Degradation of Hydrocarbon Fluids in the Immersion Lithography at 193 nm

Abstract

The search for successful generation 3 immersion lithography fluids is focused on high refractive index fluids which are transparent to 193 nm light. This search has led to saturated hydrocarbons which have been shown potential in this field. This paper discusses our observations that many immersion fluid candidates (saturated hydrocarbons and acetonitrile) were observed to polymerize upon irradiation with 193 nm light.