US 2001/0036588 A1 · Lithographic imaging of a structure pattern onto one or more fields on a substrate

Abstract

A particle beam lithography method for imaging a structure pattern onto one or more fields on a substrate (11) by means of electrically charged particles, e.g. ions, in which a particle beam is shaped into a desired beam pattern by means of a mask positioned in the particle beam, converted into a beam pattern by apertures in the mask and projected onto the substrate to form an image of the mask apertures. According to the invention, a plurality of masks is positioned on one mask carrier, thus offering a plurality of aperture patterns which are used for producing structure patterns to be imaged onto respective areas (S) of the substrate. The patterns thus imaged, as a whole, combine together to form e.g. the total pattern of a die-field (D) of the substrate (11). By means of reference marks provided for each mask reference beamlets are produced, projected and measured with respect to their position, and from the measurement, alignment control signals are determined for aligning the position of the imaged pattern with a desired position on the substrate.

Claims22

Dependent claims

A particle beam lithography system for imaging a structure pattern onto one or more fields on a substrate comprising

a particle-optical system with an illumination system to provide a substantially homocentric or telecentric beam of electrically charged particles,
a mask assembly arranged to position masks in the path of the particle beam, each of the masks having a membrane with apertures for producing a desired beam pattern which is imaged onto the substrate, and
a target station after the mask for supporting and positioning the substrate,
wherein the mask assembly comprises at least one mask carrier with a plurality of masks having different aperture patterns corresponding to structure patterns to be imaged onto respective areas of the substrate, at least two of the structure pattern areas being different, the mask assembly being arranged to project different aperture patterns at different times onto the substrate,
and wherein each mask is provided with reference marks producing reference beamlets, the target station comprises an alignment system to measure the position of the reference beamlets and, from the measurement, to determine alignment control signals for aligning the position of the image of the aperture pattern with a desired position on the substrate.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Lithographic imaging of a structure pattern onto one or more fields on a substrate

Life of this patent

Lithographic imaging of a structure pattern onto one or more fields on a substrate

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims22