Depth profile analysis of chemically amplified resist by using TOF-SIMS with gradient shaving preparations

The gradient shaving preparation was recently introduced as a new pretreatment technique for depth profiling. We can obtain a chemically undamaged slope with a length of several hundred micrometers by shaving linearly for a thickness ranging from a few nanometers to a few hundred nanometers. To analyze the chemical structure in organic compounds we performed depth profiles by doing line analysis along the sloped surface of various probes. In this work, the gradient shaving preparation was applied to analyze a chemically amplified photoresist which contains small amount of photoacid generator (PAG) and other additives by TOF-SIMS. The characteristic distribution of F- and CF3SO3- fragments originated from PAG was determined. It was confirmed that the gradient shaving preparation allows TOF-SIMS depth profiling of small amount of organic materials in polymer films within the static limit. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.