Patent attributes
The present disclosure provides lithography resist materials and corresponding lithography techniques for improving lithography resolution, in particular, by reducing swelling of resist layers during development. An exemplary lithography method includes performing a treatment process on a resist layer to cause cross-linking of acid labile group components of the resist layer via cross-linkable functional components, performing an exposure process on the resist layer, and performing a development process on the resist layer. In some implementations, the resist layer includes an exposed portion and an unexposed portion after the exposure process, and the treatment process reduces solubility of the unexposed portion to a developer used during the development process by increasing a molecular weight of a polymer in the unexposed portion. The treatment process is performed before or after the exposure process. The treatment process can include performing a thermal treatment and/or an electromagnetic wave treatment to heat the resist layer.
