{
  "patent_number": "US 10281819",
  "country": "US",
  "title": "Making Microchips with a Silicon-Containing Photoresist Layer",
  "original_title": "Silicon-containing photoresist for lithography",
  "summary": "This patent describes a method for precisely creating tiny patterns on microchips using a special light-sensitive material, called a photoresist, that contains silicon and changes its properties when exposed to light.",
  "what_it_does": "This patent describes a method for creating extremely small patterns on a substrate, like a silicon wafer for computer chips. First, a base polymeric material layer is applied to the substrate, then a photoresist layer is formed on top of it (Claim 1). This photoresist is special because it includes a polymer backbone, an acid labile group (ALG) that has a silicon-containing unit attached, and a photo-acid generator (PAG) (Claim 1). When light (radiation) hits the photoresist, the PAG creates acid, which then reacts with the ALG, changing the photoresist's chemical properties, for example, from nonpolar to polar (Claim 12). This change allows specific parts of the photoresist to be washed away during a developing process, leaving behind a precise pattern (Claim 3). Crucially, the base layer and the photoresist layer are designed to have different optical properties, like how they reflect or absorb light, which helps improve the patterning accuracy (Claim 11).",
  "what_it_does_not_cover": [
    "Photoresists that do not include a silicon-containing unit chemically bonded to an acid labile group.",
    "Methods where the acid labile group is not norbornane, adamantine, or a derivative thereof.",
    "Lithography processes that do not involve forming a photoresist layer over a separate polymeric material layer with different optical properties.",
    "Photoresist compositions where the silicon-containing unit is not chemically bonded to the acid labile group.",
    "Developing processes that remove unexposed portions of the photoresist, unless the exposing process changes the resist from polar to nonpolar (Claim 3 vs 13)."
  ],
  "filed": "2017-12-11",
  "granted": "2019-05-07",
  "expires": "2037-12-11",
  "status": "active",
  "holder": "Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co TSMC",
  "holder_url": "https://patentbrief.org/company/taiwan-semiconductor-manufacturing-co-tsmc",
  "inventors": [
    {
      "name": "Li-Yen Lin",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/li-yen-lin"
    },
    {
      "name": "Ching-Yu Chang",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/ching-yu-chang"
    }
  ],
  "times_cited": 0,
  "tags": [
    "semiconductors",
    "materials"
  ],
  "abstract": "A photoresist includes a polymer backbone, an acid labile group (ALG) chemically bonded to the polymer backbone, a photo-acid generator (PAG), a solvent, and a silicon-containing unit that is chemically bonded to the ALG. A method of using the photoresist composition includes forming a layer of the photoresist over a substrate, performing an exposing process to the photoresist layer; and developing the photoresist layer, thereby forming a patterned photoresist layer. The patterned photoresist layer includes the silicon-containing unit.",
  "url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/10281819/silicon-containing-photoresist-for-lithography",
  "markdown_url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/10281819/silicon-containing-photoresist-for-lithography/md",
  "google_patents_url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/US10281819",
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}