Study and comparison of resist characteristics for different negative tone electron beam resists

Abstract

Abstract In this work, four types of negative electron beam resists are investigated. Electron beam lithography (EBL) experiments were conducted using EBL system ZBA23 (Raith) with the variable-shaped electron beam cross-section at 40 keV electron energy. Important electron beam resist characteristics such as sensitivity, dissolution rate, aspect ratio and sidewall developed profiles in the chemically amplified resist (CAR) SU-8 2000, non-CARs ma-N 2410 and ARN-7520, and inorganic negative resist HSQ XR-1514 are studied and compared. This study was motivated by the selection of a suitable resist for practical use such as large area gratings fabrication for optoelectronics.