Fujitsu Corporation

Adv Antest Corporation

Masami Takigawa

Hiroshi Yasuda

Kiichi Sakamoto

Tomohiko Abe

Takamasa Satoh

Hidefumi Yabara

Isamu Seto

Akio Yamada

Yoshihisa Oae

Kenichi Miyazawa

Junichi Kai

Soichiro Arai

Hisayasu Nishino

Takashi Kiuchi

Tomohiro Sakazaki

Kenichi Kawakami

Yoshihisa Ooaeh

Hideki Nasuno

Tatsuro Ohkawa

Akio Takemoto

Kouji Fujiyoshi

An electron beam exposure apparatus for exposing a wafer with an electron beam includes a section for generally controlling a wafer exposing system, a first buffer memory for temporarily storing exposure data, a second buffer memory for temporarily storing the exposure data, a first exposing section for irradiating the wafer with an electron beam based on exposure data output from the first buffer memory, and a first comparing section for comparing exposure data output from the first buffer memory with exposure data output from the second buffer memory and notifying the comparison results to the general control section. The exposure data stored in the first buffer memory and the exposure data stored in the second buffer memory are identical to one another when no error is involved. Further, an exposure apparatus and a pattern error detection method for accurately detecting an error of an exposure pattern formed to a wafer is disclosed.

Electron beam exposure apparatus, electron beam exposing method, semiconductor element manufacturing method, and pattern error detection method

Disclosed is a multicolumn charged-particle beam lithography system having the circuitry of a settlement wait time control unit thereof simplified. The settlement wait time control unit controls a settlement wait time to be spent by each of amplifiers connected to main deflectors necessary to realize concurrent exposure among columns. The charged-particle beam lithography system has a plurality of columns for patterning an exposed sample by deflecting and sweeping a charged-particle beam on the exposed sample according to expose pattern data. The charged-particle beam lithography system includes a settlement wait time control unit for controlling a settlement wait time to be spent by each of the amplifiers connected to the deflectors necessary to realize concurrent exposure among the columns. The settlement wait time control unit includes a circuit for comparing magnitudes of changes in deflection data items output from deflector adjusting circuits in the columns with one another and selecting a maximum value. The settlement wait time control unit further includes a circuit for determining a settlement wait time for all the columns according o the magnitude of a change of the selected maximum value.

Multicolumn charged-particle beam lithography system

A method of exposing a wafer to a charged-particle beam by directing to the wafer the charged-particle beam deflected by a deflector includes the steps of arranging a plurality of first marks at different heights, focusing the charged-particle beam on each of the first marks by using a focus coil provided above the deflector, obtaining a focus distance for each of the first marks, obtaining deflection-efficiency-correction coefficients for each of the first marks, and using linear functions of the focus distance for approximating the deflection-efficiency-correction coefficients to obtain the deflection-efficiency-correction coefficients for an arbitrary value of the focus distance. A device for carrying out the method is also set forth.

Charged-particle-beam exposure device and charged-particle-beam exposure method

Charged-particle-beam exposure device and charged-particle-beam exposure

A method for providing charged particle beam exposure onto an object having a plurality of chip areas with a plurality of aligning marks formed in correspondence to each of said chip areas. A charged particle beam is irradiated upon an object mounted on a mobile step based upon positions of the aligning marks. Actual positions of the alignment marks are detected and compared to the design positions of the alignment marks to determine approximate relationships which are used to calculate an actual position to perform exposure.

Method of providing changed particle beam exposure in which

To improve in the throughput of an exposure system, the setting time during a step change in the output of an amplifier is reduced by switching resistance between the amplifier and deflector, a glitch waveform generated during a step change in the output of a D/A converter at the preceding stage of the amplifier, is anticipated and is canceled out with a correction waveform, after the output of the D/A converter has settled, this output is sample held and the step change is interpolated at a smoothing circuit, the deflection area is increased by positioning a electrostatic deflector offset around the optical axis relative to another electrostatic deflector, the response speed of the main deflection is improved by adding auxiliary deflection coils of one or two turn, and the alignment time is reduced by combining the coordinate conversion in the wafer area and in the chip area. In order to correct the astigmatism of the electromagnetic lens, two stages of coils are provided and an electric current corresponding to the quantity of deflection is supplied to the coils.

Method of and system for charged particle beam exposure

To improve the throughput of an exposure system, the setting time during a step change in the output of an amplifier is reduced by switching resistance between the amplifier and a deflector. A glitch waveform generated during a step change in the output of a D/A converter at the preceding stage of the amplifier is anticipated and is cancelled out with a correction waveform. After the output of the D/A converter has settled, this output is sample-held and the step change is interpolated with a smoothing circuit. The deflection area is increased by positioning an electrostatic deflector offset around the optical axis relative to another electrostatic deflector, and the response speed of the main deflection is improved by adding auxiliary deflection coils of one or two turns. The alignment time is reduced by combining the coordinate conversion in the wafer area and in the chip area. In order to correct the astigmatism of the electromagnetic lens, two stages of coils are provided and an electric current corresponding to the quantity of deflection is supplied to the coils.

To improve in the throughput of an exposure system, the setting time during a step change in the output of an amplifier is reduced by switching resistance between the amplifier and a deflector, a glitch waveform generated during a step change in the output or a D/A converter at the preceding stage of the amplifier, is anticipated and is canceled out with a correction waveform, after the output of the D/A converter has settled, this output is sample held and the step change is interpolated at a smoothing circuit, the deflection area is increased by positioning a electrostatic deflector offset around the optical axis relative to another electrostatic deflector, the response speed of the main deflection is improved by adding auxiliary deflection coils of one or two turn, and the alignment time is reduced by combining the coordinate conversion in the wafer area and in the chip area. In order to correct the astigmatism of the electromagnetic lens, two stages or coils are provided and an electric current corresponding to the quantity of deflection is supplied to the coils.

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Kawasaki, Japan

Masami Takigawa