Sci-Tron’s heterometallic resist (HMR) technology will make possible new lithographical device architectures.

The foremost capability of the HMR materials is outstanding etch performance, allowing for the production of etched features inaccessible with other resist materials.

The Sci-Tron HMRs provide many benefits for the lithographer – they are:

• Chemically robust, with excellent stability and compatibility.
• Soluble in and processable from a range of organic solvents.
• Amenable to a wide range of required film thicknesses.

Sci-Tron’s heterometallic resists (HMRs) are based on a modular design, the strength of which is total control over each constituent of the resist material. This allows us to realise excellent performance over a wide variety of lithographical applications.

Engineering of the carboxylate ligand allows us control over such parameters as sensitivity and contrast in e-beam or photolithography.

Fine-tuning of the interred quaternary ammonium cation allows manipulation of write speed, to provide quality etched features under a range of conditions. This provides a degree of operational flexibility lacking in resist products currently supplied commercially.

Not only are formulation parameters customisable, but the properties of the resist material itself. This allows for exceptional orthogonality and process compatibility.

EUV photolithography typically requires high-quality photomasks that are produced using electron beam lithography, and to fabricate a photomask for the 7 nm node and beyond, the feature size needs to be 28 nm and below.

Current e-beam resists cannot hit that specification, which means that new resists are needed in order to realise the full potential from EUV lithography.

Negative tone resists that are currently being used to fabricate photomasks for i193 nm lithography have a resolution of 40 nm, a size outside the specification required for the production of EUV photomasks.

Most positive-tone resists are based on organic polymers and simply do not have the etch selectivity to produce EUV photomasks. Sci-Tron resists have very high etch selectivity, under a range of ICP/RIE etch conditions.

Competing negative-tone resists are known for their difficulty of use, instability and lack of reproducibility. The HMRs of Sci-Tron are designed with the lithographer in mind, affording outstanding, reproducible results with simple, robust processes.