Techniques described herein relate to methods, apparatus, and systems for promoting adhesion between a substrate and a metal-containing photoresist. For instance, the method may include receiving the substrate in a reaction chamber, the substrate having a first material exposed on its surface, the first material including a silicon-based material and/or a carbon-based material; generating a plasma from a plasma generation gas source that is substantially free of silicon, where the plasma includes chemical functional groups; exposing the substrate to the plasma to modify the surface of the substrate by forming bonds between the first material and chemical functional groups from the plasma; and depositing the metal-containing photoresist on the modified surface of the substrate, where the bonds between the first material and the chemical functional groups promote adhesion between the substrate and the metal-containing photoresist.

The present disclosure relates a lithographic substrate marking tool. The tool includes a first electromagnetic radiation source disposed within a housing and configured to generate a first type of electromagnetic radiation. A radiation guide is configured to provide the first type of electromagnetic radiation to a photosensitive material over a substrate. A second electromagnetic radiation source is disposed within the housing and is configured to generate a second type of electromagnetic radiation that is provided to the photosensitive material.

An object of the present invention is to provide a chemical liquid supply method capable of reducing the content of impurities in a chemical liquid. Another object of the present invention is to provide a pattern forming method.

The chemical liquid supply method according to an embodiment of the present invention is a chemical liquid supply method of supplying a chemical liquid containing an organic solvent through a pipe line that an apparatus for semiconductor devices comprises, the chemical liquid supply method having a gas pumping step of sending the chemical liquid by pressurization using a gas, in which a moisture content in the gas is 0.00001 to 1 ppm by mass with respect to a total mass of the gas.

A spectral feature selection apparatus includes a dispersive optical element arranged to interact with a pulsed light beam; three or more refractive optical elements arranged in a path of the pulsed light beam between the dispersive optical element and a pulsed optical source; and one or more actuation systems, each actuation system associated with a refractive optical element and configured to rotate the associated refractive optical element to thereby adjust a spectral feature of the pulsed light beam. At least one of the actuation systems is a rapid actuation system that includes a rapid actuator configured to rotate its associated refractive optical element about a rotation axis. The rapid actuator includes a rotary stepper motor having a rotation shaft that rotates about a shaft axis that is parallel with the rotation axis of the associated refractive optical element.

A pattern forming method comprises dispensing a curable composition onto an underlayer of a substrate; bringing the curable composition into contact with a mold; irradiating the curable composition with light to form a cured film; and separating the cured film from the mold. The proportion of the number of carbon atoms relative to the total number of atoms in the underlayer is 80% or more. The dispensing step comprises a first dispensing step of dispensing a curable composition (A1) substantially free of a fluorosurfactant onto the underlayer, and a second dispensing step of dripping a droplet of a curable composition (A2) having a fluorosurfactant concentration in components excluding a solvent of 1.1% by mass or less onto the curable composition (A1) discretely.

A semiconductor structure is provided. The semiconductor structure includes a base substrate including a plurality of non-device regions; a middle fin structure and an edge fin disposed around the middle fin structure on the base substrate between adjacent non-device regions; a first barrier layer on sidewalls of the edge fin; and an isolation layer on the base substrate. The isolation layer has a top surface lower than the edge fin and the middle fin structure, and covers a portion of the sidewalls of each of the edge fin and the middle fin structure. The isolation layer further has a material density smaller than the first barrier layer.

An extreme ultra-violet (EUV) lithography process includes lithographically patterning first through fourth photoresist regions on respective first through fourth regions of a semiconductor substrate, in sequence, using a mask. This mask includes a main area in which a main pattern is defined, a first dummy area in which a first dummy pattern is defined, a second dummy area in which a plurality of second sub-dummy patterns are defined at corresponding corners of the mask, and an alignment area including an alignment pattern therein that is spaced farther from a center of the main area relative to the first and second dummy areas. During the lithographically patterning, at least part of the alignment area on the first region of the substrate is exposed at least three times to EUV light, using the mask.

An extreme ultra-violet (EUV) lithography process includes lithographically patterning first through fourth photoresist regions on respective first through fourth regions of a semiconductor substrate, in sequence, using a mask. This mask includes a main area in which a main pattern is defined, a first dummy area in which a first dummy pattern is defined, a second dummy area in which a plurality of second sub-dummy patterns are defined at corresponding corners of the mask, and an alignment area including an alignment pattern therein that is spaced farther from a center of the main area relative to the first and second dummy areas. During the lithographically patterning, at least part of the alignment area on the first region of the substrate is exposed at least three times to EUV light, using the mask.

Provided are photoresist compositions for EUV and methods for manufacturing a semiconductor device using the same. The photoresist compositions for EUV include a photosensitive resin, a photoacid generator, and an additive, wherein the additive comprises a copolymer including a first repeating unit that includes a fluoroalkyl group or hydrocarbon group substituted with one or more fluoroalkyl group(s), and a second repeating unit that includes a sulfonic acid group and an amide group.

A method includes transferring a wafer to a position over a wafer chuck; ejecting a first gas from a purging device above the wafer to clean a top surface of the wafer; after ejecting the first gas, lifting a lifting pin through the wafer chuck to receive the wafer; and after the wafer is received by the lifting pin, ejecting a second gas from first openings in a sidewall of the lifting pin to a region between a bottom surface of the wafer and a top surface of the wafer chuck.