A dispensing system includes a dispense material supply that contains a dispense material and a dispensing pump connected downstream from the dispense material supply. The dispensing pump includes a body made of a first electrically conductive material, one or more first electrical contacts that are disposed on the body of the dispensing pump, and one or more first connection wires that are coupled between each one of the one or more first electrical contacts and ground. The dispensing system also includes a dispensing nozzle connected downstream from the dispensing pump and includes a tube made of a second electrically conductive material, one or more second electrical contacts that are disposed on an outer surface of the tube, and one or more second connection wires that are coupled between each one of the one or more second electrical contacts and the ground.

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.

Disclosed is a thin film circuit substrate and a manufacturing method thereof, which are capable of forming a pattern having a feature size of less than 10 μm by forming a seed layer and a plating layer on a base substrate and then forming, through electrospinning, a photoresist layer having a thickness in a set range. The disclosed thin film circuit substrate comprises: a base substrate; a thin film seed layer formed on the top surface of the base substrate; a metal layer formed on the top surface of the thin film seed layer; and a photoresist layer formed on the top surface of the metal layer, wherein the thickness of the photoresist layer is in a range of 1 μm to 5 μm.

A substrate is provided with a patterned layer, for example, a photo resist layer, which may exhibit line roughness. In one exemplary embodiment, the patterned layer may be an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photo resist layer. In one method, selective deposition of additional material is provided on the EUV photo resist layer after patterning to provide improved roughness and lithographic structure height to allow for more process margin when transferring the pattern to a layer underlying the photo resist. The additional material is deposited selectively thicker in areas above the photo resist than in areas where the photo resist is not present, such as exposed areas between the photo resist pattern. Pattern transfer to a layer underlying the photo resist may then occur (for example via an etch) while the patterned photo resist and additional material above the photo resist may collectively operate as an etch mask.

A semiconductor manufacturing device has an outer cup and inner cup with a wafer suction mount disposed within the outer cup. A photoresist material is applied to a first surface of a semiconductor wafer disposed on the wafer suction mount while rotating at a first speed. A gas port is disposed on the inner cup for dispensing a gas oriented toward a bottom side of the semiconductor wafer. The gas port purges a second surface of the semiconductor wafer with a gas to remove contamination. The second surface of the semiconductor wafer is rinsed while purging with the gas. The gas can be a stable or inert gas, such as nitrogen. The contamination is removed from the second surface of the semiconductor wafer through an outlet between the inner cup and outer cup. The semiconductor wafer rotates at a second greater speed after discontinuing purge with the gas.

A method of manufacturing a printed circuit board a includes preparing an insulating substrate on which a first metal layer is formed, stacking a resist laminate having a plurality of layers on the first metal layer, forming an opening exposing a portion of the first metal layer by patterning the stacked resist laminate having the plurality of layers, forming a second metal layer on the exposed portion of the first metal layer, removing the patterned resist laminate having the plurality of layers, and etching at least another portion of the first metal layer.

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.

The invention provides a wire grid polarizer and a manufacturing method thereof. The method comprising steps of providing a substrate, forming a conductive layer on the substrate, forming an inverted wire grid structure on the conductive layer by nano-imprint or lithography process, and depositing a metal on the inverted wire grid structure to form a wire grid structure by electroforming or electrodeless coating technology. The conductive layer is transparent to the light wave band of the application. Since the method is an additive process, nano-imprint electroplating, electroforming, or electrodeless coating technology can be used, and the steps are simplified compared with subtractive process. Thus, the invention reduces or eliminates the need for expensive lithography technology, and avoids the use of complicated dry etching process.

The invention relates to polysulfonamide compositions for use as redistribution layers as used in the manufacture of semiconductors and semiconductor packages. More specifically it relates to photoimageable polysulfonamide composition for redistribution applications. The invention also relates to the use of the compositions in semiconductor manufacture.

Nanoparticle(NP)-decorated carbon nanotube (CNT) ropes used as sensing elements for hydrogen gas (H.sub.2) chemiresistors are described herein. The NP-decorated CNT rope sensors were prepared by dielectrophoretic deposition of a single semiconducting CNT rope followed by the electrodeposition of metal nanoparticles to highly disperse said nanoparticles on the CNT surfaces. The rope sensors produced a relative resistance change 20-30 times larger than what was observed at single, pure Pd nanowires. Thus, the rope sensors improved upon all H.sub.2 sensing metrics (speed, dynamic range, and limit-of-detection) relative to single Pd nanowires.