Abstract: A pattern lithography system for lithographing a pattern with reference to a pattern data by deflecting an electron beam includes a controller, an extracting unit, a dividing unit, and an expansion unit. The controller analyzes the pattern data and determines stripes of the pattern to be successively lithographed. The extracting unit extracts parts of the pattern data corresponding to stripes of the pattern in response to commands from the controller and sends the data to the dividing unit. The dividing unit divides the part of the pattern data into a plurality of sub-patterns. The sub-patterns are sized smaller than a minimum deflection range of the electron beam. The expanding unit expands the sub-patterns in accordance with a command from the controller to produce stripe data for driving a lithographing unit to lithograph the stripe. Stripes may have at least one sub-pattern in common such that multiple lithography is performed.

Abstract: A method of forming a photomask of a semiconductor device comprising the steps of forming a photosensitive film on a substrate and exposing the photosensitive film on the substrate by radiating with a radiation beam a plurality of butting unit regions defining butting portions between the butting unit regions and controlling said radiating of the butting unit region so that the butting portions of the butting unit regions are formed only in portions corresponding to isolation regions or alternatively, they are not formed in portions corresponding to contact areas.

Abstract: In a method of generating from design data the exposure data necessary for a multistage-deflection charged beam exposure device that has a main deflector and a sub-deflector and forms a pattern, before a shape larger than the size of a minimum subfield area is divided during the generation of subfield exposure data, the process of dividing the shape into shapes equal to or smaller than the size of a subfield area and restructuring the shape is performed. Moreover, after the overlapping cell arrays in the design data are changed into a cell array structure preventing the cell arrays from overlapping, the resulting cell arrays are subjected to a hierarchical shape data operation process and a formatting process, including compression, subfield division, and frame division. This makes it possible to reduce the amount of data supplied without increasing the time required to converting the design data into exposure data supplied to the charged beam exposure device.

Abstract: A method of forming a pattern for a semiconductor device comprises the steps of forming a photosensitive film on a substrate and radiating the photosensitive film on the substrate with a beam of a predetermined shape consisting of one of a charged particle beam and an electromagnetic beam, thereby forming an exposed region of a desired shape, the latter step including the step of exposing each of unit regions by a single shot of the beam of the predetermined shape for a predetermined period of time, repeating the exposure a plurality of times, and butt-joining the exposed unit regions to thereby form the exposed region of the desired shape, wherein, in the step of forming the exposed region of the desired shape, butting portions of the unit regions are situated in a first area of a layer to be formed other than a second area in the layer in which predetermined characteristics of a function of the semiconductor device are determined by a pattern width of the exposed region in association with another pattern f

Abstract: The present invention provides a charged beam drawing method comprising a first step of setting a stripe field independent of drawing pattern definition data and of determining the drawing pattern definition data which belongs to the stripe field set, a second step of setting a sub-field independent of the drawing pattern definition data and of determining the drawing pattern definition data which belongs to the sub-field, among the drawing pattern definition data determined, a third step of drawing the drawing pattern definition data which belongs to the sub-field onto an object to be subjected to drawing, a fourth step of shifting a position of the stripe field by a first predetermined value, and of shifting a position of the sub-field by a second predetermined value, and a fifth step of repeating the first to fourth steps for at least two times.

Abstract: A method for designing a phase-shifting mask in a manner that a phase shifter of the mask is arranged so that a phase difference between light transmitted through clear areas with the phase shifter and light transmitted through clear areas without the phase shifter is set to 180.degree. or further different combination of phase differences being such as 0.degree., 90.degree. and 270.degree.. The method includes the steps of: defining a threshold value in a manner that the threshold value falls within a range which is possible to resolve using the phase-shifting masks; measuring a distance between neighboring shapes of the clear area; storing adjacent relationship of the neighboring shapes whose distance is less than the threshold; and automatically placing the phase shifter on one of the neighboring shapes of the clear areas in a manner that mutually neighboring clear area have an opposite phase to each other.