Hoya Corporation

Dupont Photomasks, Inc.

Hideaki Mitsui

Osamu Nozawa

Yuuki Shiota

Ryo Ohkubo

Megumi Takeuchi

Masahiro Hashimoto

Masaru Mitsui

Yuki Shiota

Kenji Matsumoto

Masaru Tanabe

Laurent Dieu

Naoki Nishida

Satoshi Iwashita

Hitoshi Ootsuka

An internal defect or the like of a transfer mask is detected using transmitted light quantity distribution data of an inspection apparatus. Using a die-to-die comparison inspection method, inspection light is irradiated to a first region of a thin film to obtain a first transmitted light quantity distribution, the inspection light is also irradiated to a second region of the thin film to obtain a second transmitted light quantity distribution, a predetermined-range difference distribution is produced by plotting coordinates at which difference light quantity values calculated from a comparison between the first transmitted light quantity distribution and the second transmitted light quantity distribution are each not less than a first threshold value and less than a second threshold value, and a selection is made of a transfer mask in which a region with high density of plotting is not detected in the predetermined-range difference distribution.

Method of manufacturing a transfer mask and method of manufacturing a semiconductor device

A photomask blank is for fabricating a phase shift mask having a light-transmissive substrate provided with a phase shift part adapted to give a predetermined phase difference to transmitted exposure light. The phase shift part is a dug-down part formed by digging down the light-transmissive substrate from a surface thereof to a digging depth adapted to produce the predetermined phase difference with respect to exposure light transmitted through the light-transmissive substrate at a portion where the phase shift part is not provided. The photomask blank includes a light-shielding part formed in a peripheral area around a transfer pattern area of the surface of the light-transmissive substrate and adapted to shield exposure light and further includes an etching mask film formed in the transfer pattern area of the surface of the light-transmissive substrate and made of a material being substantially dry-etchable with a chlorine-based gas, but not substantially dry-etchable with a fluorine-based gas, the etching mask film serving as an etching mask at least until the digging depth is reached when forming the dug-down part.

Photomask blank, photomask, and methods of manufacturing the same

A photomask blank for manufacturing a phase shift mask having a light-transmitting substrate provided with a phase shift part adapted to give a predetermined phase difference to transmitted exposure light. An etching mask film serving as an etching mask when forming a phase shift part is provided on the front surface side, where the phase shift part is to be formed, of the substrate. A light-shielding film serving to shield exposure light is provided on the back surface side (opposite-side surface) of the substrate.

There is disclosed a manufacturing method of a phase shift mask blank in which dispersions of phase angle and transmittance among blanks can be reduced as much as possible and yield is satisfactory. In the manufacturing method of the phase shift mask blank, a process of using a sputtering method to continuously form a thin film on a transparent substrate comprises: successively subjecting a plurality of substrates to a series of process of supplying the transparent substrate into a sputtering chamber, forming the thin film for forming a pattern in the sputtering chamber, and discharging the transparent substrate with the film formed thereon from the sputtering chamber; supplying and discharging the transparent substrate substantially at a constant interval; and setting a film formation time to be constant among a plurality of blanks.

Manufacturing method and apparatus of phase shift mask blank

A halftone type phase shift mask blank including, on a transparent substrate, at least a phase shifter film having a predetermined transmittance for an exposed light and a predetermined phase difference for the transparent substrate, wherein the phase shifter film is formed by a multilayer film in which films including at least two layers having an upper layer formed on the most surface side and a lower layer formed thereunder are provided, and a thickness of the upper layer is adjusted in such a manner that a refractive index of the film to be the upper layer is smaller than that of the film to be the lower layer and a surface reflectance for the inspecting light of the phase shifter film is maximized and approximates to a maximum.

Halftone type phase shift mask blank and phase shift mask thereof

A halftone phase shift mask blank for use in manufacturing a halftone phase shift mask comprises a transparent substrate, a light transmitting portion formed on the substrate for transmitting an exposure light beam, a phase shifter portion formed on the substrate for transmitting a part of the exposure light beam as a transmitted light beam and for shifting a phase of the transmitted light beam by a predetermined amount, and a phase shifter film for forming the phase shifter portion. The halftone phase shift mask has an optical characteristic such that light beams passing through the light transmitting portion and through the phase shifter portion cancel each other in the vicinity of a boundary portion therebetween, thereby maintaining and improving an excellent contrast at a boundary portion of an exposure pattern to be transferred onto the surface of an object to be exposed. The phase shifter film comprises a film containing silicon, oxygen, and nitrogen as main components and an etching stopper film formed between the film and transparent substrate.

Halftone phase shift mask blank, halftone phase shift mask, and method of producing the same

A halftone phase-shift mask blank, in which the phase shifter film is composed of two layers, a low-transmission layer having a principal function of transmittance control, and a high-transmission layer having a principal function of phase shift control, the extinction coefficient Kof the low-transmission layer and the extinction coefficient Kof the high-transmission layer satisfy K&#x3c;K&#x2266;3.0 at an exposure wavelength &#x3bb; falling between 140 nm and 200 nm, and the thickness dof the low-transmission layer satisfies 0.001&#x2266;Kd/&#x3bb;&#x2266;0.500 at the exposure wavelength &#x3bb;.

Halftone phase-shift mask blank and halftone phase-shift mask

In a halftone-type phase-shift mask blank having a phase shifter film, the phase shifter filmhas a phase adjustment layerfor primarily controlling the phase of exposure light, and a transmissivity adjustment layerwhich is formed between a transparent substrateand the phase adjustment layerand primarily controls the transmissivity of exposure light. The transmissivity adjustment layerhas a thickness of 90 angstroms or less.

Halftone-type phase-shift mask blank, and halftone-type phase-shift mask

A method for producing a halftone phase shift mask blank having a semi-transmission film on a transparent substrate includes alternately laminating, on a transparent substrate, thin layers substantially made of nitrogen and titanium and thin layers substantially made of nitrogen and silicon to thereby form thereon a multi-layered semi-transmission film, followed by heating the semi-transmission film at 300&#xb0; C. or higher.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Hideaki Mitsui