An 8 cm diameter disk-shaped oxygen plasma is used as a resist asher and resist developer located in a plasma-free region. The resist surface is exposed to both 130.6 nm flux (10-2W cm-2 Sr-1 oxygen resonance line) as well as an atomic oxygen flux (1015 atoms cm-2 sec-1). A high ashing rate of 1.5 micrometers /min is obtained at 100 degree(s)C, with a rather low apparent excitation energy of 1.07 kcal per mol. In contrast, by introducing 8 atomic % silicon into plasma polymerized styrene, the authors observed an unmeasurable etch rate after a brief induction time to form a Si-O-C containing a protective layer with a thickness loss of 0.2 micrometers . These results show a potential ability of the plasma apparatus used as a low-temperature defect-free resist ashing and dry development silylated resist.

Date Published: 1 July 1991
PDF: 12 pages
Proc. SPIE 1463, Optical/Laser Microlithography IV, (1 July 1991); doi: 10.1117/12.44814

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1463:
Optical/Laser Microlithography IV
Victor Pol, Editor(s)