Patent ID: 9395632
Filing Date: 2016-07-19
CPC Classification: G03F,H01J

Claim Text:
1. A method for mitigating printable native defects in an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) mask substrate, comprising: providing an EUV mask substrate having a multi-layer reflective coating disposed over a material; measuring sizes of one or more native defects within the EUV mask substrate; identifying printable native defects having a measured size that violates one or more sizing thresholds; determining a position at which a patterned absorber material is to be formed over the multi-layer reflective coating to reduce a number of printable native defects that interact with EUV radiation during an EUV lithography process; identifying a remaining printable native defect that violates the one or more sizing thresholds and that is not prevented from interacting with EUV radiation by the patterned absorber material; removing a first section of the EUV mask substrate comprising the remaining printable native defect to form a concavity within the EUV mask substrate; and inserting a multi-layer replacement section that is devoid of a printable native defect into the concavity.