Advanced Spectroscopic Analysis of EUV Photoresists

The continued advancement of photolithography, particularly with theemergence of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) technology, has enabled devicefabrication with critical dimensions below few tens of nanometers. As featuresizes approach atomic scale precision, further progress becomes increasinglychallenging from a tool, process, and materials perspective. The interactionbetween EUV photons and photoresists, for example, is still not fullyunderstood and represents a promising research direction for enabling futuredevice scaling. Fundamental research on EUV photoresists relies heavily on spectroscopictechniques, such as Infrared Spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. However,the complexity of photoresist formulations and the EUV-inducedreaction mechanism make data analysis and information extraction highlychallenging.

In this project, you will explore the feasibility of two-dimensionalcorrelation spectroscopy (2D-COS) and apply it to infrared (IR)spectroscopy on photoresists and resist proxies exposed at different EUVdoses. This advanced analytical technique might allow us to better resolvecomplex and overlapping spectral features, identify correlation of spectralsignals, and reaction sequences. This will lead to a better understandingof the complex EUV exposure mechanism of photoresists and helpthe semiconductor industry to develop optimized materials necessary to furtherincrease the number of transistors on state-of-the-art integrated circuits.

Responsibilities:

• Prepare photoresist samples coated on silicon wafers for EUV exposure
• Generate an extensive dataset of experimental infrared spectra after EUV exposure and post-exposure baking
• Process and analyze spectroscopic data using two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2D-COS)
• Draw conclusions on the exposure mechanism from the experimental data
• Depending on project progress, heterospectral 2D-COS employing a second spectroscopic technique available at imec might be explored

Please send your application to: [email protected]

Type of internship: Master internship

Duration: Min. 10 weeks, up to 6 months possible

Required educational background: Chemistry/Chemical Engineering, Materials Engineering, Nanoscience & Nanotechnology, Physics

Supervising scientist(s): For further information or for application, please contact Chien-Hsun Yu ([email protected]) and Fabian Holzmeier ([email protected])

The reference code for this position is 2026-INT-029. Mention this reference code in your application.

Imec allowance will be provided for students studying at a non-Belgian university.

Applications should include the following information:

• resume
• motivation
• current study

Incomplete applications will not be considered.