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:
Jan. 04, 2005
Filed:
May. 14, 2003
Uwe Griesinger, Anzing, DE;
Mario Hennig, Dresden, DE;
Jürgen Knobloch, Waakirchen, DE;
Rainer Pforr, Dresden, DE;
Manuel Vorwerk, Dresden, DE;
Uwe Griesinger, Anzing, DE;
Mario Hennig, Dresden, DE;
Jürgen Knobloch, Waakirchen, DE;
Rainer Pforr, Dresden, DE;
Manuel Vorwerk, Dresden, DE;
Infineon Technologies AG, Munich, DE;
Abstract
Auxiliary openings are assigned to openings on a mask to be transferred to a wafer. These auxiliary openings have a phase-shifting property, preferably between 160° and 200° with respect to the openings, and a cross section lying below the limiting dimension for the printing of the projection apparatus, so that the auxiliary openings themselves are not printed onto the wafer. However, the auxiliary openings do enhance the contrast of the aerial image, in particular of an associated, isolated or semi-isolated opening on the wafer. The auxiliary openings may have a distance from the opening that lies above the resolution limit of the projection apparatus but that is less than the coherence length of the light used for the projection. A phase-related utilization of the optical proximity effect results, which can produce elliptical structures from square openings on the mask when the auxiliary openings are disposed in the preferential direction.