Synthesis of new alicyclic (meth)acrylate polymers containing androstane moieties, especially cholic acid derivatives, and their characteristics were investigated for 193nm single layer resists. Among the derivatives, a work of adhesion, Ohnishi and ring parameters were used as measures for the adhesion and the dry-etching resistance in this study. In the synthesis of the polymers, the use of 3- (beta) -methacryloyoxy-deoxycholic acid, which is the inverse configuration against the original 3-(alpha) -structure, was effective as a monomer, because the steric hindrance at 3- (alpha) -position degraded its polymerization ability. The polymers partially protected by acid labile groups showed a satisfactory adhesion, which was probably due to the hydrophilic hydroxyl group at the 12-position and the carboxyl group linked at the 17-position, and a good dry- etching resistance. On the lithographic imaging with these polymers, the reduction of the side reaction on the acid decomposition and also the control of the flexibility on the polymers largely affected their performance. THe adjustment of the Tg values of the polymers by the co-polymerization and the change of the polymer backbone from the methacrylate to acrylate structure performed well on imaging under 193nm exposure.

Date Published: 11 June 1999
PDF: 12 pages
Proc. SPIE 3678, Advances in Resist Technology and Processing XVI, (11 June 1999); doi: 10.1117/12.350212

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 3678:
Advances in Resist Technology and Processing XVI
Will Conley, Editor(s)