Integrated circuitry comprising an opaque material layer, such an interconnect metallization layer is first patterned with a maskless lithography to reveal an alignment feature, and is then patterned with masked lithography that aligns to the alignment feature. In some examples, the maskless lithography employs an I-line digital light processing (DLP) lithography system. In some examples the I-line DLP lithography system performs an alignment with IR illumination through a backside of a wafer. The maskless pattern may include dimensionally large windows within a frame around circuitry regions. A first etch of the opaque material layer may expose the alignment feature within the window, and a second etch of the opaque material may form IC features, such as interconnect metallization features.

The present invention relates to a resist composition, especially for use in the production of electronic components via electron beam lithography. In addition to the usual base polymeric component (resist polymer), a secondary electron generator is included in resist compositions of the invention in order to promote secondary electron generation. This unique combination of components increases the exposure sensitivity of resists in a controlled fashion which facilitates the effective production of high-resolution patterned substrates (and consequential electronic components), but at much higher write speeds.

A method, apparatus, and system for processing a material stack. A hydrogen silsesquioxane layer is deposited on the material stack. A diffusion barrier layer is deposited on the hydrogen silsesquioxane layer to form a bilayer. The diffusion barrier layer comprises a material having a thickness that increases an amount of time before the hydrogen silsesquioxane layer ages to change a dose in an electron beam needed to expose the hydrogen silsesquioxane layer for a selected feature geometry with a desired width. The electron beam is directed through a surface of the bilayer to form an exposed portion of the bilayer. The electron beam applies the dose that is selected based on a pattern density of features for the material stack to have a desired level of exposure of the hydrogen silsesquioxane layer for the selected feature geometry. The hydrogen silsesquioxane layer is developed. The exposed portion remains on material stack.

A resist underlayer film for lithography does not cause intermixing with a resist layer, has high dry etching resistance and high heat resistance, and generates a low amount of sublimate. A resist underlayer film-forming composition containing a polymer having a unit structure of the following formula (1): ##STR00001##
wherein A is a divalent group having at least two amino groups, the group is derived from a compound having a condensed ring structure and an aromatic group for substituting a hydrogen atom on the condensed ring, and B.sup.1 and B.sup.2 are each independently a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, a benzene ring group, a condensed ring group, or a combination thereof, or B.sup.1 and B.sup.2 optionally form a ring with a carbon atom bonded to B.sup.1 and B.sup.2.

A resist composition comprising a base polymer and an acid generator containing a sulfonium salt having an iodized benzene ring offers a high sensitivity, minimal LWR and improved CDU independent of whether it is of positive or negative tone.

Graphene photodetectors capable of operating in the sub-bandgap region relative to the bandgap of semiconductor nanoparticles, as well as methods of manufacturing the same, are provided. A photodetector can include a layer of graphene, a layer of semiconductor nanoparticles, a dielectric layer, a supporting medium, and a packaging layer. The semiconductor nanoparticles can be semiconductors with bandgaps larger than the energy of photons meant to be detected.

A resist underlayer film for lithography does not cause intermixing with a resist layer, has high dry etching resistance and high heat resistance, and generates a low amount of sublimate. A resist underlayer film-forming composition containing a polymer having a unit structure of the following formula (1):

##STR00001##

wherein A is a divalent group having at least two amino groups, the group is derived from a compound having a condensed ring structure and an aromatic group for substituting a hydrogen atom on the condensed ring, and B.sup.1 and B.sup.2 are each independently a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, a benzene ring group, a condensed ring group, or a combination thereof, or B.sup.1 and B.sup.2 optionally form a ring with a carbon atom bonded to B.sup.1 and B.sup.2.

The invention discloses a sub-nanoscale high-precision lithography writing field stitching method. A photosensitive resist layer is coated on the surface of the wafer to be exposed; after the surface of the photosensitive resist layer is exposed, the exposed pattern will generate a tiny concave-convex structure; the concave-convex structure patterns are identified with a nano contact sensor and can be used as in-situ alignment coordinate markers; by comparing the position coordinates of the writing field before and after exposure and wafer moving, the deviations of stitching can be calculated, and an high-precision lithography stitching of the wafer is performed in a negative feedback control mode, so that the disadvantages of the existing non-in-situ, far-from-writing field and the poor performance of stitching precision in blind type open-loop lithography technology due to the influence of mechanical motion precision of a wafer workbench and long-time drift of an electron beam are overcome.

Embodiments of present invention provide a method of forming an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) mask. The method includes subliming a radiation-sensitive material onto a surface of an EUV blank substrate; exposing the radiation-sensitive material to an ionizing radiation to form an EUV mask pattern; and removing a portion of the radiation-sensitive material from the surface of the EUV blank substrate where the portion of the radiation-sensitive material is unexposed to the ionizing radiation. An EUV mask made therefrom, and the related radiation-sensitive material are also provided.

A photomask blank has a resist film which is obtained by coating a chemically amplified positive resist composition comprising a polymer comprising phenolic hydroxy-containing repeat units and repeat units having a carboxy group which is protected with an acid labile group in the form of a tertiary hydrocarbyl group having an electron attractive moiety and/or hydroxy-substituted phenyl moiety bonded to the tertiary carbon, and an organic solvent. The resist film is processed to form a pattern with a high resolution, reduced LER, improved rectangularity, and pattern fidelity.