RESISTS FOR 193-NANOMETER PHOTOLITHOGRAPHY

NEWLY SYNTHESIZED ORGANOSILICON NEGATIVE RESISTS OFFER POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS FOR MICROLITHOGRAPHY AT SUB-HALF-MICRON DIMENSIONS, -- NOT ONLY FOR 193-NM PHOTOLITHOGRAPHY, BUT ALSO FOR E-BEAM AND X-RAY LITHOGRAPHIES. THE RESIST COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE ALLOW ROBUST STABLE LAYERS; PROBLEMS RELATED TO RUNAWAY OF SENSITOMETRIC PARAMETERS, LINEWIDTH SHRINKAGE AND NONREPEATABILITY OF TOPOLOGY DURING PROCESSING HAVE BEEN MINIMIZED. A COMPREHENSIVE COMPUTER MODEL DESCRIBING THE MECHANISMS OF THE REACTIONS TAKING PLACE IN THE RESIST MATERIAL DURING EXPOSURE HAS BEEN DEVELOPED, AND HAS BEEN USEFUL IN IMPROVING THE RESIST COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE; THE MODEL WILL ALSO BE USEFUL IN FURTHER OPTIMIZATION OF RESIST CHARACTERISTICS SUCH AS SENSITIVITY, CONTRAST AND RESOLUTION. SUB-HALF-MICRON FEATURES HAVE BEEN DEMONSTRATED USING A DOSE NEAR 50 MJ/CM(2) FOR 193-NM EXPOSURE, A DOSE OF 7(10)(-6) COULOMB/CM(2) FOR E-BEAM EXPOSURE (24 KEV), AND A DOSE OF 5 MJ/CM(2) FOR X-RAY EXPOSURE (44 ¿). THE RESIST HAS BEEN DEMONSTRATED IN SINGLE-LAYER, BI-LAYER, AND TRI-LAYER APPLICATIONS. THE RESIST MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY CAN BE EXPANDED TO LARGE-SCALE COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS - ANTICIPATED BENEFITS FOR THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INCLUDE THE ABILITY TO ALLOW MANUFACTURE OF LOW-COST HIGH-YIELD VLSI CIRCUITS FOR WIDE-SPREAD DOD USAGE, AND TO ALLOW FABRICATION OF COST-EFFECTIVE MILITARY CUSTOM ASIC CHIPS WITH FEATURES AT OR BELOW 0.25 MICRON (USING PHOTOLITHOGRAPHY, E-BEAM OR X-RAY LITHOGRAPHY). POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNITIES INCLUDE GOING INTO LARGE-SCALE PRODUCTION OF THE RESIST FOR SUBMICRON AS WELL AS SUB-HALF-MICRON UTILIZATION.