Synthesis of novel photoacid generator containing resist polymer for electron beam lithography

Photoacid generators (PAGs) have been widely used as a key material in the development of novel photoresist materials. One of the important uses of PAGs is found in chemically amplified photoresists (CARs) because of their high photosensitivity and high resolution capability. Triphenylsulfonium salt methacrylate (TPSMA) as the PAG has been bounded in the main polymer backbone. TPSMA was employed for synthesis of terpolymers, poly(MMA-co-tBVPC-co-TPSMA) and poly(tBVPC-co-tBOCPOMI-co-TPSMA) as a positive tone photoresists by free radical polymerization using AIBN. Terpolymers with various ratio of TPSMA, MMA, tBVPC and tBOCOPMI were synthesized and well characterized by FTIR, NMR. Molecular weight distribution was analyzed by GPC. Thermal properties were studied using TGA, DSC which showed thermal stability of terpolymer up to 150 degrees C. We have applied E-beam lithography and KrF lithography in order to demonstrate the effect of the polymer bounded PAG resists. These positive tone resists were successfully applied for fabrication of nano-scale patterns.