Direct Measurement of Resist Pattern Adhesion on the Surface with Silane-couplingTreatment by Atomic Force Microscope(AFM)

Abstract

It is well known that the silane-coupling treatment with HMDS (hexamethyldisilazane) has an effect to prevent collapsing a resist pattern in a liquid environment but to decrease adhesion strength between a resist and a substrate. Dependency of resist pattern peeling on the exposing time to the HMDS vapor is investigated in a dry condition. The peeling strength of the resist pattern adhering on the substrate is determined by means of the direct peeling with atomic force microscope tip (DPAT) method. The load for pattern peeling decreases gradually as the exposing time to the HMDS vapor increases and is clearly explained by analyzing the adhesion energy. The slight change of the surface chemistry such as silane-coupling treatment can be analyzed directly by the DPAT method.