New polymer design by DLS analysis of development defect detection

The behavior of developed ArF deprotected polymer to TMAH developer was demonstrated in this study to understand the effect of deprotected polymer's solubility and dispersion on development defect generation. The aggregation of deprotected polymer was observed with the dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements. The observed aggregates were classified cluster-1 and cluster-2 based on the size, of which hydrodynamic radii (RH) were c.a. 100nm and more than 500nm, respectively. In addition, the size and existing ratio of the aggregates were amplified by being exposed PAG and diluted in the developer. Furthermore, structure of protecting group and monomer composition showed large impact on the size of the cluster. It was found that DLS analysis could explain a main root cause of development defect generation, which possibly is the cluster formation. According to this study, ArF polymer design was suggested with development defect free as new concept for future ArF resist technology.