The Mask Making Challenge

Abstract

Key to the current and future success of optical microlithography is the excellence of mask making, more specifically the excellence of electron-beam mask making. Probe-forming e-beam mask makers have become the industry standard and provide the speed, flexibility, and accuracy required for today's pattern generation. Projected requirements for 0.5-µm lithography, however, present challenges in the form of pixel resolution, linewidth tolerance, design grid increments, overlay accuracy, throughput, and data management that require new approaches. Innovative new electron optics techniques such as the variable shaped beam and variable axis immersion lens, together with novel stage concepts and data compaction, that can meet those challenges are discussed.