Analysis of resist pattern collapse by direct peeling method with AFM tip

In recent years, micro fabrication techniques have become important to realize electronic micro devices such as high density memories and liquid crystal displays. Adhesion improvement of micro resist patterns has been recognized as an important problem to be solved because of pattern collapse during the development process. A great deal of effort has been made on monitoring the adhesion property, mainly by conventional methods such as SEM observation and peel tests. What seems to be lacking, however, is quantitative and direct analysis. In this regard, we have already proposed the principle of direct analysis for resist pattern adhesion, that is, direct peeling with an AFM tip (DPAT). The purpose of this study is to prove the validity of this novel analysis method experimentally. Concretely, we focus on shape dependency of resist pattern collapse in 170nm size.