Substrate Temperature Dependence of the Photoresist Removal Rate Using Atomic Hydrogen Generated by a Hot-Wire Tungsten Catalyst

Instead of photoresist removal methods using chemicals, we investigated an environmentally friendly removal method using atomic hydrogen generated by decomposing hydrogen molecules by contact with a hot-wire tungsten catalyst. We set the distance between the catalyst and the photoresist substrate ( D CS ) at 20, 60, 100 and 120 mm and evaluated the apparent activation energy ( E AP ) for the reaction between photoresist and atomic hydrogen at each D CS . The E AP was determined from Arrhenius plots of the photoresist removal rate against the average substrate temperature. When D CS was 20 and 60 mm, E AP decreased with increasing catalyst temperature ( WT =2040–2420 °C) and was not constant. However, when D CS was 100 and 120 mm, E AP was nearly constant at 19 ±1 kJ/mol without depending on WT . We might obtain the activation energy of about 19 kJ/mol in the reaction of photoresist with atomic hydrogen.