Maskless optical writer
First Claim
1. A maskless pattern generating system for use in a lithographic processing system comprising:
- a light source that generates a light beam;
a liquid crystal programmable pattern generator that generates a pattern image from said light beam based on a control signal input instructing said liquid crystal programmable pattern generator to set individual voltage levels corresponding to individual pixels in a pixel array, wherein each of said individual voltage levels corresponds to a greyscale level assigned to a particular one of said individual pixels, wherein a polarization state of said light beam is modulated at each pixel according to each pixel'"'"'s corresponding individual voltage level, and wherein the modulated polarization state of said light beam at each pixel determines an intensity of light output from each pixel and determines whether the light output from each pixel continues through the lithographic processing system; and
a controller that provides said control signal input to said liquid crystal programmable pattern generator based on pattern information provided to said controller.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A maskless pattern generating system for use in lithography includes a light source that generates a light beam, a programmable pattern generator that generates a pattern image from the light beam based on a control signal input, and a controller to provide the control signal input to the programmable pattern generator based on pattern information provided to the controller. The control signal input instructs the programmable pattern generator to set individual voltage levels corresponding to individual pixels in a pixel array, wherein each of the individual voltage levels corresponds to a greyscale level assigned to a particular individual pixel. Setting the individual voltage levels provide a phase shift of the resulting pattern image beam, allowing the programmable pattern generator to act as a phase shift mask. This maskless pattern writing system acts as a light valve to control pattern imagery, on a pixel by pixel basis, for the purposes of direct writing patterns.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A maskless pattern generating system for use in a lithographic processing system comprising:
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a light source that generates a light beam; a liquid crystal programmable pattern generator that generates a pattern image from said light beam based on a control signal input instructing said liquid crystal programmable pattern generator to set individual voltage levels corresponding to individual pixels in a pixel array, wherein each of said individual voltage levels corresponds to a greyscale level assigned to a particular one of said individual pixels, wherein a polarization state of said light beam is modulated at each pixel according to each pixel'"'"'s corresponding individual voltage level, and wherein the modulated polarization state of said light beam at each pixel determines an intensity of light output from each pixel and determines whether the light output from each pixel continues through the lithographic processing system; and a controller that provides said control signal input to said liquid crystal programmable pattern generator based on pattern information provided to said controller. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A method of generating a maskless pattern for use in a lithographic processing system, comprising:
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generating a light beam; receiving a control signal input from a controller based on pattern information provided to the controller; and generating a pattern image from the light beam based on the control signal input, wherein the control signal input is an instruction to set individual voltage levels corresponding to individual pixels in a liquid crystal pixel array, wherein each of the individual voltage levels corresponds to a greyscale level assigned to a particular one of the individual pixels, wherein a polarization state of the light beam is modulated at each pixel according to each pixel'"'"'s corresponding individual voltage level, and wherein the modulated polarization state of the light beam at each pixel determines an intensity of light output from each pixel and determines whether the light output from each pixel continues through the lithographic processing system. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25)
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Specification