Diffusion Kinetic of Vapor-phase Silylation Process for ArF Lithography

抄録

The diffusion kinetics of vapor-phase silylation were investigated. The diffusion of the silylation agent in vapor-phase can be explained using the Fickian model. The diffusion depends greatly on the conditions of the silylation. In order to make the process viable, the silylation parameters must be optimized. The soft-bake process also effects the diffusion of the silylation agent. The soft-bake needs to be processed with stable parameters. The activation energy, the frequency factor and the reaction energies of the silylation reaction are analyzed for a few systems that have a resist and a silylation agent. The silylation reaction is not the rate-determining factor of the silylation process from the calculated results. It is found that the frequency factor is related to the glass-transition temperature of resists.