Today’s technology-driven economy demands the continued miniaturization of components created by the semiconductor fabrication industry. Specialty fluorochemicals enable the greater functionality of optimized electronic devices. The engineers at Halocarbon Electronic Solutions (HES) utilize their expertise in organofluorine chemistry to provide world-leading semiconductor suppliers with high-performing fluorinated solutions to enhance the semiconductor design and operation. Their hexafluoroisopropyl (HFIP) derivatives advance the semiconductor fabrication industry by improving the design for semiconductor miniaturization.
Advantages of hexafluorisopropyl (HFIP) chemistry for semiconductor fabrication:
- High Water Contact Angles
- Transparent Control through Fluorinated Materials
- Enhanced Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Control
- Rapid Dissolution Rates in Developer Media
High Water Contact Angles
Semiconductor manufacturers employ immersion lithography to increase laser beam resolution in the creation of minute feature sizes. In this technique, the air gap between the final lens element and the photoresist layer is replaced by a liquid with a refractive index greater than that of air (~1.0). Water is most commonly used in this technique, though it poses a risk from the physical and chemical interactions between water and the photoresist. HES formulates novel high-quality, high-purity HFIP-based monomers and monomer precursors that increase the hydrophobicity of the photoresist coating to create high receding contact angles, which results in decreased bubble defects, increases scanning speeds, and the reduction of water ingress. HES’s materials, when incorporated into photoresists and top-coats, can provide superior hydrophobicity and greater patterning control.
Transparency Control Through Fluorinated Materials
The chip manufacturing industry seeks fluorinated materials with greater transparency control to accommodate new light sources of progressively shorter wavelengths for higher resolution in photolithography. As leading-edge lithographic methods have transitioned from lasers with a 248-nm wavelength to those with a 193-nm wavelength, the need for transparent materials has increased. The materials of traditional 248-nm photoresist coatings lack transparency to the lower wavelengths of light, rendering them obsolete in newer lithographic methods. The HFIP-based monomers provide the critical transparency to 193-nm light.
The most recent technology advances use extreme ultraviolet (EUV) irradiation at 13.5 nm which requires higher absorbing photoresist. Fluorine provides a four-fold increase in EUV adsorption as compared to carbon, which facilitates the production of extremely minute features. HES provides a broad range of customizable, fluorinated materials that provide the needed transparency at 193 nm and, conversely, the higher absorption necessary for EUV.
Enhanced Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Control
The HFIP-based monomers and monomer precursors increase control over hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity in photolithography. The acidity of the hexafluoroalcohol group functions as a pH-based solubility switch where the HFIP-based materials modulate the photoresist layer’s solubility as a function of the media pH. HES formulates these solutions to create the hydrophobic barrier needed during immersion photolithography imaging through the neutral water lens. After imaging, these same HFIP materials become hydrophilic in the common alkaline developer solutions thus enabling rapid dissolution that ensures efficient processes and high-fidelity throughout the patterning and development stages of photolithography.
Halocarbon Electronic Solutions is a leading supplier of HFIP derivatives for next-generation, semiconductor fabrication to enhance the design and support semiconductor miniaturization. Looking to learn more? Contact our sales manager for more information on our HFIP solutions.
Leave a Reply