Patent ID: 7075093

Claim:
Apparatus for simultaneously forming plural integrated circuit (IC) patterns on a substrate, said apparatus comprising: plural arrays of particle beam sources arranged in a spaced, planar IÃ—J matrix configuration wherein each of said arrays includes plural particle guns arranged in a spaced, planar KÃ—L matrix array for directing plural parallel beams of energetic particles onto the substrate with the particle beams of each array of particle guns forming a discrete IC pattern, and wherein the closest spacing between adjacent particle guns is k and l along orthogonal X- and Y- axes, respectively; a beam blanking controller coupled to each of said plural arrays of particle beam sources for controlling the particle beams emitted by each of the particle guns by blanking and unblanking each of said particle beams, wherein a common control signal is simultaneously provided to each of said arrays, said controller further storing a circuit pattern; and X- and Y- position controllers coupled to the substrate and further coupled to said beam blanking controller and responsive to the circuit pattern stored therein for displacing the substrate along said X- and Y- axes while said controller blanks and unblanks each of the particle guns to form plural IC patterns on the substrate, wherein displacement of the substrate along the X- and Y- axes is respectively limited to distances of k and l.