Vistec Electron Beam Gmbh

Leica Microsystems Lithography Gmbh

Joachim Heinitz

Hans-Joachim Doering

Matthias Slodowski

Thomas Elster

Andreas Schubert

Hans-Joachim Döring

The invention is directed to an arrangement for the illumination of a substrate with a plurality of individually shaped, controllable particle beams, particularly for electron beam lithography in the semiconductor industry. It is the object of the invention to find a novel possibility for illuminating a substrate with a plurality of individually shaped, controllable particle beamlets which permits a high-resolution structuring of substrates with a high substrate throughput without limiting the flexibility of the applicable structure patterns or limiting the high substrate throughput due to a required flexibility.

Arrangement for the illumination of a substrate with a plurality of individually shaped particle beams for high-resolution lithography of structure patterns

The invention discloses a multibeam modulator which generates a plurality of individual beams from a particle beam. The particle beam illuminates the multibeam modulator at least partially over its surface. The multibeam modulator comprises a plurality of aperture groups composed of aperture row groups. The totality of all aperture rows defines a matrix of m&#xd7;n cells, where m cells form a row, and k openings are formed in each row. The density of openings within a row is inhomogeneously distributed.

Multi-beam modulator for a particle beam and use of the multi-beam modulator for the maskless structuring of a substrate

A device and a method for imaging and positioning a multiparticle beam on a substrate is disclosed. The device comprises a particle beam source with a condenser optic that produces a particle beam that illuminates the surface of an aperture plate. A multiplicity of individual beams are produced from the particle beam by means of the aperture plate, which are then projected by a projection system onto a substrate where they describe a beam base point. The substrate or target, respectively, is placed on a table that is movable along an x-coordinate and a y-coordinate, and that is provided with a laser path measurement system. The laser path measurement system relays positional data with a fixed clock rate to a synchronization and control devicethat positions the beam base point along the x-coordinate and the y-coordinate via a beam tracking system, taking into account the corrective data and pixel phase, whereby precise staircase beam-to-table positioning is achieved across the entire substrate in spite of faulty table movement.

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Isserstedt, Germany

Joachim Heinitz