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.

Embodiments disclosed herein include methods of depositing a metal oxo photoresist using dry deposition processes. In an embodiment, the method comprises forming a first metal oxo film on the substrate with a first vapor phase process including a first metal precursor vapor and a first oxidant vapor, and forming a second metal oxo film over the first metal oxo film with a second vapor phase process including a second metal precursor vapor and a second oxidant vapor.

Embodiments described herein are directed to interfacial layers and techniques of forming such interfacial layers. An interfacial layer having one or more light absorbing molecules is on a metal layer. The light absorbing molecule(s) may comprise a moiety exhibiting light absorbing properties. The interfacial layer can assist with improving adhesion of a resist layer to the metal layer and with improving use of one or more lithography techniques to fabricate interconnects and/or features using the resist and metal layers for a package substrate, a semiconductor package, or a PCB. For one embodiment, the interfacial layer includes, but is not limited to, an organic interfacial layer. Examples of organic interfacial layers include, but are not limited to, self-assembled monolayers (SAMs), constructs and/or variations of SAMs, organic adhesion promotor moieties, and non-adhesion promoter moieties.

Methods for processing a substrate are provided. The method includes receiving a substrate. The substrate has a front side surface, a backside surface, and a side edge surface. The method also includes forming a first material in a first annular region of the front side surface, resulting in the first annular being coated with the first material. The first annular region is immediately adjacent to a perimeter of the substrate. The first annular region has a first outer perimeter proximate to the perimeter of the substrate and a first inner perimeter away from the perimeter of the substrate. The method also includes forming a second material in an interior region of the front side surface, the second material coating the front side surface without adhering to the annular region.

Methods and apparatus for forming a patterned layer of material are disclosed. In one arrangement, a selected portion of a surface of a substrate is irradiated during a deposition process, the irradiation being such as to locally drive the deposition process in the selected portion to form a layer of deposited material in a pattern defined by the selected portion. The deposited material is annealed to modify the deposited material.

An example of a flow cell includes a substrate; a first primer set attached to a first region on the substrate, the first primer set including an un-cleavable first primer and a cleavable second primer; and a second primer set attached to a second region on the substrate, the second primer set including a cleavable first primer and an un-cleavable second primer.

Metal-comprising resist layers (for example, metal oxide resist layers), methods for forming the metal-comprising resist layers, and lithography methods that implement the metal-comprising resist layers are disclosed herein that can improve lithography resolution. An exemplary method includes forming a metal oxide resist layer over a workpiece by performing deposition processes to form metal oxide resist sublayers of the metal oxide resist layer over the workpiece and performing a densification process on at least one of the metal oxide resist sublayers. Each deposition process forms a respective one of the metal oxide resist sublayers. The densification process increases a density of the at least one of the metal oxide resist sublayers. Parameters of the deposition processes and/or parameters of the densification process can be tuned to achieve different density profiles, different density characteristics, and/or different absorption characteristics to optimize patterning of the metal oxide resist layer.

A substrate treatment method of treating a treatment object substrate includes before applying a resist solution for forming a resist film onto a base film formed on a substrate surface of the treatment object substrate, performing a treatment of decreasing a polarity of the base film when the polarity of the base film is higher than a polarity of the resist solution, and performing a treatment of increasing the polarity of the base film when the polarity of the base film is lower than the polarity of the resist solution.

A substrate, a substrate holder, a substrate coating apparatus, a method for coating the substrate and a method for removing the coating. A monomolecular layer is applied to the backside of the substrate or a clamp surface of the substrate holder. The friction force between the substrate backside and the substrate is small when the substrate does not experience full clamping force. After loading the substrate on the substrate holder full clamping force is exerted in order to fix the substrate. The clamping force causes local removal of the monomolecular layer, resulting in an increase of the friction force between the substrate and the substrate holder.

A method of planarizing a substrate includes receiving a substrate having structures formed on a target layer on a working surface of a substrate where the structures and the target layer are formed of different materials. Depositing a grafting material, including a solubility-shifting agent, on the substrate, the grafting material adhering to uncovered surfaces of the target layer without adhering to surfaces of the structures, depositing a fill material on the substrate that covers the grafting material, causing the solubility-shifting agent to diffuse a predetermined distance into the fill material, where the solubility-shifting agent causes the fill material to become insoluble to a predetermined solvent, and using the predetermined solvent to remove soluble portions of the fill material where the remaining portions of the fill material form a surface parallel to the working surface of the substrate.