A method for forming a semiconductor structure is provided. The method includes depositing a hard mask layer over a substrate. The method further includes depositing a silver precursor layer over the hard mask layer. The method further includes exposing portions of the silver precursor layer to a radiation, the radiation causing a reduction of silver ions in the irradiated portions of the silver precursor layer. The method further includes removing non-irradiated portions of the silver precursor layer, resulting in a plurality of silver seed structures.

A method for forming a semiconductor structure is provided. The method includes depositing a hard mask layer over a substrate. The method further includes depositing a silver precursor layer over the hard mask layer. The method further includes exposing portions of the silver precursor layer to a radiation, the radiation causing a reduction of silver ions in the irradiated portions of the silver precursor layer. The method further includes removing non-irradiated portions of the silver precursor layer, resulting in a plurality of silver seed structures.

The present invention is a composition for forming a silicon-containing metal hard mask, including: (A) a metal oxide nanoparticle; (B) a thermally crosslinkable polysiloxane (Sx) having no aromatic-ring-containing organic group; and (C) a solvent. This provides a composition for forming a silicon-containing metal hard mask that has a high effect of inhibiting collapse of an ultrafine pattern in a multilayer resist method, that can form a resist pattern having excellent LWR, that has more excellent dry etching resistance and wet removability than a conventional silicon-containing underlayer film material, and that has more excellent filling ability than a conventional metal hard mask material.

A resist composition comprising a sulfonium compound of specific structure as PAG has excellent lithography performance factors such as minimal defects, high sensitivity, improved LWR and CDU, and is a quite effective resist material for precise micropatterning.

Methods and apparatus for fabricating high-resolution thin-layer metal patterns and 3D Metal structures are provided. The methods and apparatus operate via photo-(stereo)lithography at room temperature. The printed metal patterns, for example silver patterns, exhibit high electrical conductivity, comparable to or better than the conductivity of the silver printed by current laser sintering or thermal annealing at high temperature.

A resist compound is represented by Formula 1:

##STR00001##

wherein R.sub.1 is an alkyl group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms, an alkenyl group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms, or a hydrocarbon ring group having 3 to 12 carbon atoms, and A bonded to R.sub.1 is O or NR.sub.2, wherein R.sub.2 is hydrogen, an alkyl group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms, an alkenyl group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms, or a hydrocarbon ring group having 3 to 12 carbon atoms. A resist composition includes the resist compound and an organic solvent. A method for forming a resist pattern includes forming a resist layer by applying the resist composition including the resist compound on a substrate, irradiating light onto the resist layer to provide an irradiated resist layer, and developing the irradiated resist layer to form a resist pattern.

A resist compound is represented by Formula 1:

##STR00001##

wherein R.sub.1 is an alkyl group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms, an alkenyl group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms, or a hydrocarbon ring group having 3 to 12 carbon atoms, and A bonded to R.sub.1 is O or NR.sub.2, wherein R.sub.2 is hydrogen, an alkyl group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms, an alkenyl group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms, or a hydrocarbon ring group having 3 to 12 carbon atoms. A resist composition includes the resist compound and an organic solvent. A method for forming a resist pattern includes forming a resist layer by applying the resist composition including the resist compound on a substrate, irradiating light onto the resist layer to provide an irradiated resist layer, and developing the irradiated resist layer to form a resist pattern.

A resist underlayer composition and a method of forming patterns, the composition including a polymer including at least one of a first moiety represented by Chemical Formula 1-1 and a second moiety represented by Chemical Formula 1-2; a thermal acid generator including a salt composed of an anion of an acid and a cation of a base, the base having pKa of greater than or equal to about 7; and a solvent,

##STR00001##

A method of preparing a transparent conductive film (100) comprising the steps of: —applying a nano-silver composition on a substrate thereby forming a nano-silver coating (20) on the substrate (10), —imagewise exposing the nano-silver coating with Near Infrared (NIR) radiation (40) thereby forming exposed and non-exposed areas, and —removing (70) the non-exposed areas of the nano-silver coating.

A method of preparing a transparent conductive film (100) comprising the steps of: —applying a nano-silver composition on a substrate thereby forming a nano-silver coating (20) on the substrate (10), —imagewise exposing the nano-silver coating with Near Infrared (NIR) radiation (40) thereby forming exposed and non-exposed areas, and —removing (70) the non-exposed areas of the nano-silver coating.