Development procedures

Developers are designed to remove exposed areas of positive-tone resists and unexposed areas of negative-tone resists without leaving any residuals. The respective other areas of the wafer are ideally not attacked by the developer and remain with a film thickness identical to the initial value.

Ageing of developer

Aqueous-alkaline developers are subjected to ageing, due to an uptake of CO 2 from the air. Buffered aqueous-alkaline developers ( AR 300-26, -35 ) are more stable in this respect than developers of the AR 300-40 -series containing TMAH.