Patent ID: 6953643

Claim:
A method of shaping a two-dimensional mask and exposing a resist by placing said mask relative to said resist such that a gap width is formed therebetween and such that said resist is not disposed at a real image plane relative to said mask, and a broad band exposure source, comprising: simulating the exposure of said resist, by methods selected from a group consisting of computation and use of paradigms, so as to employ coherence, selected from a group including temporal coherence and spatial coherence, to control intensity variations in the exposure by using various mask shapes with various corrections, and selecting said mask shapes with said corrections, said corrections consisting of indents to basic clear mask feature patterns, whereby the mask patterns, having sufficient dose uniformity for near-ideal development with respect to the intended pattern, are exposed and developed at selected demagnifications, so as to virtually eliminate artifacts including a group consisting of ripple and bright spots.