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Title: Synthesis of N ‐Substituted Maleimides and Poly(styrene‐ co ‐ N ‐maleimide) Copolymers and Their Potential Application as Photoresists
Abstract

Poly(styrene‐coN‐maleimide) copolymers bearingtert‐butoxycarbonyl (t‐BOC)‐protected amine groups attached to side chains of varying lengths are synthesized via activators regenerated by electron transfer atom transfer radical polymerization (ARGET‐ATRP) and investigated from the perspective of photoresist applications. The length of the alkyl substituents enables control of thermal properties as well as hydrophobicity, which are critically important for resist processing. Removal of the acid labilet‐BOC group during deep‐UV (DUV)exposure shifts solubility in the exposed areas and well‐defined line space patterns of 1 µm are obtained for the selected copolymers. The correlation between glass transition temperature (Tg) and solubility contrast determines the lithographic performance where the copolymers with shorter alkyl chains exhibit promising results.

 
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Award ID(s):
1719875
NSF-PAR ID:
10370600
Author(s) / Creator(s):
 ;  ;  ;  ;  
Publisher / Repository:
Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics
Volume:
224
Issue:
1
ISSN:
1022-1352
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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