Electron-beam-assisted critical dimension reduction

In this communication, we presented a novel approach to reduce critical dimension of resist features. The proposed method involves two process steps: resist pattern formation and critical dimension reduction. This concept was demonstrated to produce sub-100 nm resist features using negative-tone chemically amplified resist, NEB22A2 and Hitachi-900D electron beam lithography system. Experimental results indicate that the degree of critical dimension reduction can be controlled by the dose of flood electron-beam exposure and second wet developer strength. The theoretical results, based on Monte Carlo simulations, were found to be in qualitatively agreement with our experimental observations.