Critical Dimension Issues for 200 mm Electron Projection Masks

• Published in: Japanese Journal of Applied Physics Vol. 39; no. 12S; p. 6874
• Main Authors: Resnick, Douglas J., Nordquist, Kevin, Dauksher, William J., Ainley, Eric, Lu, Bing, Mangat, Pawitter, Weisbrod, Eric, Martin, Carl, Chang, J., Englestad, Roxann, Lovell, Ed, Ivin, Vladimir
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2000
• ISSN: 0021-4922; 1347-4065
• DOI: 10.1143/JJAP.39.6874

Electron projection lithography (EPL) is one possible successor to conventional optical lithography. One type of EPL mask, a SCALPEL mask, consists of an array of rectangular membranes on a 200 mm silicon support wafer. An image of a die is formed by scanning and stitching the patterns resident on the membrane array. Key areas of concern for controlling the mask critical dimension (CD) include temperature uniformity during the resist post exposure bake (PEB) process, heating issues during resist exposure, fogging effects caused by electron scattering from the mask chuck and variations resulting from the pattern transfer of the mask scattering layer. A finite element model was used to evaluate heating issues during the mask writing step and PEB process. Masks were then written to verify the models. A Monte Carlo model was used to evaluate CD variations caused by electrons scattering from the chuck during the mask writing process.