Patent ID: 8143602

Claim:
A maskless lithography apparatus, comprising: a plurality of writing chambers, each including: a substrate stage operable to secure a substrate to be written, the substrate stage positioned within a first chamber having a first gate providing access to the first chamber such that the first chamber has a first pressure; a multi-beam module operable to provide multiple radiation beams each directed for writing a portion of the substrate; and a load lock dedicated to serving the substrate stage and operable to provide the substrate to the substrate stage through the first gate, the load lock positioned within a second chamber adjacent the first chamber, the second chamber having a second gate providing access to the second chamber such that the second chamber has a second pressure; an interface operable to transfer the substrate through the second gate to the load lock of the respective writing chamber, the interface having a third pressure such that the first pressure, the second pressure, and the third pressure are different; a data path operable to provide a set of circuit pattern data to the multi-beam module of each of the writing chambers; and a clock module operable to provide a clock signal to the multi-beam module of each of the writing chambers for synchronization.