Organic solvent-free water-developable sugar resist material derived from biomass in green lithography

•Organic solvent-free water-developable sugar resist was demonstrated.•Sugar resist led to the well-patterned 100 nm lines for green lithography.•Sugar resist indicated acceptable CF4 etch selectivity with hardmask material.

We have demonstrated an organic solvent-free water-developable branched sugar resist material derived from biomass for its use in green electron beam lithography. This emphasizes the use of plant products instead of conventionally used tetramethylammonium hydroxide and organic solvents. The rationally designed water-developable branched sugar resist material developed in this study can be patterned with an excellent sensitivity of 7 μC/cm2 and a resolution of 50–200 nm lines. In addition, it indicated sufficient thermal stability at ∼180 °C, acceptable CF4 etch selectivity with a hardmask material, 42–53% rate of chemical reaction of acryloyl groups affected by the tacticity of branched sugar chain polymers, and developable in pure water at 23 °C for 60 s.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide