Novel polymers and photoresist compositions for short short wavelength imaging

Abstract

This invention relates to resins and photoresist compositions that comprise such resins. This invention includes new resins that comprise photoacid-labile deblocking groups, wherein the acid-labile moiety is substituted with one or more electron-withdrawing groups. Polymers of the invention are particularly useful as a resin binder component of chemically-amplified positive-acting resists that can be effectively imaged at short wavelengths such as sub-300 nm and sub-200 nm and preferably about 157 nm. In such short-wavelength imaging applications resins of the invention exhibit decreased absorbance of short wavelength exposure radiation, such as sub-170 nm radiation e.g. 157 nm.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.