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Protective Coating PMMA Electra 92 (AR-PC 5090) Protective Coating PMMA Electra 92 (AR-PC 5090)
E-Beam Resists
E-Beam Resists
Pr o c ess c o n d i ti o n s
Conductive protective coating for non-novolak-based e-beam resists This diagram shows exemplary process steps for resist Electra 92 - AR-PC 5090.02 and PMMA-resist AR-P 664.04.
Top layer for the dissipation of e-beam charges on insulating substrates All specifications are guideline values which have to be adapted to own specific conditions.
Characterisation Properties I 1. Coating AR-P 662.04 on insulating substrates (quartz, glass, GaAs)
- as protective coating, this resist is not sensitive to Parameter / AR-PC 5090.02 4000 rpm, 60 s, 140 nm
light / radiation Solids content (%) 2
- thin, conductive layers for the dissipation of Viscosity 25°C (mPas) 1 1. Soft bake (± 1 °C) 150 °C, 2 min hot plate or
charges during electron exposure Film thickness/4000 rpm (nm) 42 150 °C, 30 min convection oven
- coating of non-novolac PMMA, CSAR 62, HSQ et al. Film thickness/1000 rpm (nm) 100
- longterm-stable and cost-efficient alternative to Espacer Resolution (µm) / Contrast - 2. Coating AR-PC 5090.02
- easy removal with water after exposure Flash point (°C) 28 2000 rpm, 60 s , 60 nm
- polyaniline-derivative dissolved in water and IPA Storage 6 month (°C) 8 - 12
2. Tempering (± 1 °C) 90 °C, 2 min hot plate or
Conductivity Properties II 85 °C, 25 min convection oven
Conductivity in layer
1.2 E-beam exposure ZBA 21, 20 kV
60 nm (S/m)
Cauchy-Koeffizienten N0 - Exposure dose (E0): 110 µC/cm² (AR-P 662.04, 140 nm)
N1 -
N2 - Removal AR-PC 5090.02
Plasma etching rates (nm/min) Ar-sputtering - DI-water, 60 s
(5 Pa. 240-250 V Bias) O2 185
CF4 68 Development AR-P 662.04
80 CF4 120 (21-23 °C ± 0.5 °C) puddle AR 600-56, 2 min
+ 16 O2 Stop AR 600-60, 30 s
Conductivity measurements of AR-PC 5090.02 layers REM dissipation of charges
Post-bake 130 °C, 1 min hot plate or 130 °C, 25 min convection oven
obtained after spin deposition. For thinner films, the
(optional) for slightly enhanced plasma etching stability
resistance increases and the conductivity decreases.
200 nm-squares writ-
ten on quartz without Customer-specific Generation of e.g. semi-conductor properties, etching,
distortion caused technologies sputtering
by charges with
AR-P 662.04 and
AR-PC 5090.02 Removal AR 600-71 or O2 plasma ashing
Process parameters Process chemicals
Processing instructions
Substrate 4“ wafer quartz with AR-P 662.04 Adhesion promoter -
As of January 2016
As of January 2016
The conductivity may be varied by adjusting the thickness with different rotational speeds. Thicker layers of 90 nm
Coating 2000 rpm, 60 nm Developer - thus have a 2.5 times higher conductivity as compared to 60 nm thick layers.
Soft bake 85 °C Thinner -
For the build-up of an even conductive layer, the substrate should be wetted with the resist solution before the
Remover DI-water spin process is started.
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Protective Coating Novolac Electra 92 (AR-PC 5091) Protective Coating Novolac Electra 92 (AR-PC 5091)
E-Beam Resists
E-Beam Resists
Pr o c ess c o n d i ti o n s
Conductive protective coating for novolac-based e-beam resists This diagram shows exemplary process steps for resist Electra 92 (AR-PC 5091.02) and e-beam resist AR-N 7520.07
Top layer for the dissipation of e-beam charges on insulating substrates new. All specifications are guideline values which have to be adapted to own specific conditions.
Characterisation Properties I 1. Coating AR-N 7520.07 new on insulating substrates (quartz, glass, GaAs)
- as protective coating, this resist is not sensitive to Parameter / AR-PC 5091.02 4000 rpm, 60 s, 100 nm
light / radiation Solids content (%) 2
- thin, conductive layers for the dissipation of Viscosity 25°C (mPas) 1 1. Soft bake (± 1 °C) 85 °C, 1 min hot plate or
charges during electron exposure Film thickness/4000 rpm (nm) 31 85 °C, 30 min convection oven
- coating of novolac-based e-beam resist AR-N 7000 Film thickness/1000 rpm (nm) 80
- longterm-stable and cost-efficient alternative to Espacer Resolution (µm) / Contrast - 2. Coating SX AR-PC 5000/91.2
- easy removal with water after exposure Flash point (°C) 39 2000 rpm, 50 s , 50 nm
- polyaniline-derivative dissolved in water and IPA Storage 6 month (°C) 8 - 12
2. Soft bake (± 1 °C) 50 °C, 2 min hot plate or
Conductivity Properties II 45 °C, 25 min convection oven
Conductivity in layer
1.2 E-beam exposure Raith Pioneer, acceleration voltage 30 kV
60 nm (S/m)
Cauchy-Koeffizienten N0 - Exposure dose (E0): 30 µC/cm² , 100 nm spaces & lines
N1 -
N2 - Removal optional AR-PC 5091.02 (The removal step can also be carried out simul-
Plasma etching rates (nm/min) Ar-sputtering - DI-H2O, 60 s taneously with the subsequent development step.)
(5 Pa. 240-250 V Bias) O2 185
CF4 68 Development AR-N 7520.07 new
80 CF4 120 (21-23 °C ± 0.5 °C) puddle AR 300-47, 50 s
+ 16 O2
Rinse DI-H2O, 30 s
Resistance measurements of AR-PC 5091.02 layers REM dissipation of charges
obtained after spin deposition. For thinner films, the Post-bake 85 °C, 1 min hot plate or 85 °C, 25 min convection oven
(optional) for slightly enhanced plasma etching stability
resistance increases and the conductivity decreases.
Note: Novolac-based e-beam resists possess other
surface properties than CSAR 62 or PMMA. AR-PC 50 nm lines written Customer-specific Generation of e.g. semi-conductor properties, etching,
on glass at a pitch technologies sputtering
5091 was thus developed with a different solvent mix- of 150 nm with
ture. In all other respects however, the polymer com- AR-N 7520.07 and
position of AR-PC 5090 and AR-PC 5091 is identical AR-PC 5091.02 Removal AR 600-70 or O2 plasma ashing
so that both resists are referred to as “Electra 92“.
Process chemicals Processing instructions
Process parameters
As of: January 2017
Adhesion promoter - The conductivity may be varied by adjusting the thickness with different rotational speeds. Thicker layers of 90 nm
As of January 2017
Substrate 4“ wafer quarz with AR-N 7520.07 neu Developer - thus have a 2.5 times higher conductivity as compared to 60 nm thick layers. In the case that crack formation is
Coating 2000 rpm, 60 nm Thinner - observed after tempering of the protective coating, the tempering step can be omitted.
Soft bake 50 °C Remover DI-water For the build-up of an even conductive layer, the substrate should be wetted with the resist solution before the
spin process is started.
50 51
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Protective Coating Electra 92 Protective Coating Electra 92
E-Beam Resists
E-Beam Resists
Application examples for PMMA-Electra 92 Application examples for PMMA Electra 92 Application examples for Novolac Electra 92
Shelf live of Electra 92 CSAR 62 and Electra 92 on glass Electra 92 with HSQ on quartz Electra 92 and AR-N 7700 on glass
Substrate Glas 24 x 24 mm
Adhesion AR 300-80 4000 rpm; 10 min, 180 °C hot plate
Coating AR-P 6200.09 4000 rpm; 8 min, 150 °C hot plate
Copating AR-PC 5090.02 4000 rpm; 5 min, 105 °C hot plate
E-beam-irradiation Raith Pioneer; 30 kV, 75 µC/cm²
Removal Electra 92 2 x 30 s water, dipping bath 20 nm bars of HSQ, prepared on quartz AR-PC 5090.02
Bath (drying) 30 s AR 600-60 After a coating of Electra 92 on an HSQ resist, even this
Development CSAR 62 60 s AR 600-546 resist can be patterned on a quartz substrate with very 60 – 150 nm squares (100 nm height) on glass with AR-N 7700.08
and AR-P 5091.02
Stopping 30 s AR 600-60 high quality. The HSQ resist (20 nm thickness) was irradi-
ated with the required area dose of 4300 μC/cm². Novolac-based e-beam resists possess other surface pro-
Conductivity properties of differently aged Electra 92 batches At a CSAR 62 film thickness of 200 nm, squares with an
edge length of 30 nm could reliably be resolved on glass. SX AR-PC 5000/90.2 was subsequently completely re- perties than CSAR 62 or PMMA. For this reason, AR-PC
The conductivity was determined as a function of the 5091.02 was designed with a different solvent composi-
measured temperature. At temperatures < 100 °C, moved within 2 minutes with warm water and no resi-
PMMA Lift-off on glass with Electra 92 dues could be detected. After development of the HSQ tion. E-beam resist AR-N 7700.08 was at first spincoa-
both resists show a virtually identical conductivity. Elec- ted on glass, dried, coated with Electra 92 and baked at
tra 92 is thus characterised by a very long shelf life. resist, the structures with high-precision 20 nm bars re-
mained. 50 °C. After irradiation, the Electra layer was removed
Conductivity measurements up to a temperature of 160 within 1 minute with water and the e-beam resist then
°C which were performed directly on a hotplate showed a
Lift-off struktures on garnet developed. The resulting resolution of 60 nm is very high
large increase of the conductivity by a factor of 10 (see dia-
for chemically amplified resists.
gram). This fact is due to the complete removal of water
from the layer. After a few hours of air humidity absorption
under room conditions, the conductivity decreases again to On highly insulating substrates for SEM applications
200 nm squares produced with 2-layer PMMA lift-off
the initial value. In the high vacuum of e-beam devices, the Electrostatic surface charges caused by a deflection of
water is also completely removed and the conductivity thus Initially, the PMMA resist AR-P 669.04 (200 nm thickness)
the incident electron beam can be extremely disturbing
increases accordingly. This effect has been demonstrated in was coated on a quartz substrate and tempered. The se-
and interfere with a correct imaging. To avoid this effect,
direct conductivity measurements under mediate vacuum cond PMMA resist AR-P 679.03 was then applied (150
e.g. gold is evaporated onto the sample which however
conditions. Temperatures above 165 °C destroy the polya- nm thickness) and tempered, followed by coating with
also entails disadvantages since some structures change
niline irreversibly and no conductivity is observed any more. Electra 92. After exposure, Electra 92 was removed with
irreversibly due to thermal effects. Studies demonstra-
water, the PMMA structures were developed (AR 600-
CSAR 62 on glass with Electra 92 for deriving ted that the conductive coating Electra 92 can be used
56) and the substrate vaporised with titanium/gold. After Lift-off structures on garnet (University of California, Riverside,
Department of Physics and Astronomy) as alternative. The coating on electrically highly insulating
a liftoff with acetone, the desired squares remained on the
polymers or glass also enables high-quality images of na-
glass with high precision.
Plasmonic structures on quartz nostructures in SEM:
PMMA-Lift-off auf Glas mit Electra 92
Substrate Glas 25 x 25 mm
Coating AR-P 669.04 4000 rpm; 3 min, 150 °C hot plate
Coating AR-P 679.03 4000 rpm; 3 min, 150 °C hot plate
30 – 150 nm squares of CSAR 62 on glass
Coating AR-PC 5090.02 2500 rpm; 5 min, 105 °C hot plate
The combination of CSAR 62 with Electra 92 - AR-PC E-beam irradiation Raith Pioneer; 30 kV, 75 µC/cm²
5090.02 offers the best options to realise complex e-
As of: January 2017
As of January 2017
Removal Electra 92 2 x 30 s water
beam structuring processes on glass or semi-insulating SEM images: Highly insulating polymer structures coated with AR-PC
Development PMMAs 60 s AR 600-56
substrates like e.g. gallium arsenide. The excellent sensiti- 5090.02
Stopping 30 s AR 600-60
vity and highest resolution of the CSAR are complemen- Silver nanoparticles on quartz, generated with AR-P 672.11 and AR- After SEM investigation, the conductive coating was completely
ted harmoniously by the conductivity of Electra 92. Steaming titanium/gold PC 5090.02 (Aarhus University, Denmark)
removed with water, and structures could still be used further.
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