RC22859 (W0307-185) July 29, 2003 Materials Science IBM Research Report Hardmask Technology for Sub-100 nm Lithographic Imaging Katherina Babich, Arpan P. Mahorowala, David R. Medeiros, Karen Petrillo, Marie Angelopoulos, Alfred Grill, Vish Patel IBM T. J. Watson Research Center Route 134, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598 Scott Halle, Timothy A. Brunner, Richard Conti, Scott Allen, Richard Wise IBM SRDC, 1580 Route 52, Hopewell Junction, NY 12533 Research Division Almaden - Austin - Beijing - Delhi - Haifa - India - T. J. Watson - Tokyo - Zurich LIMITED DISTRIBUTION NOTICE: This report has been submitted for publication outside of IBM and will probably be copyrighted if accepted for publication. It has been issued as a Research Report for early dissemination of its contents. In view of the transfer of copyright to the outside publisher, its distribution outside of IBM prior to publication should be limited to peer communications and specific requests. After outside publication, requests should be filled only by reprints or legally obtained copies of the article (e.g. , payment of royalties). Copies may be requested from IBM T. J. Watson Research Center , P. O. Box 218, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598 USA (email: reports@us.ibm.com). Some reports are available on the internet at http://domino.watson.ibm.com/library/CyberDig.nsf/home .