Zirconium-based photoresists for extreme ultraviolet lithography

Abstract

With the rapid growth of the semiconductor market, nanopatterning technologies utilizing extreme ultraviolet (EUV) is promising to attain a sub-10 nm pattern for next-generation semiconductors. Conventional polymer-based photoresists suffer from relatively low EUV photon absorption and pattern collapse. The design of new materials that can absorb a high EUV light has been suggested to enhance the properties for EUV lithography. Among the variety of materials, we have studied zirconium-based photoresist with high EUV absorption. We have synthesized a zirconium oxide-based cages as a core metal and photo-sensitive organic linkers on the surface. The zirconium-based photoresists have shown narrow particle size distribution providing the benefits for high-resolution photo-patterning. In this study, we suggest a new design of EUV photoresist for the next generation lithography technique.