Resist and Process for Dry Positive Tone Electron Beam Lithography

A process for lithographically patterning a substrate in a positive polarity, the process comprising:

• (a) physically vapor-depositing a resist layer onto the substrate;
• (b) exposing at least a portion of the resist layer with a particle beam to define a pattern while simultaneously heating the resist layer to a temperature that causes material in exposed regions of the resist layer to leave the exposed regions via evaporation, thereby defining the pattern in the resist layer by retaining unexposed regions;
• (c) transferring the defined pattern from the resist layer into the substrate;
• and
• (d) stripping the remaining unexposed regions of the resist layer using a chemical or thermal process, the stripping occurring after the pattern transferring step (c).

A process for lithographically patterning a substrate in a positive polarity, the process comprising:

• (a) vapor-depositing a resist layer onto the substrate;
• (b) exposing at least a portion of the resist layer with a particle beam to define a pattern, thereby creating exposed regions and unexposed regions in the resist layer;
• (c) developing the exposed regions of the resist layer using a solvent that selectively dissolves the exposed regions while substantially maintaining the unexposed regions, thereby defining the pattern in the resist layer;
• (d) transferring the defined pattern from the resist layer into the substrate;
• and
• (e) stripping the remaining unexposed regions of the resist layer using a chemical or thermal process, the stripping occurring after the pattern transferring step (d).