A heat treatment apparatus includes: a stage on which a substrate is placed and heated, the substrate including an exposed resist film formed on a surface of the substrate, and the exposed resist film exhibiting a change in solubility of an exposed portion or an unexposed portion in a liquid developer by reacting with water and being heated; a lifting mechanism configured to relatively raise and lower the substrate between a first position at which the substrate is placed on the stage and a second position which is spaced apart from the stage; and a gas supply configured to supply a first gas to the substrate located at the second position before moving to the first position, the first gas having a humidity higher than that of an atmosphere in which the stage is provided.

A composition for forming a film capable of effectively functioning as a resist underlayer film exhibiting resistance to a solvent in a composition for forming a resist film serving as an upper layer, favorable etching property to a fluorine-containing gas, and favorable lithographic property. A film-forming composition including a hydrolysis condensate prepared through hydrolysis and condensation of a hydrolyzable silane compound by using two or more acidic compounds, and a solvent, the film-forming composition being characterized in that: the hydrolyzable silane compound contains an amino-group-containing silane of the following Formula (1):

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

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

A composition for a silicon-containing resist underlying film and for forming a resist underlying film that can be removed by a conventional method employing dry etching, but also by a method employing wet etching using a chemical liquid in a step for processing a semiconductor substrate or the like; and a composition for forming a resist underlying film for lithography and for forming a resist underlying film that has excellent storage stability and produces less residue in a dry etching step. A composition for forming a resist underlying film, the composition including a hydrolysis condensate of a hydrolysable silane mixture containing an alkyltrialkoxy silane and a hydrolysable silane of formula (1), wherein the contained amount of the alkyltrialkoxy silane in the mixture is 0 mol % or more but less than 40 mol % with respect to the total amount by mole of all of the hydrolysable silane contained in the mixture.

Methods and products formed thereby that include depositing a light-absorbing particle on a substrate and irradiating the particle with a pulsed laser beam to cause an increase in local temperature of a portion of the substrate contacted by and adjacent to the particle, enabling the particle to penetrate and migrate through the substrate to form a pore. The methods may include additional steps of applying a magnetic field gradient to the particle as the particle is irradiated with the laser beam in order to promote the movement of the particle within the substrate or to direct the movement of the particle within the substrate, and/or the step of filling the pore with a material that provides a functional capability independent of the properties of the substrate.

Techniques that can assist with fabricating a package layer that includes a plurality of dual-damascene zero-misalignment-vias (dual-damascene ZMVs) and a trace between the dual-damascene ZMVs are described. The disclosed techniques allow for the dual-damascene ZMVs and their corresponding trace to be plated simultaneously in a single step or operation. As such, there is little or no misalignment between the dual-damascene ZMVs, the trace, and the metal pads connected to the ZMVs. In this way, one or more of the embodiments described herein can assist with reducing manufacturing costs, reducing development time of fabricating a package layer, and with increasing the I/O density in a semiconductor package.

A method of patterning a photoresist layer includes forming a photoresist layer on a substrate, exposing the photoresist layer to light using a first light source so as to induce a chemical change in the photoresist layer, performing a post-exposure bake process on the photoresist layer, the post-exposure bake process including irradiating the photoresist layer with at least two shots of laser light from a second light source such that the photoresist layer is heated to a first temperature, and performing a developing process on the photoresist layer after the post-exposure bake process, the development process selectively removing a portion of the photoresist layer.

Disclosed herein are an organic processing liquid for resist film patterning which is capable of suppressing the occurrence of defects in resist patterns, and a pattern forming method. Provided is an organic processing liquid for resist film patterning, which is used to carry out at least one of developing or cleaning of a resist film obtained from an actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive composition, the liquid including an organic solvent, in which the content of an oxidant in the organic processing liquid is 10 mmol/L or less.

The purpose is providing a vapor deposition mask with high rigidity which can evaporate a uniform thickness film. A vapor deposition mask including a mask body having a main opening, a side surface of the main opening, an upper surface intersecting the side surface, and a lower surface opposing the upper surface, a first insulator contacting the lower surface, and a second insulator contacting the upper and side surfaces, wherein the first insulator includes a first region inside the main opening, and a first opening in the first region, the second insulator includes a second region inside the main opening, and a second opening in the second region, the mask body is sandwiched between the first and second insulators, and one of the first and second insulators includes a region located inside the main opening more centrally than the other and not overlapping with the other and the mask body.

A salt having a group represented by the formula (aa):

##STR00001##

wherein X.sup.a and X.sup.b independently each represent an oxygen atom or a sulfur atom,
the ring W represents a C3-C36 heterocyclic ring which has an ester bond or a thioester bond, said heterocyclic ring optionally further having an oxygen atom, a sulfur atom, a carbonyl group or a sulfonyl group each by which a methylene group has been replaced, and said heterocycilic ring optionally having a hydroxyl group, a cyano group, a carboxyl group, a C1-C12 alkyl group, a C1-C12 alkoxy group, a C2-C13 alkoxycarbonyl group, a C2-C13 acyl group, a C2-C13 acyloxy group, a C3-C12 alicyclic hydrocarbon group, a C6-C10 aromatic hydrocarbon group or any combination of these groups each by which a hydrogen atom has been replaced, and
* represents a binding position.

According to an embodiment, a wafer (W) includes a layer (EL) to be etched, an organic film (OL), an antireflection film (AL), and a mask (MK1), and a method (MT) according to an embodiment includes a step of performing an etching process on the antireflection film (AL) by using the mask (MK1) with plasma generated in a processing container (12), in the processing container (12) of a plasma processing apparatus (10) in which the wafer (W) is accommodated, and the step includes steps ST3a to ST4 of conformally forming a protective film (SX) on the surface of the mask (MK1), and steps ST6a to ST7 of etching the antireflection film (AL) by removing the antireflection film (AL) for each atomic layer by using the mask (MK1) on which the protective film (SX) is formed.