EUV sensitivity and PEB stability of Sn-12 clusters for EUVL

The semiconductor industry is currently transitioning to advanced extreme-ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) to address the challenges facing the use of photolithography in microprocessor and memory chip integration. This shift has sparked a surge in novel inorganic EUV photoresist research. However, several technical issues, such as insufficient EUV sensitivity, poor understanding of the photochemistry, and poor stability, have emerged. Here, we synthesized [(BuSn)₁₂O₁₄(OH)₆](CH₃C₆H₄SO₃)₂ (TinTos) as a standard EUV photoresist. Chemical analysis (PXRD, NMR) was performed to confirm that the synthesized TinTos was well reproduced. As a result of EUV exposure, TinTos showed low sensitivity compared to the dose required in industry (<50 mJ/cm²). However, no enhancement in the DUV sensitivity was observed for TinTos after PEB. Consequently, we anticipate less time-dependent behavior of TinTos.