Extraction of Exposure Parameters for 193 nm Chemically Amplified Resist and its Application to Simulation

Abstract

The exposure parameters for chemically amplified resists were characterized by measuring the transmittance and the thickness changes during exposure. A new approach to get the exposure parameters of a chemically amplified resist is needed since the transmittance behavior with respect to the exposure dose is much different from that of a conventional novolac resist. A dual mechanism, which includes photo acid generation and acid-catalyzed deprotection during exposure, has been suggested to explain this. The exposure parameters for three 193-nm chemically amplified resists were extracted by using the dual mechanism. The newly obtained parameters were used in our in-house simulator. The simulation results show that the linewidth variation with post exposure bake temperature can be estimated.