A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming a first layer including an organic material over a substrate. A second layer including a reaction product of a silicon-containing material and a photoacid generator is formed over the first layer. A photosensitive layer is formed over the second layer, and the second layer is patterned.

A method of forming a mask includes forming a base film containing a treatment agent on an object, forming a photosensitive organic film on the base film, forming an infiltrated portion by infiltrating the treatment agent into a lower portion of the photosensitive organic film, selectively exposing the photosensitive organic film to form a first region soluble in an alkaline solution and a second region insoluble in the alkaline solution, forming a third region insoluble in the alkaline solution in the infiltrated portion in the first region by causing a reaction between the first region and the treatment agent, developing the photosensitive organic film to remove a fourth region that is in the first region and other than the third region while leaving intact the second region and the third region, and etching the photosensitive organic film to remove one of the second region and the third region.

A patterning stack is provided. The patterning stack includes a bottom anti-reflective coating (BARC) layer over a substrate, a photoresist layer having a first etching resistance over the BARC layer, and a top coating layer having a second etching resistance greater than the first etching resistance over the photoresist layer. The top coating layer includes a polymer having a polymer backbone including at least one functional unit of high etching resistance and one or more acid labile groups attached to the polymer backbone or a silicon cage compound.

A film-forming composition for forming a resist underlayer film for a solvent development type resist that is capable of forming a good resist pattern which contains a hydrolysis-condensation product of a hydrolyzable silane compound, at least one substance that is selected from the group consisting of an aminoplast crosslinking agent and a phenoplast crosslinking agent, and a solvent, and wherein the hydrolyzable silane compound contains a hydrolyzable silane represented by formula (1).

A film-forming composition includes a solvent and hydrolysis condensate prepared through hydrolysis and condensation of a hydrolyzable silane compound by using an acidic compound containing two or more acidic groups. The hydrolyzable silane compound contains an amino-group-containing silane with formula (1). R.sup.1 is an organic group containing an amino group. R.sup.2 is a substitutable alkyl, substitutable aryl, substitutable aralkyl, substitutable halogenated alkyl, substitutable halogenated aryl, substitutable halogenated aralkyl, substitutable alkoxyalkyl, substitutable alkoxyaryl, substitutable alkoxyaralkyl, or substitutable alkenyl group, or an organic group containing an epoxy, acryloyl, methacryloyl, mercapto, or a cyano group. R.sup.3 is an alkoxy, aralkyloxy, or acyloxy group or halogen atom. a is an integer of 1 or 2, b of 0 or 1; and a and b satisfy a relation of a+b≤2.

R.sup.1.sub.aR.sup.2.sub.bSi(R.sup.3).sub.4−(a+b)  (1)

Methods and apparatuses for minimizing line edge/width roughness in lines formed by photolithography are provided. In one example, a method of processing a substrate includes applying a photoresist layer comprising a photoacid generator to on a multi-layer disposed on a substrate, wherein the multi-layer comprises an underlayer formed from an organic material, inorganic material, or a mixture of organic and inorganic materials, exposing a first portion of the photoresist layer unprotected by a photomask to a radiation light in a lithographic exposure process, and applying an electric field or a magnetic field to alter movement of photoacid generated from the photoacid generator substantially in a vertical direction.

A hard mask-forming composition which forms a hard mask used in lithography, including: a resin containing an aromatic ring and a polar group; and a compound containing at least one of an oxazine ring fused to an aromatic ring, and a fluorene ring.

Disclosed is a sol-gel imprinting ink composition comprising a sol and an additive for promoting gelation of the composition during imprinting at an imprinting temperature. The composition has a pH of 4-7 when mixed with an equal volume of deionized water and measured at 20° C. and 1 atm. The additive is the reversible reaction product of a protic acid and a proton-accepting base. The vapour pressure of the acid is higher than that of the base at the imprinting temperature such that the concentration of the base in the composition increases relative to the concentration of the acid in the composition during imprinting, resulting in basification of the composition. Further disclosed is a method of forming a patterned layer with such a sol-gel imprinting ink composition, and an optical element and an etch mask respectively including the patterned layer.

The object of the present invention is to provide resist underlayer film-forming composition for forming resist underlayer film usable as hard mask and removable by wet etching process using chemical solution such as sulfuric acid/hydrogen peroxide. A resist underlayer film-forming composition for lithography comprises a component (A) and component (B), the component (A) includes a hydrolyzable silane, hydrolysis product thereof, or hydrolysis-condensation product thereof, the hydrolyzable silane includes hydrolyzable silane of Formula (1):R.sup.1.sub.aR.sup.2.sub.bSi(R.sup.3).sub.4−(a+b) (where R.sup.1 is organic group of Formula (2):

##STR00001##

and is bonded to silicon atom through a Si—C bond; R.sup.3 is an alkoxy group, acyloxy group, or halogen group; is an integer of 1; b is an integer of 0 to 2; and a+b is an integer of 1 to 3), and the component (B) is cross-linkable compound having ring structure having alkoxymethyl group or hydroxymethyl group, cross-linkable compound having epoxy group or blocked isocyanate group.

In this invention use of silicone hard-coated polycarbonate (SHC-PC) as direct photo definable, thermally, chemically and optically stable polymer that can be patterned using conventional microfabrication and drying etching process is reported. As a result of the increased resistance to thermal and chemical deformations and flow of the silicone hard-coated polycarbonate (SHC-PC), it has been shown for the first time that the illustrated process herein to be compatible with a variety of conventional thin film deposition, micro and nano fabrication approaches such as metal evaporation, photoresist deposition/developing and electroplating that are typically incompatible to polycarbonate. As such high optical clarity surfaces with ultra-hydrophobic-hydrophilic properties with well-defined micro and nano patterned surface features of high surface roughness were fabricated with high fidelity.