Patent ID: 6899997

Claim:
A method for amplifying structured resists, which comprises: (a) applying a chemically amplified photoresist to a substrate, the photoresist having: a film-forming polymer having: acid-labile groups that are cleaved under action of acid to liberate groups that result in an increase in a solubility of the film-forming polymer in aqueous alkaline developers; and anchor groups for linkage of amplification agents; a photo acid generator; a solvent in which the film-forming polymer is soluble, the solvent having a solvent polarity; (b) drying the photoresist to produce a resist film; (c) exposing the resist film section-by-section to obtain an exposed resist, an acid being liberated by the photo acid generator in exposed parts of the resist film; (d) heating the exposed resist, the acid-labile groups being cleaved in the exposed parts and polar groups being liberated on the film-forming polymer, and, as a result, obtaining a contrasted resist having polar resist sections and non-polar resist sections; (e) developing the contrasted resist with an alkaline developer, the film-forming polymer being insoluble in the alkaline developer, the polar resist sections being removed from the substrate to obtain a structured resist; (f) applying an amplification agent to the structured resist in a liquid phase, the amplification agent having at least one reactive group that can react with an anchor group of the film-forming polymer, the liquid phase containing a solvent or a solvent mixture in which the film-forming polymer is insoluble, and leaving the solution of the amplification agent on the structured resist to cause linkage of the amplification agent to the film-forming polymer to take place and obtain an amplified resist, wherein the developing of the contrasted resin and chemical amplification of the contrasted resin are carried out in a common step; and (g) washing the amplified resist with a wash medium containing water as a solvent to remove excess amplification agent.