US 7,745,069 B2 · Structure and methodology for fabrication and inspection of photomasks

Abstract

A photomask, method of designing, of fabricating, of designing, a method of inspecting and a system for designing the photomask. The photomask, includes: a cell region, the cell region comprising one or more chip regions, each chip region comprising a pattern of opaque and clear sub-regions corresponding to features of an integrated circuit chip and one or more kerf regions, each kerf region comprising a pattern of opaque and clear sub-regions corresponding to features of an integrated circuit kerf; a clear region formed adjacent to a side of a copy region, the copy region comprising opaque and clear sub-regions that are copies of at least a part of the cell region; and an opaque region between the clear region and the cell region.

Claims26

Dependent claims

A photomask, comprising:

a cell region, said cell region comprising one or more chip regions, each chip region comprising a pattern of opaque and clear sub-regions corresponding to features of an integrated circuit chip and one or more kerf regions, each kerf region comprising a pattern of opaque and clear sub-regions corresponding to features of an integrated circuit kerf;
an opaque region abutting a perimeter of said cell region;
and
a clear region in said opaque region, a perimeter of said clear region abutted by said opaque region, said clear region surrounding a perimeter of a copy region, said copy region comprising only a pattern of opaque and clear sub-regions that are copies of a pattern of opaque and clear sub-regions of a single contiguous region of said cell region.

1 more element

A method of fabricating a photomask, comprising:

(a) providing a transparent substrate having an opaque coating;
(b) forming a cell region comprising a first pattern of clear and opaque sub-regions by removing first areas of said opaque coating, said cell region comprising one or more chip regions and one or more kerf regions;
(c) forming a copy region comprising a second pattern of clear and opaque sub-regions by removing second areas of said opaque coating, said second pattern of clear and opaque sub-regions consisting of a copy of a single contiguous region of said first pattern of clear and opaque regions;
(d) forming a clear region by completely removing third areas of said opaque coatings, said clear region surrounding a perimeter of said copy region;
wherein after (b), (c) and (d), a contiguous region of said opaque layer remains to form an opaque region completely surrounding said cell region and said clear region;
wherein said clear region is formed between a side of said substrate and a side of said cell region and separated from said cell region by said opaque region;
and
wherein a sub-region of said clear region separates said copy region from said opaque region.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Structure and methodology for fabrication and inspection of photomasks

Life of this patent

Structure and methodology for fabrication and inspection of photomasks

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims26