Charged-particle beam exposure system and method
First Claim
1. An exposure method of a multi-beam type in which a stage mounting an object to be exposed is continuously moved in a first direction, and charged-particle beams are controlled so as to form a desired beam shape as a whole, and in which a pattern is formed on the object by deflecting the charged-particle beams by a main deflector and a sub deflector, the charged-particle beams exposing an exposure field including both a main field and subfields, said exposure method comprising the steps of:
- (a) dividing a subfield into cell stripes corresponding to rectangular areas which can be exposed by once raster-scanning by the sub deflector, each cell stripe having a corresponding pattern and being sized for the pattern so that different sized patterns have different sized cell stripes, cell stripes having the same pattern being grouped together so that said same pattern commonly corresponds to each of the grouped cell stripes, patterns being represented by pattern data;
(b) storing the pattern data obtained for the cell stripes into a memory together with data indicating the correspondence of the patterns to the cell stripes;
(c) sorting, in an exposure sequence, position data indicative of positions of the cell stripes together with address information concerning the memory in which the pattern data is stored, so that the main deflector deflects the charged-particle beams in a zigzag exposure sequence;
(d) calculating deflection amount data relating to the main deflector and the sub deflector from the position data; and
(e) drawing patterns on the object by using the pattern data and the deflection amount data.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention relates to an exposure method of a multi-beam type in which a stage mounting a sample to be exposed is continuously moved in a first direction, and charged-particle beams are controlled so as to form a desired beam shape as a whole, and in which a pattern is formed on the sample by deflecting the charged-particle beams by a main deflector and a sub deflector. Patterns to be drawn are divided into pattern data on a cell stripe basis which corresponds to an area which can be exposed when the sub deflector scans the charged-particle beams one time. The pattern data on the cell stripe basis is stored into a memory. Then, position data indicative of cell stripes is stored, in an exposure sequence, together with address information concerning the memory in which the pattern data is stored. The deflection amount data relating to the main deflector and the sub deflector is calculated from the position data. Patterns are drawn on the wafer by using the pattern data and the deflection amount data.
76 Citations
32 Claims
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1. An exposure method of a multi-beam type in which a stage mounting an object to be exposed is continuously moved in a first direction, and charged-particle beams are controlled so as to form a desired beam shape as a whole, and in which a pattern is formed on the object by deflecting the charged-particle beams by a main deflector and a sub deflector, the charged-particle beams exposing an exposure field including both a main field and subfields, said exposure method comprising the steps of:
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(a) dividing a subfield into cell stripes corresponding to rectangular areas which can be exposed by once raster-scanning by the sub deflector, each cell stripe having a corresponding pattern and being sized for the pattern so that different sized patterns have different sized cell stripes, cell stripes having the same pattern being grouped together so that said same pattern commonly corresponds to each of the grouped cell stripes, patterns being represented by pattern data; (b) storing the pattern data obtained for the cell stripes into a memory together with data indicating the correspondence of the patterns to the cell stripes; (c) sorting, in an exposure sequence, position data indicative of positions of the cell stripes together with address information concerning the memory in which the pattern data is stored, so that the main deflector deflects the charged-particle beams in a zigzag exposure sequence; (d) calculating deflection amount data relating to the main deflector and the sub deflector from the position data; and (e) drawing patterns on the object by using the pattern data and the deflection amount data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An exposure system of a multi-beam type in which a stage mounting an object to be exposed is continuously moved in a first direction, and charged-particle beams are controlled so as to form a desired beam shape as a whole, and in which a pattern is formed on the object by deflecting the charged-particle beams by a main deflector and a sub deflector, the charged-particle beams exposing an exposure field including a main field and subfields, said exposure system comprising:
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first means for dividing a subfield into cell stripes corresponding to rectangular areas which can be exposed by once raster-scanning the sub deflector, each cell stripe having a corresponding pattern and being sized for the pattern so that different sized pattern have different sized cell stripes, cell stripes having the same pattern being grouped together so that said same pattern commonly corresponds to each of the grouped cell stripes, patterns being represented by pattern data; second means for storing the pattern data obtained for the cell stripes into a memory together with data indicating the correspondence of the patterns to the cell stripes; third means for sorting, in an exposure sequence, position data indicative of positions of the cell stripes together with address information concerning the memory in which the pattern data is stored, so that the main deflector deflects the charged-particle beams in a zigzag exposure sequence; fourth means for calculating deflection amount data relating to the main deflector and the sub deflector from the position data; and fifth means for drawing patterns on the object by using the pattern data and the deflection amount data. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. An exposure system of a multi-beam type in which a stage mounting an object to be exposed is continuously moved in a first direction, and charged-particle beams are controlled so as to form a desired beam shape as a whole, and in which a pattern is formed on the object by deflecting the charged-particle beams by a main deflector and a sub deflector, the charged-particle beams exposing an exposure field including a main field and subfields, said exposure system comprising:
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an electronic circuit to divide a subfield into cell stripes corresponding to rectangular areas which can be exposed by once raster-scanning the sub deflector, each cell stripe having a corresponding pattern and being sized for the pattern so that different sized patterns have different sized cell stripes, cell strips having the same pattern being grouped together so that said same pattern commonly corresponds to each of the grouped cell stripes, patterns being represented by pattern data; a memory to store the pattern data obtained for the cell stripes together with data indicating the correspondence of the patterns to the cell stripes; a sorter to sort, in an exposure sequence, position data indicative of positions of the cell stripes together with address information concerning the memory in which the pattern data is stored, so that the main deflector deflects the charged-particle beams in a zigzag exposure sequence; a second electronic circuit to calculate deflection amount data relating to the main deflector and the sub deflector from the position data; and an apparatus to draw patterns on the object by using the pattern data and the deflection amount data.
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30. A method comprising:
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dividing a subfield of a charged particle beam exposure field into cell stripes, each cell stripe having a corresponding pattern and being sized for the pattern so that different sized patterns have different sized cell stripes, cell stripes having the same pattern being grouped together so that said same pattern commonly corresponds to each of the grouped cell stripes; and deflecting a charged particle beam by a main deflector and a sub deflector to draw the patterns on an object in accordance with the correspondence of the patterns to the cell stripes.
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31. An apparatus comprising:
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a subfield divider dividing a subfield of a charged particle beam exposure field into cell stripes, each cell stripe having a corresponding pattern and being sized for the pattern so that different sized patterns have different sized cell stripes, cell stripes having the same pattern being grouped together so that said same pattern commonly corresponds to each of the grouped cell stripes; and a deflector deflecting a charged particle beam by a main deflector and a sub deflector to draw the patterns on an object in accordance with the correspondence of the patterns to the cell stripes.
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32. An apparatus comprising:
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means for dividing a subfield of a charged particle beam exposure field into cell stripes, each cell stripe having a corresponding pattern and being sized for the pattern so that different sized patterns have different sized cell stripes, cell stripes having the same pattern being grouped together so that said same pattern commonly corresponds to each of the grouped cell stripes; and means for deflecting a charged particle beam by a main deflector and a sub deflector to draw the patterns on an object in accordance with the correspondence of the patterns to the cell stripes.
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Specification