US Patent 12125711 Reducing roughness of extreme ultraviolet lithography resists

Provided herein are methods and systems for reducing roughness of EUV resists and improving etched features. The methods may involve depositing a thin film on a patterned EUV resist having a stress level that is less compressive than a stress level of the patterned EUV resist. The resulting composite stress may reduce buckling and/or bulging of the patterned EUV resist.