Effect Of Acid Labile Ether Protecting Groups On The Oxide-Etch Resistance And Lithographic Performance Of 248nm Resists

In our attempts to develop etch resistant 248nm positive resists, we have designed and synthesized thermally stable and acid sensitive methylbenzyl ether (MBE) protected poly(hydroxystyrene) derivatives. Results presented in this paper clearly illustrate that the MBE protecting group provides superior etch resistance to conventional carbonate, ester and acetal/ketal based protecting groups. It is also shown that the MBE protecting group is thermally stable and undergoes acid catalyzed deprotection leading to preferential rearrangement products due to electrophilic ring substitution. Such a rearrangement is shown to provide a unique mechanism to reduce/eliminate resist shrinkage and improve lithographic performance.