193 nm resists and lithography

A review of recent efforts to develop photoresist materials and processes for 193 nm (ArF excimer laser) photolithography is reported. Three categories of resist processes are discussed: (1) conventional single layer, (2) bilayer and (3) surface-imaged resist processes. To date, materials have been developed for each process which exhibit resolution to less than 0.25 μm with sensitivities of less than 50 mJ/cm².