Abstract: An e-beam lithographic system capable of in situ registration. The system has an optics section such as a VAIL lens. A controllable stage moves a substrate with respect to the beam axis to place substrate writing fields beneath the beam. A field locking target between the optics section and the stage has an aperture sized to permit the beam to write a target field on the substrate. The field locking target includes alignment or registration marks around the aperture. A differential interferometric system measures the relative positions of the field locking target and the stage and controls stage position. The beam patterns the substrate on a field by field basis. As the stage is moving into position for each field, the beam is swept until it hits the alignment marks, thereby checking system alignment. The beam control data, i.e., coil currents necessary to hit the marks are stored, and drift correction values calculated from the beam control data.

Abstract: An instrument for measurement of illumination intensity distribution of an Electron Beam Projection System (EBPS) comprises a reticle with a clear subfield, a pinhole plate comprising a block of a low atomic number material with a high aspect ratio pinhole therethrough, the pinhole plate being positioned at the image plane of the EBPS. Means is provided for detecting electrons passing through the pinhole, and means is provided for moving, scanning, the pinhole with respect to a fixed electron intensity distribution or scanning the electron intensity distribution with respect to pinhole when held in a fixed position.

Abstract: This method and apparatus permit installing and removing an electron beam generating element comprising a filament or a cathode in a rapidly replaceable module. The apparatus is an electron gun system having an electron gun enclosure, a feed-through element extending through the electron gun enclosure, an electron beam generating element housed within a filament module housing and connected to the feed-through element, an electron gun column and a connector port in the gun enclosure for direct removal and replacement of the filament. The feed-through element and the filament module housing are removed, through the connector port, from the gun enclosure and then the filament is removed and replaced. A load-lock is provided above the connector port to avoid venting into the gun. A bellows can be used to facilitate removal of the gun with minimal exposure to ambient atmospheric gases.

Abstract: In a particle beam lithography system, focus adjustment is controlled by a measurement of the gap between the workpiece being processed and a reference surface, such as the bottom surface of the focus lens, using a pair of capacitive sensors mounted on an arm that rotates to place one sensor on the beam axis to measure the workpiece height and the other displaced from the beam aperture to measure the height of the reference surface. The sum of the two readings is constant (for a given gap dimension), so that the accuracy of the measurement is not affected by the position of the arm within the gap.

Abstract: A semiconductor manufacturing tool for charged particle lithography systems such as an EBPS comprises a magnetic deflector with a hub comprising a cylinder mounted on flange. The hub has an opening for a particle beam. Grooves on the surface of the flange at the base of the cylinder and slots in the edge of the cylinder support several deflection coil vanes. Each of the vanes is formed of substrate comprising a thin plate which has a left surface and a right surface. Complementary electrical coils are wound as a planar spirals on the left surface and on the right surface of the vanes with a via connection through the plate interconnecting the coils. The series connected, spiral coils are patterned as mirror images so that the magnetic fields from the coils are additive. To accommodate vanes carrying large currents, the plate is quartz and complementary copper conductor spirals are bonded to the sides of the quartz plate.

Abstract: A method of cooling a deflection system for a particle beam, containing vibration sensitive deflection devices comprises providing a vibrating cooled heat exchange structure spaced away from the vibration sensitive deflection devices. The technique used is transmission of the heat away from the vibration sensitive devices to the heat exchange structure through a high thermal conductivity structure such as a cold plate. The heat is transmitted from a static heat exchange structure with a static, inert fluid through cold plates to a vibrating heat exchanger cooled by turbulent liquid passing through a cooling coil in the heat exchanger.

Abstract: A method for reducing contamination in a silicon membrane mask in a lithography system is described. The method includes: doping the top surface of the silicon membrane mask with boron to lower the electrical resistance of the mask; subsequently metalizing the surface of the mask to further lower its electrical resistance; and, finally, applying a voltage between opposite surfaces of the mask, the voltage generating an electric field that passes through the membrane mask, heating the membrane mask. The method further includes: calculating distortions in the shape of each of the patterns within the mask caused by heating the membrane mask; compensating for the proximity of other shapes positioned in the vicinity of each of the patterns; and appropriately modifying the shape of each of the patterns. The above described method can be equally applied to an e-beam system or to an ion-beam lithography system, and both, to stencil masks and to scattering masks.