Ion beam irradiation effects on a novolac positive-tone photoresist and its application to micron-size field emitters have been investigated. Irradiation of Ar and P ions was examined. The electrical resistivity of the photoresist film is found to decrease after Ar ion implantation at doses on the order of 1016 cm-2. Baking of the photoresist prior to irradiation at a high temperature is preferred to produce electrical conductivity. P ions show weaker effects than Ar ions. Raman spectroscopy shows that carbon-carbon bonds such as the graphite bond are produced due to ion bombardment. The field emission of electrons is observed from emitters made of the ion-irradiated photoresist. The emission current is shown to be fairly stable when it is compared with an emission characteristic of synthesized diamond. Fabrication of field emitter arrays using a mold technique is demonstrated. The field emitter array shows emission at a current level of about 40 µA.

A novel method has been developed to improve the dry etching selectivity of aluminum alloy with respect to photoresist by implanting ions into the patterned photoresist. The selectivity becomes 7.5, which is 5 times higher than that of the unimplanted case. Accordingly, this technology is very promising for fabricating multi-level interconnections in sub-half micron LSIs.