Accelerated particle lithographic processing and articles so produced
AssigneeBell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated
InventorThomas M. Hall
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Ion beam lithography of particular interest in the fabrication of large-scale integrated circuits of unexpectedly increased throughput results from appropriate choice of (a) resist material and (b) ion species. Resist material, generally negative acting, is characterized by electron beam sensitivity inadequate for ordinary commercial electron beam lithography. The relevant characteristic responsible for inadequate electron beam sensitivity is the very characteristic responsible for enhanced ion sensitivity. Ion species, always of atomic number greater than that of proton, are dictated by the observation that sensitivity unexpectedly increases at a greater rate than predictable on traditional bases.
Claims24
Process for fabrication of an article comprising an operation during which the article undergoing fabrication comprises an article surface and an overlying actinic processing layer, said processing layer consisting essentially of radiation-sensitive material including the steps of (1) selectively exposing portions of the said processing layer to patterning actinic radiation to define a pattern whereby ease of removal of the said portions of the processing layer by a developing agent is decreased;
- (2) treating the said processing layer with said developing agent to selectively remove material outside the said portions to produce a now patterned processing layer;
- (3) treating the article undergoing fabrication with an altering agent which preferentially alters regions of the said article surface corresponding with selectively removed material in the patterned processing layer, CHARACTERIZED IN THAT the said radiation-sensitive material consists essentially of polymeric material which has a lithographic electron beam sensitivity of less than 10.sup.-5 coulomb/cm.sup.2 as measured by use of incident 20 keV electrons and in which the said actinic radiation as incident on the said material consists predominantly of charged or uncharged species of atomic number at least equal to 2.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.