Loading patent…
AssigneeUlvac Coating Corporation
InventorsNobuyuki Yoshioka, Akihiko Isao, Susumu Kawada, Tsuneo Yamamoto, Jun Amano, Ryoichi Kobayashi
Estimating the term…
A uniform thin phase-shifting photomask blank can be formed by depositing a thin film on a substrate by a reactive sputtering technique while passing, at least four times, the substrate over a sputtering target. In the formation of the blank, NO gas is used as the reactive gas, a target composed of a mixture of molybdenum and silicon is used as the sputtering target and a transparent substrate is used as the thin film-forming substrate to form, on the transparent substrate, a light-transmitting film capable of transmitting light rays having an intensity, which cannot substantially contribute to the exposure. In addition, the film is formed, on the substrate, through an opening having a sufficiently enlarged length along the substrate-conveying direction so that even regions whose deposition rate of the target component is not more than 90% of the maximum level thereof also contribute to the film-formation. The phase-shifting photomask blank thus prepared is subjected to a patterning treatment to form a phase-shifting photomask.
A method for preparing a phase-shifting photomask blank, comprising the steps of:
A phase-shifting photomask blank, comprising a thin film formed on a substrate by a reactive sputtering technique which is performed by supplying a reactive gas to a film-forming chamber and forming said thin film by passing said substrate over a target, at least 4 times.
A device for manufacturing a phase-shifting photomask blank in which a thin film is formed by supplying a reactive gas to a film-forming chamber and depositing said thin film on a substrate using a reactive sputtering technique, while passing said substrate over a target, wherein it is designed to have an opening whose length is sufficiently enlarged along a substrate-conveying direction so that even regions whose deposition rate of a target component is not more than 90% of a maximum level thereof also contribute to the film-formation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.