Prebake and post-exposure bake effects on the dissolution of AZ-PF

We have performed experiments to study the kinetics of dissolution of the positive chemically amplified resist AZ-PF (Hoechst AG). The resist dissolution in exposed regions was shown to have non-linear time dependence, with a delay time strongly dependent on prebake and post- exposure bake conditions. Effect of the presence of a low-solubility surface layer on patterning of submicron features as well as on roughness of the developed film has been demonstrated.