A photo-decomposable compound, a photoresist composition including the photo-decomposable compound, and a method of manufacturing an integrated circuit (IC) device using the photoresist composition, the photo-decomposable compound including a phenyl sulfonium cation component; and an anion component, wherein the phenyl sulfonium cation component has a protecting group, which is decomposable by an action of acid to generate an alkali-soluble group in response to exposure, the anion component generates acid in response to exposure, the protecting group is represented by *—C(═O)OR, in which R is a substituted or unsubstituted t-butyl group or a substituted or unsubstituted C3 to C30 alicyclic group, and * is a bonding site, and the protecting group is bonded to a phenyl group of the phenyl sulfonium cation component through an ether linking group.

An extreme ultraviolet light generation apparatus that generates plasma by irradiating a target substance with a pulse laser beam and generates extreme ultraviolet light from the plasma includes: a chamber housing a collector mirror configured to condense the extreme ultraviolet light; a gas introduction pipe through which gas is introduced into the chamber; a mass flow controller configured to change the flow rate of the gas; a discharge pump configured to discharge the gas from the chamber; a pressure sensor configured to monitor the pressure in the chamber; and a control unit configured to control the mass flow controller based on the pressure measured by using the pressure sensor. The control unit controls the mass flow controller to increase an increase ratio of the flow rate of the gas entering the chamber as the pressure acquired by the pressure sensor increases.

A butted contact structure is provided. In one embodiment, a structure includes a first transistor on a substrate, the first transistor comprising a first source or drain region, a first gate, and a first gate spacer being disposed between the first gate and the first source or drain region. The structure includes a second transistor on the substrate, the second transistor comprising a second source or drain region, a second gate, and a second gate spacer being disposed between the second gate and the second source or drain region. The structure includes a butted contact disposed above and extending from the first source or drain region to at least one of the first or second gate, a portion of the first gate spacer extending a distance into the butted contact to separate a first bottom surface of the butted contact from a second bottom surface of the butted contact.

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 butted contact structure is provided. In one embodiment, a structure includes a first transistor on a substrate, the first transistor comprising a first source or drain region, a first gate, and a first gate spacer being disposed between the first gate and the first source or drain region. The structure includes a second transistor on the substrate, the second transistor comprising a second source or drain region, a second gate, and a second gate spacer being disposed between the second gate and the second source or drain region. The structure includes a butted contact disposed above and extending from the first source or drain region to at least one of the first or second gate, a portion of the first gate spacer extending a distance into the butted contact to separate a first bottom surface of the butted contact from a second bottom surface of the butted contact.

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming a first tone resist layer over an underlayer. The first tone resist layer is pattern to form a first pattern exposing a portion of the underlayer. The first pattern is extended into the underlayer, and the first tone resist layer is removed. A second tone resist layer is formed over the underlayer, wherein the second tone is opposite the first tone. The second tone resist layer is patterned to form a second pattern exposing another portion of the underlayer. The second pattern is extended into underlayer, and the second tone resist layer is removed.

Described herein are photonic communication platforms that can overcome the memory bottleneck problem, thereby enabling scaling of memory capacity and bandwidth well beyond what is possible with conventional computing systems. Some embodiments provide photonic communication platforms that involve use of photonic modules. Each photonic module includes programmable photonic circuits for placing the module in optical communication with other modules based on the needs of a particular application. The architecture developed by the inventors relies on the use of common photomask sets (or at least one common photomask) to fabricate multiple photonic modules in a single wafer. Photonic modules in multiple wafers can be linked together into a communication platform using optical or electronic means.

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods for defect inspection. After pattern features are formed in a structure layer, a dummy filling material having dissimilar optical properties from the structure layer is filled in the pattern features. The dissimilar optical properties between materials in the pattern features and the structure layer increase contrast in images captured by an inspection tool, thus increasing the defect capture rate.

A composition for forming a resist underlayer film exhibits strong etching resistance, has a good dry etching rate ratio and a good optical constant, and is capable of forming a film that provides good coverage over a so-called multilevel substrate and that is flat with reduced difference in thickness after embedding. A resist underlayer film uses said composition for forming a resist underlayer film; and a method for producing a semiconductor device. The composition for forming a resist underlayer film contains: a polymer having the partial structure represented by formula (1); and a solvent. (In the formula, Ar represents an optionally substituted C6-20 aromatic group.)

An apparatus includes a beam conditioning assembly configured to output one or more wavelengths to a substrate being processed and receive one or more reflected wavelengths from the substrate, and a machine learning device configured to process the one or more reflected wavelengths to predict a process variable and compare the predicted process variable with a measured process variable to obtain a comparison result.