Chemistry of polymeric resists useful in microlithography

Polymer resists are indispensible to modern-day manufacture of integrated circuits and, to be effective, demand special combinations of many properties, such as sensitivity and resolution, for particular forms of radiation exposure, adhesion to semiconductor, metals and dielectric layers, resistance to plasma processing techniques and the ability to withstand appropriate thermal treatments. The nature of polymer resists in current usage and the various chemical transformations involved in optical and electron-beam lithography are outlined.