The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 07, 2003
Filed:
Sep. 04, 2001
San-De Tzu, Taipei, TW;
Ching-Chia Lin, Keelung, TW;
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Hsin-Chu, TW;
Abstract
A new method is provided for the creation of an attenuated phase shifting mask. A transparent mask substrate is provided, a layer of attenuating phase shifting material is deposited on the surface of said transparent mask substrate, a layer of opaque material is deposited on the surface of said layer of attenuating phase shifting material. A layer of photoresist is deposited over the surface of the layer of opaque material. The photoresist is exposed by E-beam, creating a mask pattern and a guard ring pattern in the photoresist. The (E-beam) exposed photoresist is removed, the pattern created in the layer of photoresist is used to etch a mask pattern in the layer of opaque material and the layer of attenuating phase shifting material. The remaining photoresist is exposed to UV radiation in the region of the mask pattern and partially in the region of the guard ring. The (UV) exposed photoresist is removed, the remaining photoresist is reduced in height after which the openings of the mask pattern in the opaque layer are increased in size, the outside edge of the guard ring accurately defines the boundary of the device. The remaining photoresist is removed from the layer of opaque material.