Bottom antireflectants are used to control optical reflection in the imaging film. They address the challenges caused by the optical physics of light coming through thin photoresist films. In the wafer patterning process, the light from the exposure tool is reflected back from the wafer surface into the photo resist materials,and the circuit pattern features cannot be accurately placed.

Bottom antireflectants improve the photoresist profile and reduce the line width variation caused by scattering and reflecting light. Without bottom antireflectants, a simple photoresist could not reliably produce advanced chips. With more than 2000 circuit lines in the width of one human hair, there is little room for error.

Lithography and the use of the photoresist is an essential and critical step in etching the thousands of tiny lines that eventually contain and store information on a microchip. Dow scientists determined that too much photoresist film thickness was being lost in the BARC etch removal process, which was decreasing microchip yield and electrical performance.

The development of Dow AR™ Fast Etch Organic BARCs delivered all the key attributes needed to preserve the fidelity of the fragile photoresist and improve pattern transfer onto the chip. This development enabled the the industry to deliver high volume semiconductor manufacturing across multiple technology nodes - with good electrical performance and in high yield.

Dow AR™ Fast Etch Organic BARCs will be used for advanced lithography, including next generation technologies like EUV. Dow is constantly innovating its platform of fast etch oBARC materials to ensure its extendibility and performance in advanced manufacturing nodes.