Reaction rules
What are the rules controlling the quantum efficiency and space-localization limits of EUV-induced (photon or electron) chemical reactions in the photoresist (imaging) layer? Can these limits be characterized in-situ?
Impact of placement
How does the relative placement of atoms and moieties in nanostructured low-dose photoresists impact (a) secondary electron induced patterning in the photoresist and (b) kinetic control over the induced chemical contrast in thin films?
Control over stochastics
To what extent might stochastic limits in chemical patterning resolution, inherent to photoresists with mesoscale heterogeneity, be overcome through the control of moiety sequences in structurally uniform photoresists?
Designing self-assembly
How can the molecular design and thermodynamic properties of hierarchical materials be encoded to self-assemble on an adjacent photoresist in a way that rectifies the adverse stochastic nature of lithographic processes in sub-10-nm patterning?
Leveraging functionality
How can the chemical functionality of the proposed nanostructured photoresists and the chemical contrast in the self-assembling layer be leveraged to also serve as nucleation (or blocking) sites for atomically precise area selective ALD?
Probing interfaces
How are stochastic processes at molecular-level events influenced by proximity to material and patterning interfaces, and how can we characterize the buried chemical profile and variability?