Synthesis of Resist Materials Containing Hemiacetal Groups and Their Resist Sensitivity

We examined the synthesis of polyhemiacetals by the addition reaction of vinyl ethers and carboxylic acids in the presence of certain catalysts in various reaction conditions, yielding corresponding polyhemiacetals. Their physical properties such as solubility, film-forming ability, and their thermal stability showed good performance for application as resist materials, and the thickness-loss property of their thin-films on the silicon wafer was also excellent. Furthermore, their resist sensitivity was investigated in the films state with EB and EUV exposure tools, showing good sensitivity of E0 = 10μC/cm2(EB) and E0 = 1.0mJ/cm2(EUV), which were consistent of the structure of the synthesized polyhemiacetals.