Methods for fabricating lithography apparatus
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsCheng Guo, Stephen Moffatt
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for forming a mask assembly for use in lithography, typically electron-beam lithography, first forms in a substrate one half of a plurality of opening therethrough and then fills the openings with a removable fill material. Thereafter are formed the other half of the openings which are then filled with the removable fill material. After all the openings have been formed and filled, a support membrane is formed over the substrate and covers the filled windows. A mask layer is then formed over the membrane and patterned. The fill is then removed from all of the windows.
Claims20
A method of forming a mask assembly for use in lithography comprising the steps of:
- forming a support structure that comprises a substrate that includes an initial plurality of windows;
- filling the initial plurality of windows with a temporary fill material;
- forming an additional plurality of windows in portions of said substrate which do not contain the temporary fill material;
- filling the additional plurality of windows in the substrate with a temporary fill material;
- forming over the filled-windowed substrate a mask;
- and
- essentially completely removing the temporary fill material.
A method of forming a mask assembly for use in lithography comprising the steps of:
- a) forming a support structure that comprises a substrate that includes a first plurality of windows;
- b) filling the first plurality of windows with a temporary fill material;
- c) forming an additional plurality of windows in portions of said substrate which do not contain the temporary fill material;
- d) filling the additional plurality of windows in the substrate with a temporary fill material;
- e) forming over the filled-windowed substrate a membrane layer capable of supporting a mask layer;
- f) forming a mask layer over the membrane layer;
- and
- g) essentially completely removing the temporary fill material.
A method of forming a mask assembly comprising the steps of:
- forming in a substrate a support structure major and minor struts that define an array of windows, in the form of a two-dimensional array of rows and columns, by successive rounds of cutting in the substrate a fraction of the total window area to be formed;
- filling such fraction of windows with a temporary fill material before the succeeding round of cutting until all the window areas are cut and filled;
- forming a membrane layer over a top surface of the support structure;
- forming a mask layer over the membrane layer;
- and
- essentially completely removing the fill material from the windows.
A method of forming a mask assembly for use in lithography, comprising the steps of:
- a) forming a support structure that comprises a substrate that includes a first plurality of windows;
- b) filling the first plurality of windows with a temporary fill material;
- c) forming an additional plurality of windows in portions of said substrate which do not contain the temporary fill material;
- d) filling the additional plurality of windows in the substrate with a temporary fill material;
- e) forming over a surface of a second substrate a layer suitable for a mask layer, followed by a layer suitable for a membrane layer;
- f) bonding the membrane layer to the filled, windowed substrate;
- and
- g) removing selectively the second substrate to expose the mask layer.
A method of forming a mask assembly for use in electron beam lithography comprising the steps of:
- forming in a substrate a first set of spaced-apart windows;
- filling the windows with a temporary fill material;
- forming in the substrate a second set of windows in the spaces between the first set of windows, thereby forming in combination with the first set of spaced-apart windows a two-dimensional array of windows arranged in rows and columns;
- filling the second set of windows with a temporary fill material;
- depositing over the filled-windowed substrate a layer suitable for supporting a mask;
- depositing over the layer suitable for forming a mask an additional layer suitable for providing a mask;
- patterning the layer suitable for providing a mask, to form a mask;
- and
- removing the temporary fill from the windows.
A method of forming a mask support structure, comprising the steps of:
- forming in a substrate a set of windows spaced apart by major strut portions;
- forming a plurality of spaced apart grooves in the major strut portions of the substrate;
- and
- placing one of a plurality of minor strut elongated strips in each of the spaced apart grooves.
A method of forming a mask assembly comprising the steps of:
- forming a molded support structure that defines an array of open windows arranged in rows and columns, wherein said molded support structure comprises a frame and major and minor struts which form said array of open windows, and wherein said major struts are orthogonal to minor struts, with said minor struts being placed into a mold prior to forming of said major struts and said frame which supports said major and minor struts;
- filling the window openings with a temporary fill material;
- forming over the support structure a membrane layer;
- forming over the membrane layer a patterned mask;
- and
- removing the temporary fill material.
A method of forming a mask support structure comprising the steps of:
- forming in a substrate a first set of spaced apart windows;
- followed by
- filling the first set of windows with a temporary fill material;
- followed by
- forming in the substrate a second set of windows located in portions of the substrate adjacent to the first set of filled windows;
- followed by
- filling the second set of windows with a temporary fill material.
A method of forming a mask support structure comprising the steps of:
- placing in a mold which is shaped to facilitate the formation of a mask support structure a plurality of parallel minor struts;
- forming in the mold a mask support structure that comprises a frame and plurality of major struts, where the major struts are orthogonal and attached to the minor struts with the major and minor struts defining a plurality of open windows arranged in a two dimensional array of rows and columns;
- and
- filling the open windows with a temporary fill material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.