Articles you may be interested inHigh-speed and high-precision deflectors applied in electron beam lithography system based on scanning electron microscopy A high-speed, high-precision electron beam lithography system (electron optics) J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 3, 98 (1985); 10.1116/1.583300 A high speed electron beam lithography system A variably shaped electron beam lithography system HL-600 has been developed for use in a semiconductor factory. HL-600 was for high throughput. It is capable of direct wafer writing at high speed and also capable of mask writing at high accuracy. A very high speed beam control circuit has been developed. The pattern data were decomposed through the pipeline digital circuit. The settling time of the DA converter was shortened to 100 ns at full scale. An automated loader and wafer prealigner have been developed minimizing operator intervention. The specially designed computer and software system anow background processing pattern data during exposure. One ofthe most distinctive features ofHL-600 is the mode changing function. The large deflection mode guarantees writing often 4-in. wafers per hour and the small deflection mode can accurately write submicron patterns. The mode change can be carried out immediately without special adjustment. This paper describes the system configuration in detail.

As critical dimension uniformity requirements tighten for advanced technology nodes, it becomes increasingly important to characterize and correct for systematic sources of critical dimension error in mask manufacturing. A long range proximity effect has been previously reported in the industry to occur in chemically amplified resists that appears to be related to the develop process and we call this phenomenon chemical flare. Several attempts to modulate this effect have been characterized and at least one develop nozzle modification has been found to reduce chemical flare by ~50%. In addition, develop time, develop and rinse processes, and top anti-reflective coatings have been evaluated as methods of minimizing chemical flare effects in e-beam lithography applications. Positive and negative chemically amplified ebeam resists have been evaluated and characterized for this effect.

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