Inorganic resists are promising for nanomanufacturing because of their potential for high-resolution and low line-edge roughness patterning and exceptional sensitivity to extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation. Hafnium oxide peroxide hydroxide sulfate… Click to show full abstract
Inorganic resists are promising for nanomanufacturing because of their potential for high-resolution and low line-edge roughness patterning and exceptional sensitivity to extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation. Hafnium oxide peroxide hydroxide sulfate (HafSOx) is a model EUV inorganic photoresist, wherein the EUV absorption coefficients for hafnium and O are much higher than for conventional polymer resists. Absorption of EUV radiation leads to electron emission that results in the HafSOx solubility change. We used desorption-based techniques to elucidate thermal- and radiation-induced processes that contribute to the HafSOx solubility switch. We found that low kinetic energy electrons render HafSOx insoluble and result in the desorption of molecular O2. Electron-stimulated desorption and postexposure Raman spectroscopy indicate similar kinetics for peroxide loss in HafSOx. Temperature-programmed desorption studies found that peroxide ligand desorption is best characterized as first order, with a broad distr...
               
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