Patent ID: 7644389

Claim:
A method for producing a production mask for the lithographic projection of a pattern onto a product wafer, the method comprising: a) providing the pattern in an electronically stored format; b) decomposing the pattern stored in the electronic format into a number of partial patterns; c) producing a respective intermediate mask for each of the partial patterns in a mask writing device, wherein the producing of the respective intermediate masks further comprises: (c.1) forming structure elements representing the respective partial pattern on a front side of each corresponding intermediate mask; (c.2) progressively projecting the intermediate masks to form a composition of a common pattern onto a test mask in a first projection apparatus; (c.3) determining a distribution of line widths of the formed structure elements of the common pattern on the test mask and comparing with predefined, nominal line widths so as to determine a distribution of deviations of the line widths; (c.4) predefining a function that specifies a line width depending upon a radiation dose used in the first projection apparatus; (c.5) calculating a distribution of corrections for the radiation dose from the predefined function and the measured distribution of deviations of the line widths so as to compensate for deviations of a projection; (c.6) determining a transmission at each location of the structure elements on the intermediate mask from the determined distribution of the corrections for the radiation dose; and (c.7) forming further structure elements that locally differently reduce the transmission at each location of the structure elements of the partial pattern on the front side of the intermediate mask, in a plane spaced apart from the front side of the intermediate mask, with a distribution dependent on the determined transmission at the location of the structure elements on the intermediate mask; d) providing the intermediate masks with the further structure elements arranged in the plane spaced apart from the front side of the intermediate masks in the first projection apparatus so as to provide an exposure of the production mask; and e) progressively projecting the intermediate masks onto the production mask to achieve a composition of the common pattern from the decomposed partial patterns on the production mask in the first projection apparatus.