Mechanism of the Action of an Electron Beam on Organic Photoresists

The literature dealing with the decomposition of positive and negative photoresists by actinic light and by electron bombardment is reviewed, and the action of a stream of electrons on other organic materials, metals, and inorganic dielectrics is discussed. A mechanism producing internal irradiation of the resist is considered: the incident electrons excite the resist molecules into fluorescence and phosphorescence.
The influence of the (metallic or dielectric) substrate on the achievement of the required line widths is discussed. It is shown that the cross-linking of a negative photoresist under the influence of an electron beam occurs by free-radical polymerisation.
65 references.