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Lateral Uniformity in Chemical Composition along a Buried Reaction Front in Polymers

Published

Author(s)

Kristopher Lavery, Vivek Prabhu, Sushil K. Satija, Wen-Li Wu

Abstract

Off-specular neutron reflectometry was applied to characterize the form and amplitude of lateral compositional variations at a buried reaction-diffusion front. In this work, off-specular neutron measurements were first calibrated using off-specular X-ray reflectivity and atomic force microscopy via a roughened glass surface, both as a free surface and as a buried interface that was prepared by spin coating thin polymer films upon the glass surface. All three methods provided consistent roughness values despite the difference in their detection mechanism. Our neutron results demonstrated, for the first time, that the compositional heterogeneity at a buried reaction front can be measured; the model system used in this study mimics the deprotection reaction occurred in photolithographic process, a vital process in making integrated circuits.
Citation
Journal of Physics-Condensed Matter

Keywords

polymer, neutron reflectivity, off-specular reflectivity, thin film, photoresist

Citation

Lavery, K. , Prabhu, V. , Satija, S. and Wu, W. (2010), Lateral Uniformity in Chemical Composition along a Buried Reaction Front in Polymers, Journal of Physics-Condensed Matter, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=903570 (Accessed March 28, 2024)
Created November 14, 2010, Updated October 12, 2021