Designing well-defined photoresists, which enable to obtain well-defined surface patterns, is crucial to the semiconductor industry. Copolymers of styrene and maleimide derivatives have been widely studied due to high precision in alternating sequencing and facile pre/post-polymerization functionalization with simple organic reactions. Maleimides comprise a versatile platform for functionalization of the copolymers, with various types of functional moieties or pendant chains. In this study, a series of Poly(styrene-alt-N-maleimide)alternating copolymers bearing t-BOC protected amine groups attached to the alkyl-based pendant chains were synthesized via activators regenerated by electron transfer atom transfer radical polymerization (ARGET-ATRP) and investigated from the perspective of photoresist applications. Composition and length of the alkyl chains were used to adjust wettability and glass transition temperatures, which varied between 57.2 and 121.5 °C. Selected copolymers were utilized as chemically amplified DUV photoresists to demonstrate the potential application where 1µm line space patterns were obtained through the solubility changes in exposed areas Well-defined copolymers of styrene and N-substituted maleimides bearing t-BOC protected amine groups displayed promising lithographic performance.

Evaluation of N-substituted maleimides and styrene-based well-defined alternating copolymers as potential photoresists

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