Charged particle beam writing apparatus and charged particle beam writing method

• US 9,721,756 B2
• Filed: 06/09/2015
• Issued: 08/01/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NuFlare Technology, Inc. (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: NuFlare Technology, Inc. (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Matsumoto, Hironobu
• Primary Examiner(s): STOFFA, WYATT A
• Application Number:
  US14/734,306
• Publication Number:
  US 20160005569A1
• Time in Patent Office: 784 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/31762 Computer and memory organisation
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/31764 Dividing into sub-patterns
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/3174 Particle-beam lithography, e.g. electron beam lithography

Abstract

A charged particle beam writing apparatus includes a storage unit to store writing data of a region to be written in a target object, a first dividing unit to read the writing data and divide the region to be written into at least one first data processing region that overlaps with at least a first region where a pattern has been arranged, and at least one second data processing region that overlaps with a second region where no pattern is arranged without overlapping with the first region, a data processing unit to perform data processing of predetermined data processing contents for at least one first data processing region without performing the data processing for at least one second data processing region, and a writing unit to write a pattern on the target object, based on processed data.

Claims

1. A charged particle beam writing apparatus comprising:

a storage device configured to store writing data of a region to be written in a target object;

processing circuitry configured to perform functions of

a first dividing section that reads the writing data and divides the region to be written into at least one first data processing region that overlaps with at least a first region where a pattern is to be arranged, and at least one second data processing region that overlaps with a second region where no pattern is to be arranged without overlapping with the first region, and

a data processing section that generates shot data of a pattern for irradiating with a charge particle beam for an entire region to be written by performing data processing of predetermined data processing contents for the at least one first data processing region without performing the data processing for the at least one second data processing region; and

a writing mechanism including a stage on which the target object is placed, a charged particle beam source, and a deflector and configured to write the pattern defined by the shot data on the target object,

wherein the first dividing section successively performs dividing the region to be written, advancing in a predetermined dividing direction, and when going into the second region from the first region, sets a dividing position in the second region such that the first data processing region is formed partly overlapping with the second region.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when going into the first region from the second region, the first dividing section sets a dividing position in the second region such that the first data processing region is formed partly overlapping with the second region.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when dividing the region to be written so that the first data processing region is formed partly overlapping with the second region, the first dividing section sets a dividing position in the second region in order to have a predetermined margin width from an end of the first region to inside the second region.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising:

a second dividing section configured to divide the region to be written into a plurality of mesh regions each of which is smaller than the first data processing region and the second data processing region; and

a shot number estimation section configured to estimate a number of shots for each mesh region of the plurality of mesh regions,

wherein the first dividing section performs dividing into the first data processing region and the second data processing region, by using the number of shots having been estimated.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the first data processing region includes a mesh region where the number of shots is not zero and a mesh region where the number of shots is zero.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the second data processing region includes the mesh region where the number of shots is zero, and excludes the mesh region where the number of shots is not zero.

7. A charged particle beam writing method comprising:

reading writing data of a region to be written in a target object, and dividing the region to be written into at least one first data processing region that overlaps with at least a first region where a pattern is to be arranged, and at least one second data processing region that overlaps with a second region where no pattern is to be arranged without overlapping with the first region;

performing data processing to generate shot data of a pattern for irradiating with a charged particle beam for an entire region to be written by performing data processing of predetermined data processing contents for the at least one first data processing region without performing the data processing in the at least one second data processing region; and

writing the pattern defined by the shot data on the target object,

wherein the dividing includes successively dividing the region to be written, advancing in a predetermined dividing direction, and setting a dividing position in the second region such that the first data processing region is formed partly overlapping with the second region when going into the second region from the first region.