Method and system for manufacturing a reticle using character projection lithography
AssigneeD2S, Inc.
InventorsAkira Fujimura, Lance Glasser, Takashi Mitsuhashi, Kazuyuki Hagiwara
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Abstract
A method for manufacturing a surface, the surface having a multiplicity of slightly different patterns, is disclosed with the method comprising the steps of designing a stencil mask having a set of characters for forming the patterns on the surface and reducing shot count or total write time by use of a character varying technique. A system for manufacturing a surface is also disclosed.
Claims9
A method for manufacturing an integrated circuit, the integrated circuit having a surface, the method comprising the steps of:
- forming a multiplicity of slightly different patterns on the surface using a set of shots of one or more characters on a stencil mask;
- and
- reducing the shot count or total write time by use of a character varying technique,
- wherein the character varying technique comprises at least one of the group consisting of 1) varying a length of time that a character shot in the set of shots is projected on the surface;
- 2) varying an overlap of a plurality of character shots in the set of shots, the plurality of character shots including at least one shot of a non-simple character;
- 3) applying partial exposure of a non-simple character on the stencil mask;
- and 4) varying the position of a character shot in the set of shots with respect to another character shot in the set of shots to form a pattern in the multiplicity of slightly different patterns on the surface, wherein the pattern is curvilinear.
A method for manufacturing an integrated circuit using an optical lithographic process, the optical lithographic process using a reticle, the method comprising the steps of:
- forming a multiplicity of slightly different patterns on the reticle using a set of shots of one or more characters on a stencil mask;
- and
- reducing the shot count or total write time by use of a character varying technique,
- wherein the character varying technique comprises at least one of the group consisting of 1) varying a length of time that a character shot in the set of shots is projected on the reticle;
- 2) varying an overlap of a plurality of character shots in the set of shots, the plurality of character shots including at least one shot of a non-simple character;
- 3) applying partial exposure of a non-simple character on the stencil mask;
- and 4) varying the position of a character shot in the set of shots with respect to another character shot in the set of shots to form a pattern in the multiplicity of slightly different patterns on the reticle, wherein the pattern is curvilinear.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.