At 0.18 μm, antireflective coatings are widely used to enhance CD control by suppressing reflective notching, standing wave effects and the swing ratio caused by thin film interference. One of the major challenges for bottom antireflective coatings (BARC) today is maintaining efficient light reflection reduction from the substrate as photoresists and BARCs get thinner with decreasing feature size (see Figure). Dual-damascene structures also require BARC films with gap-filling capability. At the recent SPIE meeting, several companies presented results from characterizing new BARC materials that address these concerns.
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