Method and system for exposing an exposure pattern on an object by a

Abstract

A method for exposing an exposure pattern on an object by a charged particle beam, including the steps of: shaping a charged particle beam into a plurality of charged particle beam elements in response to first bitmap data indicative of an exposure pattern, such that the plurality of charged particle beam elements are selectively turned off in response to the first bitmap data; focusing the charged particle beam elements upon a surface of an object; and scanning the surface of the object by the charged particle beam elements; the step of shaping including the steps of: expanding pattern data of said exposure pattern into second bitmap data having a resolution of n times (n.gtoreq.2) as large as, and m times (m.gtoreq.1) as large as, a corresponding resolution of the first bitmap data, respectively in X- and Y-directions; dividing the second bitmap data into cells each having a size of 2n bits in the X-direction and 2m bits in said Y-direction; and creating the first bitmap data from the second bitmap data by selecting four data bits from each of the cells, such that a selection of the data bits is made in each of the cells with a regularity in the X- and Y-directions and such that the number of rows in the X-direction and the number of columns in the Y-direction are both equal to 3 or more.