Shin-etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.

Shin-etsu Polymer Co., Ltd.

Satoshi Kawakami

Yoshihiro Kubota

Meguru Kashida

Toru Shirasaki

Yuichi Hamada

Yoshihiko Nagata

Kazuya Okuda

Disclosed is a frame-supported pellicle, which is an integral body consisting of a rigid frame and a transparent plastic film adhesively bonded to one end surface of the frame in a slack-free fashion, for dustproof protection of a photomask used in a photolithographic patterning work in the manufacture of fine electronic devices such as LSIs and liquid crystal display panels. The frame-supported pellicle is prepared by bonding the frame and plastic film with an adhesive having a glass transition temperature substantially lower than that of the polymeric resin forming the film and the adhesive bonding work is performed at a temperature higher than the glass transition temperature of the adhesive but lower than that of the polymeric resin of the film so that excellent adhesive bonding strength can be obtained between the frame and the resin film still without causing any adverse influences on the resin film such as distortion and crease formation.

Frame-supported pellicle for dustproof protection of photomask in

Proposed is an improved frame-supported pellicle, which is an integral body consisting of a rigid frame, a transparent plastic resin film adhesively bonded to one end surface of the frame in a slack-free fashion and a layer of a pressure-sensitive adhesive on the other end surface of the frame. The improvement consists in the use of a specific pressure-sensitive adhesive capable of being imparted with a greatly decreased bonding strength when it is heated at a temperature higher than a critical temperature or irradiated with UV light in a dose exceeding a critical dose so as to facilitate demounting of the frame-supported pellicle from a photomask on which the pellicle is mounted when it is to be replaced with a new pellicle without leaving any fragments of the adhesive adherent to the photomask surface.

Frame-supported pellicle for dustproof protection of photomask

Proposed is a novel casing for frame-supported pellicle used for dustproof protection of a photomask in the photolithographic patterning process for the manufacture of fine electronic devices. Different from conventional casings made from a plastic resin, the casing of the invention is characterized by the use of a unique permanently antistatic resin composition which is a resin blend consisting of 80-95% by weight of an ABS or acrylic resin and 20-5% by weight of a specific hydrophilic polymer. By virtue of the excellent antistatic behavior of the resin composition, the frame-supported pellicle encased in the casing is safe from the troubles due to deposition of dust particles during transportation and from contamination by the vaporized matter from the casing.

Casing for frame-supported pellicles

Growing community of inventors

Gunma-ken, Japan

Satoshi Kawakami