New photoacid generators design for advanced EUV patterning

Chemically amplified resists (CAR) serve as a crucial facilitator of the successful implementation of extreme ultra-violet lithography (EUVL) in high volume manufacturing. Advancing the use of chemically amplified resist materials for cutting-edge printing modes necessitates a continued emphasis on improving lithographic performance. This includes enhancing resolution, reducing feature-roughness, and increasing sensitivity (RLS), while also mitigating stochastic defects. Our team focus on material design approaches for improving CAR resist performance. In this report, we present new design of slow acid diffusion photoacid generator (PAGs). The PAGs were designed to have outstanding solubility in typical formulation solvents, insure their complete dissolution, and removal from the expose area during the development and the rinse process. These ionic PAGs were blended to form chemically amplified photoresist and then evaluated under KrF and EUV. These new PAGs exhibited much slower acid diffusion compared to well-known PAGs. Lithographic performance of formulations containing the new PAGs will be discussed.