Postexposure bake diffusion

Lithographic modeling simulates several key steps in the lithographic process comprising image formation, resist exposure, postexposure bake diffusion,... 

Postexposure bake of the wafer. A postexposure bake (PEB) improves contrast of the photoresist before its development. The PEB process causes three effects 1) diffusion of the PAC 2) solvent evaporation and 3) thermally induced chemical reactions. In general, the dissolution rate of a resist decreases as a function of a PEB temperature. PEB becomes more important for the photoresists with a chemical amplification (CA) feature. The photoresists need the PEB to complete chemical reactions initiated by exposure. 

In 1979, Frechet and Willson put forward a very productive idea of a chemical amplification that was used in the development of a new generation of photoresists.They decided to use a photoresist comprising of a photochemical acid generator (PAG) and a polymer that was able to switch from hydrophobic to hydrophilic in the course of acid catalyzed hydrolysis. The PAG reacts with light to produce an acid catalyst. During a subsequent postexposure bake, the catalyst diffuses and reacts with the polymer component, causing many reaction events in the polymer and recovers the acid catalyst. The acid molecules catalyze the deprotection reaction and provide a prerequisite for chemical amplification. The number of the reaction events initiated by single quantum absorption has been estimated to be of order of 100. ... 

The effects of thermally driven diffusion of active chemical species within the resist during the postexposure bake are modeled with appropriate diffusion... 

To account for the effect of postexposure bake in reducing standing waves through thermally driven diffusion of the photoacid, lithographic simulators employ models... 

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