Process of doping silver image in chalcogenide layer
AssigneeIonomet Company, Inc.
InventorsJoseph I. Masters, Gershon M. Goldberg
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A layer of a chalcogenide glass resist material, on a substrate on which a microlithographic pattern is to be formed, has a deposit of silver halide on its outer surface. By actinic irradiation a latent silver image replicating the desired pattern is formed in the silver halide deposit. This image is developed to a metallic silver, which is used to photodope the resist material for subsequent etching to produce the microlithographic pattern on the substrate. Positive and negative patterns are possible from the same starting laminate. One form of a microlithographic pattern is a mask for producing electronic circuits.
Claims8
In a process employing a chalcogenide glass to delineate a pattern, the steps of:
- (a) distributing a silver halide deposit over the outer surface of the chalcogenide glass;
- (b) exposing portions of said silver halide deposit to a pattern of actinic radiation on said silver halide deposit to produce a latent image corresponding to a desired pattern in said silver halide deposit;
- (c) photographically processing said latent image to form a metallic silver replication of said pattern;
- and
- (d) causing said metallic silver replication to penetrate into the surface of said chalcogenide glass to dope with silver the immediately-underlying surface of said chalcogenide glass.
In a process employing a chalcogenide glass material to delineate a pattern, the steps of:
- (a) distributing a silver halide deposit over the outer surface of the chalcogenide glass;
- (b) exposing portions of said silver halide deposit to actinic radiation which replicates said pattern on said silver halide deposit to produce a latent image of said pattern in said silver halide deposit;
- (c) developing said latent image to provide a metallic silver replication of said pattern in said silver halide deposit;
- (d) removing said metallic silver from said deposit;
- (e) producing a latent silver background image in the previously unexposed silver halide of said deposit;
- (f) developing said latent silver background image to provide a metallic silver background image;
- and
- (g) silver-doping said chalcogenide glass in said metallic silver background image areas.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.