Abstract:
The invention is for a negative-acting, acid hardenable, deep UV photoresist comprising a phenolic resin having ring bonded hydroxyl sites, a thermally activated crosslinking agent that is an etherified aminoplast and a photoacid generator. The invention is characterized by control of the molar ratio of the ring bonded hydroxyl groups of the phenolic resin to the ether groups of the aminoplast which permits optimization of the properties such as optical absorbance, dissolution rate, photospeed, contrast, resolution and sidewall angle.