Functionalization of Polymer Surfaces for Organic Photoresist Materials

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Computational Chemistry
• Surface Science

Background:

• Photoresists are critical for microfabrication, enabling pattern transfer via solubility changes after exposure.
• Current organic photoresists face limitations in resolution, sensitivity, and line-edge roughness due to photon interactions.
• Enhancing etch resistance is vital for preserving features during substrate etching processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate surface functionalization of photoresist polymers for improved performance.
• To explore reactive halogen adsorption on polymer surfaces using DFT.
• To identify strategies for enhanced etch resistance and validate them computationally.

Main Methods:

• Density-functional theory (DFT) for surface reaction analysis.
• Identification of physical and chemical surface reactions and byproducts.
• Ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) and real-time time-dependent DFT (rt-TDDFT) for ion/electron interaction studies.

Main Results:

• Identified self-limitation thresholds for various functionalizing agents.
• Analyzed spectral signals for experimental validation of surface modifications.
• Validated functionalizations as effective strategies for enhanced etch resistance.

Conclusions:

• Computational insights into ion and electron interactions with functionalized photoresists.
• Definite strategies for improving photoresist polymer performance derived.
• Advanced microfabrication capabilities enabled by enhanced photoresist materials.