Patent ID: 6177218
Filing Date: 2001-01-23
Classification: G03F,Y10S

Abstract:
A lithographic process for device fabrication comprising:scanning a beam of charged particle radiation over a pattern in a mask, wherein the pattern in the mask is divided into a plurality of segments, each segment having, in the direction of the scan, a first end and a second end and the segments are separated by non-patterned, regions;transmitting an image of the pattern into an energy sensitive material by directing the beam of charged particle radiation transmitted through the mask onto an energy sensitive resist material;blending the image of a first segment with the image of a second segment to form a continuous image in the energy sensitive resist material by providing duplicate pattern information at a first end of a first segment and a second end of a second segment, and overlapping the image of the duplicate pattern information from the first segment with the duplicate pattern information from the second segment;and controlling the scan by turning on the beam of charged particle radiation, which has a cross sectional area that defines an optical field that, during the scan, has a leading edge and trailing edge, when the trailing edge of the charged particle beam approximately coincides with the first end of the segment and turning off the charged particle beam when the leading edge approximately coincides with the second end of the segment such that the overlapped image of the duplicate pattern information is introduced into the energy sensitive resist material with a dose of radiation that is approximately equal to the dose of radiation used to introduce into the energy sensitive resist material the image of the non-duplicate, non-overlapped pattern information in the segment.