Reflective diffraction of radiation beams for image registration
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsPaul C. Allen, Samuel C. Howells
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In a method of registering an image on a substrate, the substrate is placed on a substrate support and a radiation beam is directed toward the substrate. The radiation beam is reflectively diffracted to modulate the intensity of the radiation beam. The modulated radiation beam is scanned across the substrate to register an image on the substrate. In one version, the radiation beam is a laser beam which is projected onto a mask blank to form a mask.
Claims17
A method of registering an image on a substrate, the method comprising:
- (a) placing a substrate on a substrate support;
- (b) directing a radiation beam toward the substrate;
- (c) reflectively diffracting the radiation beam to modulate the intensity of the radiation beam;
- and
- (d) scanning the modulated radiation beam across the substrate to register an image on the substrate.
A method of registering an image on a mask blank, the method comprising:
- (a) placing a mask blank on a substrate support;
- (b) directing a laser beam toward the mask blank;
- (c) splitting the laser beam into a plurality of laser beamlets;
- (d) reflectively diffracting the radiation beamlets to modulate the intensities of the laser beamlets by adjusting a plurality of adjustable reflectors between first and second positions while maintaining a plurality of fixed reflectors at a fixed position;
- and
- (e) scanning the modulated laser beamlets across the mask blank to register an image on the mask blank.
A method of registering an image on a mask blank, the method comprising:
- (a) placing a mask blank on a substrate support and moving the substrate support;
- (b) projecting a laser beam toward the mask blank;
- (c) splitting the laser beam into a plurality of laser beamlets;
- (d) modulating the laser beamlets by applying a signal at a modulation frequency of less than about 10 MHz to at least about 160 reflector clusters, each reflector cluster comprising a plurality of fixed and adjustable reflectors that reflectively diffract the laser beamlets, wherein the adjustable reflectors are adjustable between first and second positions and the fixed reflectors are maintained at fixed positions;
- and
- (e) scanning the modulated radiation beam across the mask blank to register an image may be registered on the mask blank.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.