Top coat material and use thereof in lithography processes

摘要

A top coat material for applying on top of a photoresist material is disclosed. The top coat material includes a polymer, which includes at least one fluorosulfonamide monomer unit having one of the following two structures: wherein: M is a polymerizable backbone moiety; Z is a linking moiety selected from the group consisting of -C(O)O-, -C(O)-, -OC(O)-, and -O-C(O)-C(O)-O-; R₁ is selected from the group consisting of an alkylene, an arylene, a semi- or perfluorinated alkylene, and a semi- or perfluorinated arylene; p and q are 0 or 1; R₂ is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, fluorine, an alkyl group of 1 to 6 carbons, and a semi- or perfluorinated alkyl group of 1 to 6 carbons; n is an integer from 1 to 6; and R₃ is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, an alkyl, an aryl, a semi- or perfluorinated alkyl, and a semi- or perfluorinated aryl. The top coat material may be used in lithography processes, wherein the top coat material is applied on a photoresist layer. The top coat material is preferably soluble in aqueous alkaline developer. The top coat material is also preferably insoluble in water, and is therefore particularly useful in immersion lithography techniques using water as the imaging medium.