Patent ID: 7037628

Claim:
A method of creating a pattern in a layer of opaque material of a photolithographic exposure mask, comprising: defining an etch recipe for etching a product pattern A in an opaque material over a substrate of a photolithographic exposure mask that optimally meets Critical Diameter (CD) requirements of the product pattern, said etching a product pattern comprising a photoresist exposure mask; calculating the product pattern total Cr etch loading on the exposure mask; defining a residual or useless surface area of the exposure mask; if the defined, optimum etch recipe meets the optimal Critical Diameter (CD) requirements, the exposure of the opaque material of the exposure mask is performed; if the defined, optimum etch recipe does not meet the optimal Critical Diameter (CD) requirements, then the Cr etch loading is modified by adding dummy patterns in unused areas of the photoresist exposure mask; if the addition of dummy pattern to the product pattern does not meet the Cr etch loading, then the Cr loading pattern A is separated into two parts B and C, such that pattern B meets Cr loading requirements, after which pattern B is applied to a first exposure process and pattern C is applied to a second exposure process.