Dendrimers with Thermally Labile End Groups: An Alternative Approach to Chemically Amplified Resist Materials Designed for Sub-100 nm Lithography

Chemically amplified resists based on dendritic polymer resins are investigated by these authors. The synthesis of the dendrimers, which are based on the polyfunctional core shown in the Figure, is described and properties such as Tdecomp and Tg are examined. Resist formulations prepared from these dendrimers are shown to be highly sensitive to both deep UV and e-beam exposure, allowing reproducible patterning well below 100 nm.