Somerville, New Jersey–Nov. 1, 2000–AZ Electronic Materials, a business of the Clariant Corp., has licensed polymer platforms from both Fujitsu and Hyundai for its 193-nm photoresists. By leveraging these two polymer platforms, AZ plans to provide solutions for the first critical photoresist layers migrating to 193-nm technology.

Fujitsu’s platform comprises an acrylate backbone with pendant cyclic hydrocarbons that increase the polymer’s etch-resistance. Alternating pendant lactones further increase adhesion. The system is designed for both dense line/space applications and contact holes, and can image dense and isolated 0.16-micron contact holes in a production process. Isolated-to-dense bias of the system is near zero for both applications.

The Hyundai platform is a tetrapolymer containing cyclic hydrocarbons that are incorporated directly into the backbone. Hydrophilic units are intermittently hung from the backbone to increase adhesion. The system is designed for semi- and fully-isolated features, showing 80-nm isolated lines with reasonable process latitude, using an enhanced binary mask and standard illumination.

AZ has also added an Ultratech 193-nm stepper to enhance its photoresist development program.