E-beam lithography with alignment gating

A reflective electron-beam (e-beam) lithography system, comprising:

• an e-beam source to generate an e-beam;
• a digital pattern generator (DPG) having a plurality of pixels that are dynamically and individually controllable to reflect the e-beam;
• a substrate stage designed to secure a substrate and being operable to move the substrate;
• an e-beam lens module configured to project the e-beam from the DPG to the substrate;
• and
• an alignment gate configured between the e-beam source and the DPG, wherein the alignment gate is operable to modulate the e-beam to an alternating e-beam with e-beam intensity changing periodically over time;
• a clock circuit to generate a clock signal to drive the DPG, wherein
• the clock signal is a periodic signal of a first frequency;
• the alternating e-beam by the alignment gate has a periodic intensity of a second frequency;
• and
• the first and second frequencies are equal.

An electron-beam (e-beam) lithography system, comprising:

• an e-beam source to generate an e-beam;
• an alignment gate being operable to modulate an intensity of the e-beam to an alternating e-beam;
• a digital pattern generator (DPG) having pixels configured in an array to generate an e-beam pattern from the alternating e-beam;
• a substrate stage designed to secure a substrate and being operable to move the substrate;
• an e-beam lens module configured to project the e-beam pattern on the substrate;
• a clock circuit to generate a clock signal to the DPG;
• and
• a frequency source coupled to the clock circuit and the alignment gate such that the clock signal and the alternating e-beam are synchronized to have a same frequency.