Patent ID: 7045273

Claim:
A process for amplifying structured resists, which comprises the following steps: applying a chemically amplified photoresist to a substrate, the photoresist including a film-forming polymer, a photoacid generator, and a solvent, the film-forming polymer including acid-labile groups cleavable under acid to liberate groups for increasing solubility of the polymer in aqueous alkaline developers, and an anchor group for linking amplification agents; drying the photoresist to give a resist film; structuring the resist film to give a structured resist; applying an amplification agent in an organic solvent to the structured resist together with a reaction accelerator, the reaction accelerator being a tertiary amine selected from the group consisting of 1,8-diazabicyclo [5.4.0]undec-7-ene (DBU), 1,5-diazabicyclo[4.3.0]non-5-ene (DBN), 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane (DABCO), tetramethyl-guanidine (TMG), N-dimethylaminopropyl ethyl ether, bis(N-dimethylaminoethyl)methylamine, N-dimethylbenzylamine, N-methyl-N-dimethylaminoethylpiperazine and N-methylmorpholine, the amplification agent including a silicon-containing group and a linkage group for linking the amplification agent to the anchor group of the polymer to form a chemical bond between the anchor group and the linkage group and link the amplification agent to the polymer by a covalent bond; removing excess amplification agent; and forming a pair from the linkage group and the anchor group, one of the linkage group and the anchor group being a group having a structure —N═C═X, with X being a substituent selected from the group consisting of O and S, and the other of the linkage group and the anchor group being a nucleophilic group.