Granular nanostructure of electron beam resist had limited the ultimate resolution of electron beam lithography. We report a thermal process to achieve a uniform and homogeneous amorphous thin film of poly methyl methacrylate electron resist. This thermal process consists of a short time-high temperature backing process in addition to precisely optimized development process conditions. Using this novel process, we patterned arrays of holes in a metal film with diameter smaller than 5nm. In addition, line edge roughness and surface roughness of the resist reduced to 1nm and 100pm respectively.
@article{arxiv.1207.3183,
title = {Enhanced Resolution of Poly-(Methyl Methacrylate) Electron Resist by Thermal Processing},
author = {Nima Arjmandi and Liesbet Lagae and Gustaaf Borghs},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1207.3183},
year = {2012}
}