semi-dense (1:1.5 line/space) patterns, and 22nm diameter pillar patterns are demonstrated in electron beam, and 16 nm half-pitch resolution patterns are demonstrated in (extreme ultraviolet) EUV. An improvement in the LER value is seen in the higher MTR formulations.