Bell Telephone Laboratories

General Signal Corporation

Tropel Corporation

Uniphase Corporation

Alan D White

Martin Barry Feldman

John H Bruning

David R Shafer

Donald L White

Anthony R Phillips, Jr

Dale E Crane

Mathew D Watson

Robert E Jones

Optimum solutions for three-mirror lenses for projection lithography cameras using X-ray radiation to image a mask on a wafer are represented as single points within regions of two-dimensional magnification space defined by the magnification of a convex mirror as one coordinate and the ratio of the magnifications of a pair of concave mirrors optically on opposite sides of the convex mirror as another coordinate. Lenses within region 30, 50, and preferably within region 40, 60, of such magnification space represent potential solutions that are optimizable by standard computer optical design programs and techniques to achieve extremely low distortion lenses having a resolution of about 0.1 micron or less. Two of these lens systems having large chief ray angles at the mask and chief rays inclined away from the optical axis of the lens system in a direction from the source toward the mask are described in more detail.

Lens system for X-ray projection lithography camera

Optimum solutions for three-mirror lenses for projection lithography cameras using X-ray radiation to image a mask on a wafer are represented as single points within regions of two-dimensional magnification space defined by the magnification of a convex mirror as one coordinate and the ratio of the magnifications of a pair of concave mirrors optically on opposite sides of the convex mirror as another coordinate. Lenses within region 30, 50, and preferably within region 40, 60, of such magnification space represent potential solutions that are optimizable by standard computer optical design programs and techniques to achieve extremely low distortion lenses having a resolution of about 0.1 micron or less.

X-ray projection lithography camera

The turn-on delay of a cold cathode gas tube, such as a gas laser, is significantly reduced by the inclusion of an electric field concentrator in a region of the tube between the tube anode and cathode. The concentrator can take the form of a projecting conductive member having a sharp corner, linear or curved knife edge, needle like points, or combinations of such geometries.

Cold cathode gas tubes

The present invention is a method and apparatus for aligning a semiconductor wafer to be patterned by a step-and-repeat photolithographic system. The inventive alignment technique, which is able to compensate for local wafer tilt and/or nonuniform photoresist thickness, is applicable to semiconductor wafers which have, on a surface portion, one or more Fresnel zone plate alignment marks.

Wafer tilt compensation in zone plate alignment system

Zone plate patterns (12,20,61,62) formed on spaced-apart mask and wafer members (10,60) are utilized for alignment purposes in the fabrication of integrated circuits. By providing off-axis illumination of the patterns, a significant mask-to-wafer alignment capability is provided in an X-ray lithographic system. This capability includes being able to correct for so-called magnification errors that arise from physical distortions in the mask and/or wafer or in other components of the system. These errors are compensated for by utilizing the zone plate patterns to form alignment marks that serve as a basis for adjusting the mask-to-wafer separation.

Method and apparatus for aligning mask and wafer members

A lens design for submicron photolithography images a mask (21) onto a semiconductor wafer (23) using light in the far ultraviolet. Illustratively, the lens design is a modified Dyson imaging system comprising a thick plano-convex lens (31), a beam splitter, adjacent to the planar surface of the plano-convex lens comprising two right angle prisms (34, 35) separated by a dielectric interface (36), and an aspherical mirror (32) located on the convex side of the lens. Stress-induced birefringence is used to rotate the plane of polarization of the object radiation.

Photolithographic projection apparatus using light in the far ultraviolet

A compact image projection apparatus comprises a concave spherical mirror, a plano-convex lens, a quarter wave plate and two prisms one of which is a roof prism. The apparatus is such that object and image have the same orientation and are positioned in two parallel planes. The apparatus is located, for example, between a mask and a semiconductor wafer in a scanning projection printing system.

Compact image projection apparatus

Certain classes of patterns, for example so-called zone plates, are utilized as alignment marks in the fabrication of integrated circuits. Such a plate, which functions as a lens, provides a high-brightness image that is relatively insensitive to any degradation of the pattern.

Zone plate alignment marks

In a semiconductor photolithographic mask alignment system, a unique bifocus element is included in the microscope for permitting simultaneous focusing on the mask and semiconductor wafer surface, even though the mask and wafer separation is greater than the microscope depth of field. The bifocus element is preferably located at the rear focal plane of the microscope objective and is designed to image, at the same location, light from the mask polarized in a first direction and light from the wafer polarized at right angles to the first direction.

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Berkeley Heights, NJ, United States of America

Alan D White