EUV lithography performance of negative-tone chemically amplified fullerene resist

With Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUVL) emerging as one of the top contenders to succeed from optical lithography for the production of next generation semiconductor devices, the search for suitable resists that combine high resolution, low line edge roughness (LER) and commercially viable sensitivity for high volume production is still ongoing. One promising approach to achieve these goals has been the development of molecular resists. We have previously reported on a molecular negative tone resist for e-beam lithography based on fullerene derivatives. Since then we have developed the system further to adapt it to EUVL. Investigation into the lithographic performance of the resist shows resolution down to 20 nm halfpitch with LERs <5 nm and sensitivities similar to 20 mJ/cm(2).