PFAS-free Rinse Materials for Pattern Collapse Mitigation in EUV Lithography

Pattern collapse due to the strong capillary forces of water continues to constrain the process margins for EUV CAR patterning at small feature sizes. While PFAS-containing rinse formulations are widely recognized for its role in collapse mitigation during the development process, there is a growing demand for a PFAS-free solution as regulations become more stringent. In this study, a novel PFAS-free rinse formulation was found to have comparable lithographic performance to a conventional PFAS rinse formulation, effectively maintaining significant collapse mitigation performance at the 14 nm half-pitch.