Multiphase printing for E-beam lithography
First Claim
1. In the generation of a pattern for use in the fabrication of integrated circuits in a rasterscan lithography system, the steps in the process comprising:
- forming a beam of a predetermined diameter defining the width of a pixel of the pattern;
providing a material sensitive to said beam to be irradiated by the beam;
forming a plurality of said pixels by directing said beam onto said material;
controlling said beam as it forms said pixels to form an array of pixels, each pixel being an element of a feature of the pattern of a predetermined length and width;
repeating the steps of forming and controlling a plurality of times, with each step forming a separate array of pixels, each pixel being an element of a predefined feature not formed in a previous step of forming such that the composite of all steps of forming forms a plurality of adjacent lines of said pixels, said lines defining a feature of the pattern of predetermined length and width.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method for a raster scan particle or light beam lithography system for writing in multiple passes interleaved in such a manner as to achieve a composite result nearly identical to normal single pass raster scan writing with overlapped spots. Multiple pass writing, achieved with little or no degradation or throughput or lithography quality, provides an ideal platform for implementation of known image averaging techniques to improve lithography quality. This technique is combined with the known writing technique of "Virtual Addressing" to improve resolution with little or no degradation of throughput.
131 Citations
17 Claims
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1. In the generation of a pattern for use in the fabrication of integrated circuits in a rasterscan lithography system, the steps in the process comprising:
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forming a beam of a predetermined diameter defining the width of a pixel of the pattern; providing a material sensitive to said beam to be irradiated by the beam; forming a plurality of said pixels by directing said beam onto said material; controlling said beam as it forms said pixels to form an array of pixels, each pixel being an element of a feature of the pattern of a predetermined length and width; repeating the steps of forming and controlling a plurality of times, with each step forming a separate array of pixels, each pixel being an element of a predefined feature not formed in a previous step of forming such that the composite of all steps of forming forms a plurality of adjacent lines of said pixels, said lines defining a feature of the pattern of predetermined length and width. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. In the generation of a raster scan pattern, the steps comprising:
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forming a beam of a predetermined diameter defining the width of an element of the pattern; providing a material sensitive to said beam to be irradiated by the beam; forming a plurality of said elements by directing said beam onto said material; controlling said beam as it forms said elements to form a plurality of adjacent lines of said elements, said lines defining a portion of the pattern of a predetermined length and width; repeating the steps of forming and controlling a plurality of times, with each step forming a separate array of elements, each element being a portion of the same predefined feature and not being formed in a previous step of forming; and developing the pattern in the material.
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9. A rasterscan system for forming a pattern on a radiation sensitive material comprising:
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means for forming a radiating beam of a predetermined diameter defining the width of a pixel of the pattern; means for forming a plurality of said pixels on said material by directing said beam onto said material; means for controlling said beam as it forms said pixels to form an array of pixels, each pixel being a feature of the pattern; and means for repeating the forming of said pixels by passing said beam across said material a plurality of times, with each pass forming a separate array of pixels, each pixel being an element of a predefined feature not formed in a previous pass, such that all passes together form a plurality of adjacent lines of said pixels, said lines defining a feature of the pattern of predetermined length and width.
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10. In the generation of patterns for lithography using a raster scanning pattern generation apparatus, a method of printing a raster pattern, as defined by a plurality of pixels formed on a grid in a plurality of n2 passes where n is an integer greater than 1, comprising:
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forming a beam of a predetermined diameter defining the width of each pixel; providing a material sensitive to the beam to be irradiated by said beam on a substrate; forming the pixels by directing said beam onto said material; controlling said beam as it forms said pixels onto said grid, thereby imaging every nth pixel of said plurality of pixels that define said raster pattern and exposing the first of n2 passes; repeating the steps of forming and controlling the beam to form a plurality of pixels onto said grid, with each pass offset from each previous pass, until a total of n2 passes have been exposed, and a plurality of pixels have been formed in a one-to-one correspondence with said raster pattern; and finally, developing the material. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification