International Business Machines Corporation

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies

Jiunn Tsay

Phillip Joe Brock

Mark Anthony Church

Franklin M Schellenberg

Benjamin Lu Chen Wang

Robin Lynn Almes

Mary Kathyrn Gutberlet

Jacqlynn A Franklin

A charge-balanced, continuous-write mask and wafer process changes the magneto resistive photo-definition step to a two-mask step operation. Critical images are written on one mask layer at a very small electron beam spot size, and non-critical images are written on a second mask layer at a relatively larger electron beam spot size. Both mask layers are put onto the same glass substrate where the critical mask layer is located at the most accurate position on the substrate. The non-critical images may be placed in a peripheral field. In wafer processing, the critical field is aligned and exposed onto the wafer and then the non-critical field is aligned and exposed.

System and method for charge-balanced, continuous-write mask and wafer process for improved colinearity

A plurality of noncontiguous polygonal regions of phase-shifting material have edges spaced apart less than the distance at which images of said edges would separate. The edges of the regions of phase-shifting material have differing arbitrarily selectable angular orientations (nonparallel as well as parallel) on a nonphase-shifting material. The noncontiguous phase-shifting regions may be arranged in a matrix of parallel columns and rows to facilitate fabrication and facilitate writing of the phase-shifting regions in any arbitrary pattern on an image plane. At least one of the phase-shifting regions constitutes a connective phase-shifting region with edges spaced from edges of adjacent ones of the phase-shifting regions to create a pattern with a continuous body of photoresist covering areas corresponding to the phase-shifting regions upon exposure of the mask. The phase-shifting regions may have different transmission coefficients to provide differing degrees of transparency or different degrees of phase shift to provide differing degrees of image intensity.

Phase-shifting transparent lithographic mask for writing contiguous

Growing community of inventors

San Jose, CA, United States of America

Jiunn Tsay