Patent ID: 7494748

Claim:
A method for correction of defects in lithography masks, the method comprising: determining the existence of mask defects on an original mask; identifying a stitchable zone around each of said mask defects found on said original mask; blocking out each of said identified stitchable zones on said original mask such that circuitry within said stitchable zones is not printed out during exposure of said original mask, wherein said blocking out further comprises forming a dielectric layer over said original mask, followed by damascene formation of an opaque material over each of said identified stitchable zones; forming a repair mask, said repair mask including corrected circuit patterns from each of said identified stitchable zones, wherein said corrected circuit patterns from said original mask are formed at corresponding locations on said repair mask; implementing a first exposure step using said original mask; and implementing a second exposure step using said repair mask, wherein said second exposure step results in simultaneous correction of circuit patterns in each of said identified stitchable zones.