A method of manufacturing a printed circuit board a includes preparing an insulating substrate on which a first metal layer is formed, stacking a resist laminate having a plurality of layers on the first metal layer, forming an opening exposing a portion of the first metal layer by patterning the stacked resist laminate having the plurality of layers, forming a second metal layer on the exposed portion of the first metal layer, removing the patterned resist laminate having the plurality of layers, and etching at least another portion of the first metal layer.

According to one embodiment, a pattern forming method includes forming an organic film on a processing target material, the organic film comprising a convex part and a remaining film part adjacent to the convex part and thinner than the convex part. The method further includes irradiating the organic film with an electron beam to decrease a dry etching rate of the organic film. The method further includes removing the remaining film part by dry etching of the organic film. The method further includes forming a pattern on the processing target material by dry etching using the organic film from which the remaining film part has been removed as a mask.

A device having a color photo resist pattern includes a 3D substrate, at least one color photo resist layer and at least one circuit pattern layer. The at least one color photo resist layer is formed on said 3D substrate and forms a visual pattern together. The at least one circuit pattern layer is formed on said visual pattern formed by said at least one color photo resist layer.

Disclosed are a separator for lipid bilayer membrane formation capable of forming a lipid bilayer membrane with excellent properties, wherein the separator for lipid bilayer membrane formation has sufficient mechanical strength and can be easily manufactured in a large scale by using a general-purpose machine without need of using an expensive machine, and a method of producing the separator. The separator for lipid bilayer membrane formation includes a thin film having one or more through holes and made of a resin capable of being wet-etched, and reinforcing layers covering both surfaces of the thin film and made of a resin capable of being wet-etched. The reinforcing layers cover the whole area of the thin film, except for the through holes and the peripheries thereof, and each through hole has a tapered cross-sectional shape.

A method includes forming a tri-layer. The tri-layer includes a bottom layer; a middle layer over the bottom layer; and a top layer over the middle layer. The top layer includes a photo resist. The method further includes removing the top layer; and removing the middle layer using a chemical solution. The chemical solution is free from potassium hydroxide (KOH), and includes at least one of a quaternary ammonium hydroxide and a quaternary ammonium fluoride.

Techniques herein include methods for forming a direct write, tunable stress film and methods for correcting wafer bow using said stress film. The method can be executed on a coater-developer tool or track-based tool. The stress film can be based on a film that undergoes crosslinking/decrosslinking under external stimulus where direct write is achieved by, but is not limited to, 365 nm exposure and subsequent cure is used to “pattern-in” stress. No develop step may be required, which provides additional significant benefit in conserving film planarity. An amount of bow (or internal stress to create or affect a bow signature) can be tuned with exposure dose, bake temperature, bake time and number of bakes.

Disclosed herein are techniques for fabricating a straight or slanted surface-relief grating with a uniform or non-uniform grating depth. According to certain embodiments, a gray-tone photoresist includes a novolac resin, a diazonaphthoquinone (DNQ) dissolution inhibitor, and one or more crosslinking agents for crosslinking the novolac resin at an elevated temperature to increase a glass transition temperature of the gray-tone photoresist and/or lower an etch rate of the gray-tone photoresist. After gray-tone photo exposure and development, the gray-tone photoresist is baked at the elevated temperature to crosslink. The crosslinked gray-tone photoresist has a higher density and a higher glass transition temperature, and thus would not become flowable to cause ripples or other surface roughness during the etching.

A shadow mask for patterned vapor deposition of an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) material includes a ceramic membrane under tensile stress with a plurality of through-apertures forming an aperture array through which a vaporized deposition material can pass. A multilayer peripheral support is attached to a rear surface with a hollow portion beneath the aperture array. A compressively-stressed interlayer balances the tensile stress of the ceramic membrane. A shadow mask module with multiple shadow masks is also provided and includes a rigid carrier having plural windows with a shadow mask positioned in each window. To make the module, shadow mask blanks are affixed to each carrier window followed by etching of apertures and support layers. In this way extremely flat masks with precise aperture patterns are formed.

A composition for forming a resist underlayer film that enables the formation of a desired resist pattern, a method for manufacturing a resist pattern using the composition for forming a resist underlayer film and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device. This composition for forming an EUV resist underlayer film includes a polymer that contains a structure represented by formula (1) at an end [in formula (1): X.sup.1 represents —O—, —S—, an ester bond or an amide bond; R.sup.1 represents an optionally halogenated alkyl group having 1-20 carbon atoms; and * represents a binding portion to the polymer end] and an organic solvent.

In a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, a hydrophobic solvent as a gas is directed to flow over a bevel region of a wafer. A layer of the hydrophobic solvent is deposited on an upper bevel of the bevel region on top surface of the wafer and on a lower bevel of the bevel region on bottom surface of the wafer. A metal-containing photo resist layer is disposed on an internal region of the top surface of the wafer enclosed by the bevel region. During a subsequent processing operation, a photo resist material of the metal-containing photo resist layer is blocked off inside the top surface of the wafer by the layer of the hydrophobic solvent.