Electron irradiation of polymers and its application to resists for electron-beam lithography

Abstract At the heart of the ongoing revolution in the field of microelectronics is the silicon-integrated circuit. This tiny modular silicon “chip” contains all the elements of an electronic circuit such as transistors, capacitors, etc., inseparably associated and connected to each other by metallic interconnects on the surface of the chip. In the early 196Os, three or four logc circuits, each incorporating perhaps a dozen transistors or other devices, were mounted on a plastic circuit board about 3 × 5 in. in size. Today, upward of 1000 similar circuits can be put onto a silicon chip a few millimeters square. Within a few years,1 extensions of present technology should make it possible to put 10,000 circuits on a similar chip. The continued increase in functional complexity over the past 10 years has been provided by increased chip size, improved device design, changes in topology and technology, and improvements in the photolithographic art.2 The reduction in circuit size has already achieved two major benefits: a sharp decrease in the cost of circuits and a sharp increase in the speed with which logic functions can be performed. These benefits are vividly demonstrated by the proliferation of low‐priced pocket‐sized calculators capable of handling an enormous range of mathematical manipulations.