Ion Beam Systems, Inc.

Gregory J Dunn

John M Dobbs

Edwin M Kellogg

William Thompson

Henry C Kaufmann

Accurately altering a precisely located site on a substrate by: (a) providing a vacuum chamber; (b) providing an energy beam; (c) providing a source of a hydrocarbon and a conduit extending between the source and the chamber, the hydrocarbon being capable of being adsorbed in the substrate and of interacting with the energy beam to alter the substrate; (d) positioning the substrate in the chamber to be exposed to hydrocarbon delivered by the conduit; (e) introducing into the conduit a carrier having a vapor pressure above the vapor pressure of the hydrocarbon, the carrier being in vapor form under conditions existing in the conduit and having a bulk velocity that transports the hydrocarbon by molecular collisions into the chamber, the hydrocarbon being adsorbed on the surface of the substrate, free carrier molecules being drawn off sufficiently rapidly to maintain low pressure in the chamber; and (e) while maintaining the low chamber pressure, directing the energy beam to the site in the presence of the absorbed hydrocarbon, in a manner to convert the hydrocarbon to a coherent carbonaceous deposit of predetermined desired form, adherent to the substrate at the site to render the site opaque. Most preferably, a focused ion beam is used to repair an opaque defect in a photolithographic mask.

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Gloucester, MA, United States of America

Gregory J Dunn