Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd.

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation

Renesas Technology Corp.

Yukio Iimura

Masahiro Takahashi

Hiroshi Mohri

Hiroyuki Miyashita

Junji Fujikawa

Keiji Hashimoto

Akira Yoshida

Hiroshi Yagi

Satoshi Sasaki

Koichi Mikami

Katsuya Sakayori

Jiro Takei

Hiroshi Nozue

Masaaki Kurihara

Yuki Aritsuka

Hiroyuki Matsui

Kazuo Umeda

Shigeki Kawano

Hiroko Amasaki

Takashi Nishimoto

Morihisa Hoga

Hisatake Sano

Wataru Goto

Norihiro Tarumoto

Masanobu Fujita

Keiji c/o Dai Nippon Printing Co Ltd Hashimoto

It is an object of the present invention to effectively manufacture a charged-particle beam lithography mask, an X-ray lithography mask, or an extreme ultraviolet beam lithography mask by using, for example, an existing writer such as an electron beam writer for photomasks, while achieving improvement in processing accuracy of a mask pattern. A lithography mask () comprises a substrate () which has a lower surface provided substantially at the center thereof with an opening () and a self-supporting membrane (m) having a pattern region () substantially at the center of an upper surface of the substrate () corresponding to the opening (). The self-supporting membrane (m) is provided with through-holes (h) of a mask pattern in it or an absorber or scatterer of a mask pattern on it, and the pattern region () and a peripheral region around the pattern region () are in one plane.

Transfer mask blank, transfer mask, and transfer method using the transfer mask

A wireless suspension blank is made using a two-layer laminate composed of a metallic layer with the spring property and an electrically insulating layer. The first method includes a first step for working the metallic layer by the photo etching method, a second step for forming a wiring part on the insulating layer by the semi-additive method and a third step for working the insulating layer by the wet-etching method. The second method includes a first step for working the metallic layer by the photo etching method, a second step for forming a wiring part on the insulating layer by the semi-additive method and a third step for working the insulating layer by the plasma etching method. The third method includes a first step for forming a wiring part on the metallic layer by the semi-additive method, a second step for working the metallic layer by the wet-etching method and a third step for working the insulating layer by the dry-etching method or the wet-etching method. The use of a two-layer laminate makes possible a low cost production. Further, the forming of a wiring part by the semi-additive method makes possible to working very accurately a fine wiring part.

Method of manufacturing wireless suspension blank

The invention relates a halftone phase shift photomask and a blank therefor, which enables the transmittance of a phase shift portion to be varied even after blank or photomask fabrication, can accommodate to a variety of patterns, and can be fabricated on a mass scale. The exposure light transmittance of a halftone phase shift layer is arbitrarily variable within the range of 1% to 50%, inclusive, by exposing the blank or photomask to a high temperature elevated to at least 150.degree. C., to an oxidizing atmosphere, or to a reducing atmosphere at a step that can provided independent of the steps for film-forming or photomask fabrication step. This enables the exposure light transmittance of the halftone phase shift layer to be changed to any desired value after blank or photomask fabrication, and so an optimal halftone phase shift photomask to be obtained depending on the size, area, location, shape, and the like of the transferred pattern.

Blanks for halftone phase shift photomasks, halftone phase shift

The invention relates to a phase shift photomask in which the peripheral region portion of a phase shift layer is removed by a relatively simple procedure and which has no or little defect and is inexpensive, a blank therefor, and a process for fabricating them. The process includes the steps of forming phase shift layer 23 all over the surface of one side of transparent substrate 21, and immersing only the peripheral region of substrate 21 in etching solution 25 to etch away the peripheral region of phase shift layer 23, whereby phase shift layer 27 is confined within an area smaller than that of substrate 21.

Phase shift photomask, phase shift photomask blank, and process for

A chromium blank for forming a black matrix-screen to be used as a color filter for a liquid crystal display is formed by forming at least a first antireflection film, a second antireflection film and a screening film sequentially in that order on one major surface of a transparent substrate. Each of the first and the second antireflection film is a semitransparent film formed of a chromium compound or a chromium mixture, containing chromium as a principal component, and the screening film is formed of chromium, a chromium compound containing chromium as a principal component. The transparent substrate, the first antireflection film, the second antireflection film and the screening film meet an inequality: n.sub.s &lt;n.sub.1 &lt;n.sub.2 &lt;n.sub.3, where n.sub.s is the refractive index of the transparent substrate, n.sub.1 is the real part of the complex index of refraction of the first antireflection film, n.sub.2 is the real part of the complex index of refraction of the second antireflection film, and n.sub.3 is the real part of the complex index of refraction of the screening film, in the substantially entire visible wavelength range.

Chromium blanks for forming black matrix-screen and color filter for

A halftone phase shift photomask designed so that it is possible to shorten the photoengraving process, use a production line for a conventional photomask, prevent lowering of the contract between the transparent and semitransparent regions at a long wavelength in the visible region, which is used for inspection and measurement, and also prevent charge-up during electron beam exposure, and that ordinary physical cleaning process can be used for the halftone phase shift photomask. The halftone phase shift photomask has on a transparent substrate (1) a region which is semitransparent to exposure light and a region which is transparent to the exposure light so that the phase difference between light passing through the transparent region and light passing through the semitransparent region is substantially .pi. radians. A semitransparent film that constitutes the semitransparent region is arranged in the form of a multilayer film including layers (3, 4) of chromium or a chromium compound. For example, the layer (3) is formed of chromium oxide, chromium oxide nitride, chromium oxide carbide, or chromium oxide nitride carbide, and the layer (4) is formed of chromium or chromium nitride. The layer (3) mainly serves as a phase shift layer, while the layer (4) mainly serves as a transmittance control layer that suppresses the rise of transmittance at the long wavelength side. The semitransparent film is formed by physical vapor deposition.

Halftone phase shift photomask, halftone phase shift photomask blank,

A phase shift photomask and a photomask blank used to produce the same. A dry etching stopper layer, which is disposed between a substrate and a light-shielding layer or between the substrate and a phase shifter layer, is made of either a film mainly composed of tin oxide nitride, which has high etching selectivity and high permeability, or an alumina film formed by sputtering, followed by heat treatment carried out in an oxidizing atmosphere, thereby enabling the required overetching to be satisfactorily performed during etching of the phase shifter layer, and thus making it possible to effect precise phase control. In addition, it is possible to eliminate the occurrence of an in-plane transmittance distribution.

Photomask blank and phase shift photomask

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Yukio Iimura