Film thickness various effects, spin coating

Recently spin-coated PMMA thin films with a thickness of 0.45 pm on silicon wafer were irradiated with various ion beams (H+, He+, N+, Ni3+). Ion beam energy regions are from 300 keV to 4 MeV. Irradiated PMMA films were developed by isopropyl alcohol in these experiments. After the irradiation by ion beams on PMMA in a vacuum, the thickness of the films were measured both before and after development. Various radiation effects on PMMA films such as ablation (sputtering), main chain scission, and positive-negative inversion were observed as shown in Fig. 11. These phenomena are very different from those in 60 Co gamma-ray or electron beam irradiation. Large LET effects are considered to be due to high density excitation by ion beams. 

Thin solid films of polymeric materials used in various microelectronic applications are usually commercially produced the spin coating deposition (SCD) process. This paper reports on a comprehensive theoretical study of the fundamental physical mechanisms of polymer thin film formation onto substrates by the SCD process. A mathematical model was used to predict the film thickness and film thickness uniformity as well as the effects of rheological properties, solvent evaporation, substrate surface topography and planarization phenomena. A theoretical expression is shown to provide a universal dimensionless correlation of dry film thickness data in terms of initial viscosity, angular speed, initial volume dispensed, time and two solvent evaporation parameters. 

Figure 11. Tg and Lateral force vs. Thickness, a) The effect of confinement is observed for PS films 90 k) of various thickness. Below a critical thickness tc, the Tg of the polymer film increases from the bulk Tg observed on thick films greater than ISOnm. b) This tc is also observed in lateral force measurements on the same samples and is thought to be induced by the spin coating process.

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