Method and apparatus for electron beam lithography
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorYu-Chi Chen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of manufacturing a wafer with an integrated circuit (IC) layout includes receiving a first plurality of pixels, wherein each of the pixels corresponds to a portion of the IC layout and includes data members. The method further includes transforming the first plurality of pixels into a second plurality of control signals, wherein at least some of the control signals include both a data member of one of the pixels and another data member of another one of the pixels. The method further includes transferring the control signals to a third plurality of mirrors, wherein the mirrors conditionally reflect an energy beam incident thereupon when coupled with the control signals.
Claims20
A method of manufacturing a wafer with an integrated circuit (IC) layout, the method comprising the steps of:
- receiving a first plurality of pixel elements, wherein each of the pixel elements corresponds to a portion of the IC layout and includes data members;
- transforming the first plurality of pixel elements into a second plurality of control signals, wherein at least some of the control signals include both a data member of one of the pixel elements and another data member of another one of the pixel elements;
- and
- transferring the control signals to a third plurality of mirrors, wherein the mirrors conditionally reflect an energy beam incident thereupon when coupled with the control signals.
A method of exposing a wafer in an electron beam (e-beam) direct writing system having a first and a second mirror banks and each of the mirror banks having e-beam mirrors, the method comprising the steps of:
- receiving a first pixel element, wherein the first pixel element includes a first member and a second member, and the first pixel element corresponds to a first portion of the wafer;
- storing the second member in a storage element;
- transmitting the first member to the first mirror bank and a dummy data to the second mirror bank, wherein the dummy data does not cause the e-beam mirrors of the second mirror bank to reflect an e-beam incident thereupon;
- and
- exposing the first portion with the first mirror bank.
A system comprising:
- an energy source, wherein the energy source is configured to generate an energy beam;
- a mirror array, wherein the mirror array includes a first mirror bank and a second mirror bank, and each of the first and the second mirror banks includes mirrors that are operable to conditionally reflect the energy beam;
- a storage element, wherein the storage element is configured to store pixel elements and each of the pixel elements includes a first member and a second member and corresponds to a portion of an integrated circuit (IC) layout;
- and
- a control element, wherein the control element is coupled between the storage element and the mirror array, the control element is configured to send a first data to the first mirror bank and a second data to the second mirror bank per a predetermined interval, the first data is a first member of a first pixel element, and the second data is one of:
- a second member of a second pixel element and a dummy data that does not cause the mirrors to reflect the energy beam.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.