Patent ID: 7368738

Claim:
A pattern definition device for use in a particle-beam exposure apparatus, said device being adapted to be irradiated with a beam of electrically charged particles and pass the beam through a plurality of apertures defining the shape of beamlets passing though said apertures, wherein the apertures are arranged within a pattern definition field comprising a plurality of lines of apertures, wherein the apertures are spaced apart along said lines of apertures by a first integer multiple of the width of an aperture and are offset between neighboring lines of apertures by a fraction of said integer multiple of the width, wherein said apertures are associated with corresponding blanking openings arranged along lines of blanking openings, wherein each blanking opening is associated with a deflector controllable by a blanking signal such that said deflector is switchable between a first deflection state in which particles passing through said blanking opening are allowed to travel along a path and a second deflection state in which particles passing through said blanking opening are deflected off said path, and wherein for the lines of blanking openings, the blanking openings of a line of blanking openings are partitioned into multiple groups such that the deflectors of the blanking openings of each group are fed a common group blanking signal, wherein the group blanking signal of each group of a line of blanking openings is controlled independently of the group blanking signals of the other groups of the same line of blanking openings.