CN217787599U

CN217787599U - Photomask with protective film, exposure system and manufacturing system of panel for flat panel display

Info

Publication number: CN217787599U
Application number: CN202220827623.6U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 関原一敏
Original assignee: Shin Etsu Chemical Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shin Etsu Chemical Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-04-13
Filing date: 2022-04-12
Publication date: 2022-11-11
Anticipated expiration: 2032-04-12
Also published as: CN115202148A; TWM637276U; JP2022162654A; KR20220141754A; TW202248748A

Abstract

The utility model provides a take photomask, exposure system and flat panel display screen's of cuticula manufacturing system, the length of side on at least one limit of this cuticula exceeds 1000mm, and when installing when the cuticula high speed of photomask removes, the volume of rocking of cuticula diaphragm is little. The utility model discloses a cuticula contains at least one length of side and exceeds 1000 mm's cuticula frame and bonds and constitute in the cuticula diaphragm of its frame form face, just, to the cuticula diaphragm, in with be parallel to each other and for the parallel direction of a pair of cuticula frame limit of line symmetry give more than 1% and 2.5% below tensile strain. The utility model discloses can reduce the danger of exposure machine or foreign matter inspection built-in protective film diaphragm contact device part.

Description

Photomask with protective film, exposure system and manufacturing system of panel for flat panel display

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a pellicle (pellicle) used as a dust shield for manufacturing a semiconductor device, a printed circuit board (pcb), a Flat Panel Display (FPD), or the like, and more particularly to a pellicle having at least one side length exceeding 1000mm for use in manufacturing a Flat Panel Display (FPD) device such as a liquid crystal Display, a photomask having the pellicle, an exposure system, and a system for manufacturing a Flat Panel Display screen.

Background

In the manufacture of a flat panel display panel used for a semiconductor such as a Large Scale Integration (LSI) or an ultra LSI, a liquid crystal display, an organic Electroluminescence (EL) display, or the like, a pattern is formed by irradiating ultraviolet light to a semiconductor chip or a glass plate for liquid crystal coated with a photoresist (photo resist), but if dust adheres to a photomask used at this time, the dust shields or reflects the ultraviolet light, and thus there is a problem that the quality is deteriorated due to deformation, short-circuiting, or the like of the transferred pattern.

Therefore, these operations are usually performed in a clean room (clean room), but even then it is difficult to keep the photomask clean at all times. Therefore, the pellicle is attached to the surface of the photomask as a mask for dust, and then exposure is performed. At this time, since the foreign matter is not directly attached to the surface of the photomask but to the pellicle, the foreign matter on the pellicle is not involved in the transfer when the pattern of the photomask is focused during the photolithography (lithography).

In a typical protective film, a transparent protective film membrane made of nitrocellulose, cellulose propionate, fluorine resin, or the like, which transmits ultraviolet light well, is bonded to a frame surface of a protective film frame made of aluminum alloy, stainless steel, engineering plastics (engineering plastics), or the like. An adhesive layer made of polybutene resin, polyvinyl acetate resin, acrylic resin, silicone resin, or the like for attachment to a photomask is provided on the frame-shaped surface on the opposite side of the protective film membrane, and a release layer (separator) for protecting the adhesive layer is attached as necessary.

As described above, the pellicle membrane is usually made of thin resin, and thus is stretched over the pellicle frame with a tension of an appropriate magnitude to avoid wrinkling. However, the protective film sheet has a self-weight and is extremely small, but in any protective film, the protective film sheet hangs down.

Fig. 9 is a sectional view showing a photomask with a pellicle attached thereto. In the exposure machine, the photomask 91 is normally disposed so that the surface on which the exposure pattern 92 is drawn faces downward. The overcoat 99 is attached to the lower surface of the photomask 91 via a mask adhesive layer 96 so as to cover the exposure pattern 92.

When the self-weight sag x of the protective film membrane 98 is large, the apex y of the protective film membrane 98 (usually, the center of the protective film) protrudes below the photomask 91, and there is a risk that the device components will be disturbed in the exposure machine or the foreign object inspection machine (not shown). In the case of a typical exposure machine, the allowable protrusion amount of the pellicle membrane is at least 0.8mm or less, and more preferably 0.6mm or less, in consideration of the mounting tolerance of the pellicle itself or each component. The allowable value is required to be substantially the same value even if the pellicle is enlarged in an exposure machine or a foreign matter inspection machine using the same optical system.

However, in recent years, the moving speed of the photomask in the exposure machine has become higher, and thus the wind pressure applied to the pellicle membrane during the movement and the air deflection in the pellicle due to inertia at the time of starting or stopping the movement have become larger. This increases the fluctuation of the pellicle membrane accompanying the operation in addition to the amount x of sagging due to its own weight, and thus increases the risk of the pellicle membrane contacting the apparatus. As a result, the film is required to have a smaller value of the sagging amount x, and in recent years, 0.35mm is generally required, and in some cases, 0.2mm or less is required. The required value of the amount of film shaking is not always the same, depending on the apparatus to be applied and the operating conditions, but it is preferable that the required value is at least 4mm or less for the protective film having a side length of more than 1m and at least 5mm or less for the protective film having a side length of more than 1.5m under any conditions.

In order to solve the above problem, the present inventors have proposed a practical application of a protective film in which a thin wire-shaped reinforcement having a thickness of 100 μm or less, which is made of a material different from that of the protective film membrane, is stretched between two parallel sides of a protective film frame, and the thin wire-shaped reinforcement is in contact with the outer side of the protective film membrane (patent document 1).

[ Prior art documents ]

[ patent document ]

[ patent document 1] Japanese patent No. 5618888

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

[ problem to be solved by the utility model ]

In the utility model, utilize the effect of reinforcement to restrain the dead weight flagging of cuticle diaphragm, but the reinforcement is through defocusing (defocus), therefore does not cause any influence to the exposure quality. In the method of the present invention, even in the case of a large pellicle having a side length exceeding 2000mm, the amount of self-weight deflection can be suppressed to 0.3mm, which is very effective for suppressing self-weight sagging. However, on the other hand, there is a problem that productivity is extremely poor and mass production is not suitable.

Further, the essential purpose of suppressing the self-weight deflection x of the pellicle membrane is to prevent the pellicle membrane in the apparatus from coming into contact with each other as described above, but simply reducing the self-weight deflection x of the pellicle membrane is not sufficient for suppressing the amount of shaking of the pellicle membrane due to an external force generated when the pellicle attached to the photomask moves, and the risk of contact of the pellicle membrane is not necessarily reduced.

As described in detail in patent document 1, the flow of air through the vent hole 94 and the filter 95 is extremely slow, and the amount x of self-weight deflection fluctuates constantly due to expansion and contraction caused by humidity depending on the air pressure or temperature change and the material of the protective film sheet, and is not suitable as an index indicating safety.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a pellicle in which the side length of at least one side exceeds 1000mm, and the amount of shake of a pellicle membrane is small when the pellicle attached to a photomask is moved at a high speed.

[ means for solving problems ]

As a result of diligent research, the present inventors have found that it is important to apply tensile strain to the pellicle membrane and bond the pellicle membrane to the pellicle frame and the direction thereof in order to reduce the amount of wobble of the pellicle membrane when the pellicle mounted on the photomask is moved, and have completed the present invention.

The solution of the present invention is a pellicle comprising at least one pellicle frame having a side length exceeding 1000mm and a pellicle membrane bonded to one of the frame-shaped surfaces, wherein the pellicle membrane is provided with a tensile strain of 1% or more and 2.5% or less in a direction (major axis direction) parallel to a pair of pellicle frame sides parallel to each other and in line symmetry. Furthermore, by applying a tensile strain of 0.5% or more and 2% or less to the direction (minor axis direction) of the pellicle membrane perpendicular to the pair of pellicle frame sides and adhering and fixing the pellicle membrane to the pellicle frame, wrinkles of the pellicle membrane can be prevented.

Further, if the material of the protective film membrane is an amorphous fluorine-based resin, the amount of the oscillation of the protective film membrane can be kept small even against environmental changes.

Further, the present invention, which is obtained by adding the features of patent document 1 provided by the present inventors to the above-described features of the present invention, can be an effective embodiment also in the case of an ultra-large pellicle. Namely, the following forms: in the mode of jointing the protective film membrane endowed with tensile strain, at least one linear reinforcement body with the maximum thickness of 100 mu m is arranged between two opposite sides of the protective film frame. Or the following forms: in order to join the mode of the protective film membrane with tensile strain of the utility model, two linear reinforcements with the maximum thickness of 100 μm are arranged along the diagonal line of the protective film frame. Specific contents of these are disclosed in patent document 1.

Furthermore, the utility model discloses a: a photomask with an pellicle is provided, in which the pellicle is mounted on the photomask; an exposure method for performing exposure using the photomask with the pellicle; and a method for manufacturing a panel for a flat panel display, comprising a step of performing exposure using the photomask with the protective film.

[ effects of the utility model ]

According to the present invention, the protective film is bonded to the protective film frame by applying a tensile strain of 1% to 2.5% in a direction parallel to the long side of the protective film membrane (long axis direction), whereby the amount of shake of the protective film membrane during high-speed movement can be suppressed to a small amount even for a large-sized protective film having a side length exceeding 1000 mm. As a result, the danger that the protective film membrane contacts the device component in the exposure machine or the foreign matter inspection machine is reduced.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 isbase:Sub>A sectional viewbase:Sub>A-base:Sub>A of fig. 1 showing an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is an explanatory view showing the behavior of the pellicle membrane when the photomask with the pellicle mounted thereon is moved horizontally.

Fig. 4 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view for explaining a method of peeling off a pellicle membrane using a support frame used in the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a schematic plan view of a support frame used in the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a support frame stretching mechanism used in the present invention.

Fig. 8 is a schematic perspective view of the pellicle manufactured in the example.

Fig. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a photomask with a pellicle mounted thereon.

Fig. 10 is a schematic plan view of a support frame used in the comparative example.

Description of the symbols

11. 41, 81, 93: film protecting frame

12. 42, 88, 97: protective film diaphragm adhesive layer

13. 43, 54, 89, 98, 101: protective film diaphragm

14. 87, 96: mask adhesive layer

15. 91: photomask and method of manufacturing the same

50. 100: support frame

51: outer frame

52: membrane support

53: stretching mechanism

55: substrate board

71: track

72: sliding block

73: internal thread part

74: external thread part

75: film adhesive layer

80. 99: protective film

82: concave hole

83: groove (short side)

84: trough (Long edge)

85. 94: vent hole

86: filter

92: exposure pattern

95: filter

a: stretching direction (major axis direction)

A: center of major axis direction

b: stretch Direction (short axis direction)

B: region (concave) where amount of membrane shaking is large

c: direction of stretching

C: area of large membrane shaking (convex)

d: orthogonal direction to the stretching direction

x: self-weight deflection of pellicle membrane

y: vertex of protective film diaphragm (center)

Detailed Description

The following describes preferred embodiments of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments.

Fig. 1 and 2 show an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 1 isbase:Sub>A plan view, and fig. 2 isbase:Sub>A sectional viewbase:Sub>A-base:Sub>A of fig. 1. A pellicle film adhesive layer 12 is provided on the upper frame surface of the pellicle frame 11, and a pellicle film 13 is adhered thereto. A mask adhesive layer 14 is provided on the frame-like surface on the opposite side. In the present embodiment, the outer shape of the pellicle frame 11 is rectangular, but may be other shapes similar thereto, such as square, octagonal, and the like. The protective film sheet 13 is bonded to the protective film frame 11 via the protective film sheet adhesive layer 12 in a state where a tensile strain of a predetermined ratio is applied in the longitudinal direction (the direction of arrow a). The tensile strain is preferably set to 1% or more and 2.5% or less. Here, the tensile strain is a value represented by the following formula.

Tensile strain (%) = amount of strain (amount of tension) (mm)/outer dimension (mm) × 100 of pellicle membrane in tension direction before strain

In general, a film sheet is applied with a slight tension to be bonded to a film frame without wrinkles, but the amount thereof is about 0.5% in terms of strain. In addition, in the conventional technique, as shown in fig. 10, the center of the edge of the support frame 100 holding the pellicle membrane is stretched or pressed to adjust the tension, and therefore the position, size, and direction cannot be considered.

The resin film 13 is stretchable and stretchable, and can increase resistance to an external force by applying tensile strain in an elastic range. The effect of reducing the amount of shaking of the film becomes large when the tensile strain is 0.5% or more, and from the viewpoint described above, the higher the value, the better. In the case of stretching a material having a yield point, a tensile strain can be applied up to around the yield point, and for example, in the case of a fluorine-based resin, the elongation at the yield point is about 10%, and thus the tensile strain can be applied up to about 9%.

On the other hand, however, the higher the tensile strain, the lower the resistance to trauma. Even if the external damage due to contact or the like is extremely small, depending on the direction, the crack generated may propagate at once, resulting in the overall damage of the pellicle membrane. In addition, a large shear stress is always applied to the protective film membrane adhesive layer, and there is a concern from the viewpoint of the reliability of adhesion. Considering the balance between the effect of reducing the film shaking and the adhesive strength of the adhesive and the resistance to external damage, the most suitable range of tensile strain is 1% to 2.5%. Further, the tensile strain may also be appropriately adjusted according to the position on the frame. For example, the tensile strain in the vicinity of the longitudinal central axis, which increases the amount of vibration of the protective film membrane, can be particularly increased.

In general, when the photomask is rectangular, the moving direction of the photomask in the exposure machine is the longitudinal direction. Fig. 3 shows a state of shaking of the pellicle membrane when the photomask with the pellicle is moved and suddenly stopped. The figure is a cross section of a long side central axis, an arrow indicates a moving direction of the photomask with the protective film, and a two-point chain line indicates a behavior of the protective film membrane when the shaking is maximum.

The shaking of the pellicle membrane is caused by the movement of the photomask. The maximum vibration is caused by the air in the sheath being biased in one direction by inertia at the start or stop of the movement, although the influence of the wind pressure received from the outside through the narrow space is also present. In the example of fig. 3, the air in the pellicle moves to the right due to sudden stop to the right, and thus the portion B of the pellicle membrane is depressed and the portion C protrudes. This corresponds to the regions B and C surrounded by dotted lines in the plan view of fig. 1. The present invention applies a large tensile strain in the major axis direction, thereby increasing the resistance to the deflection of air in the direction, and effectively suppressing the amount of membrane shaking.

Fig. 4 is a plan view showing another embodiment of the present invention. The protective film sheet 43 is subjected to tensile strain in the short axis direction (arrow b) in addition to the long axis direction (arrow a) in the embodiment of fig. 1, and is bonded to the protective film frame 41 via the protective film sheet bonding layer 42. The tensile strain in the minor axis direction is preferably 0.5% or more and 2% or less. When tensile strain is applied in the long axis direction of the pellicle membrane, shrinkage occurs in the short axis direction due to Poisson effect (Poisson effect), and the purpose thereof is to prevent wrinkles from occurring. Furthermore, from the viewpoint of preventing the resistance to external wounds from decreasing, it is not necessary to increase the tensile strain applied in the short axis direction.

The protective film sheet may be made of a known material, for example, a cellulose resin such as nitrocellulose or cellulose propionate, an amorphous fluorine resin, or the like. Among them, amorphous fluorine-based resins are particularly preferably used. The amorphous fluorine-based resin is free from dimensional change due to moisture absorption, and even when ultraviolet light having a wavelength of 300nm or less is used, the film thickness is not reduced by etching, so that the amount of tensile strain applied can be stably maintained for a long period of time, and the amount of film shaking is not varied. Further, since the film is amorphous, cracks are relatively less likely to propagate, and the film has advantages of high resistance to external damage even when a large tensile strain amount is applied.

Next, a method for manufacturing a pellicle according to the present invention will be described in detail.

A solution of a protective film material is applied to a substrate made of smoothly polished quartz, low-expansion glass, or the like by a known application method such as a spin coating method or a slit coating method, and the solvent is completely evaporated by a heating mechanism such as an oven, a hot plate, or an Infrared (IR) lamp, thereby obtaining a layer of a dried protective film on the substrate.

After cooling, the protective film sheet is peeled off from the film formation substrate. As shown in the sectional view of fig. 5, the film support 52 of the support frame 50 is preferably bonded to the end of the protective film membrane 54 on the substrate 55, and lifted off gradually from the corner. Fig. 6 is a plan view of the pellicle membrane supported by the support frame 50. The support frame 50 includes an outer frame 51, a film support 52, and a stretching mechanism 53. In the above embodiment, the supporting frame 50 is bonded and the pellicle membrane 54 on the substrate 55 is peeled off, but the pellicle membrane may be peeled off by another method and then the supporting frame 50 is attached.

The outer frame 51 is preferably made of a rigid material and configured so as not to be bent when tensile strain is applied to the protective film membrane 54. The film support 52 supports the peripheral edge of the protective film sheet in a divided manner with a width of 20mm to 100mm, and bonds the protective film sheet 54 by a bonding means (not shown) such as an adhesive applied to the surface or a double-sided tape. The stretching strain can be adjusted more finely as the width of the film support 52 is narrower, but on the other hand, the complexity of the work increases rapidly as the width is narrower, and therefore the support width is preferably determined in consideration of the size of the film, productivity, and the degree of the occurrence of wrinkles.

The film support 52 is disposed with a gap of 5mm or less with respect to the adjacent film supports 52, and is supported from the outer frame 51 via the stretching mechanism 53, and the stretching amount thereof can be individually adjusted. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the drawing mechanism 53. The stretching mechanism 53 is mounted on a linear movement mechanism including a rail 71 and a slider 72 movable in a direction d perpendicular to the stretching direction c, and is movable following the displacement of the film when a stretching strain is applied. As the tension mechanism, a screw mechanism including a female screw 73 and a male screw 74 is used in the present embodiment, but the present invention is not limited thereto. A film support 52 having a film adhesive layer 75 containing an adhesive or a double-sided tape on the surface is attached to the distal end of the male screw portion 74 in a free state with respect to the rotation of the male screw portion 74, and the film support 52 is moved in the stretching direction c by the rotation operation of the male screw portion 74.

From the state where the protective film membrane 54 is supported by the support frame 50, a required amount of tensile strain is given to the protective film membrane 54 by operating the tensile mechanism 53. The amount of tensile strain applied increases as the membrane support 52 is retracted, but the operation is performed such that the amount of movement between the opposing membrane supports 52 becomes equal. In the operation, it is preferable to first operate in the major axis direction in which the amount of tensile strain applied is large, and then operate in the minor axis direction. Finally, it is confirmed that the pellicle membrane 54 is not wrinkled, and the pellicle membrane 54 is bonded to the pellicle membrane adhesive layer of the pellicle frame to complete the pellicle in the same manner as in the conventional pellicle manufacturing method.

[ examples ]

Hereinafter, examples of the present invention will be described, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

[ example 1]

A protective film 80 shown in the perspective view of fig. 8 is produced. The mask frame 81 is a rectangle having an outer dimension of 1526mm × 1748mm and an inner dimension of 1493mm × 1715mm, which is formed by machining using a5052 aluminum alloy, and has a height of 6.0mm, and the corners have an inner R2 shape and an outer R6 shape. Concave holes 82 having a diameter of 2.5mm and a depth of 2mm for handling (handling) are provided in two places on the outer surfaces of the long sides, grooves 83 having a height of 2mm and a depth of 3mm are provided in the outer surfaces of the short sides, and grooves 84 having a height of 2mm and a depth of 3mm are similarly provided in three places on the outer surfaces of the long sides. Further, 8 vent holes 85 each having a diameter of 1.5mm and a filter 86 are provided on each of the two long sides. Finally, the surface is subjected to sand blasting, and then black alumite (alumite) treatment is performed.

The film-protecting frame 81 is carried into a clean room, sufficiently washed with a surfactant and pure water, and dried. Next, a silicone adhesive as the pellicle film adhesive layer 88 was diluted with toluene on one frame surface of the pellicle frame and applied to a thickness of 2mm by an air pressure dispenser, and a silicone adhesive as the mask adhesive layer 87 (manufactured by shin-Etsu chemical industries, ltd.) was diluted with toluene on the other frame surface and applied to a thickness of 2mm by an air pressure dispenser, and curing was performed by heating.

Next, a protective film membrane material solution in which an amorphous fluorine resin (trade name: cytop, manufactured by asahi glass (limited)) was dissolved was coated on a smoothly polished quartz substrate 55 of 1620mm × 1780mm × 17mm in thickness by using a slit die coater. The coating amount at this time was set so that the film thickness after drying became 3.9 μm. Next, it was heated to 180 ℃ using an oven to dry the solvent.

The support frame 50 is bonded to the protective film membrane 54 on the substrate 55 as shown in fig. 5. Here, the stretching mechanism of the support frame 50 has the structure shown in fig. 7. The film adhesive layer 75 including a silicone double-sided tape provided on the lower surface of the film support 52 is adhered to the protective film sheet 54 at the substrate end, and then the support frame 50 is gradually lifted from the corner. Fig. 6 is a plan view showing a state after peeling.

Next, the stretching mechanism 53 is operated to move the film support 52 in the film center direction, and the position where the protective film piece starts to relax is determined. With the above position as a reference, the opposite stretching mechanisms 53 disposed on the short sides are simultaneously operated to apply the tensile strain in the long axis direction to the pellicle membrane. In this case, a tensile strain having an elongation of 41mm and an elongation of about 2.3% was applied, and the operations were performed in order from the center of the short side to the outer side. Next, the tensile mechanism 53 disposed on the long side was similarly operated to apply a tensile strain having a strain amount of 30mm and an elongation of about 1.9% in the short axis direction. Finally, the film was visually observed over the entire surface, and it was confirmed that wrinkles were not generated.

The support frame 50 supporting the pellicle membrane 54 having the tensile strain applied thereto in the major axis direction and the minor axis direction is moved, as shown in fig. 8, the pellicle membrane 89 is bonded to the pellicle membrane adhesive layer 88 on the pellicle frame 81 produced as described above, and the surrounding excess film is cut by a dicing machine to complete the pellicle 80. In example 1, tensile strain is applied in the directions a and b shown in fig. 4.

The completed pellicle 80 was attached to a quartz substrate of 1620mm × 1780mm × 17mm in thickness, and then mounted on a motion mechanism including a linear motion guide and a slider, as shown in FIG. 3The display is moved in the horizontal direction, and the amount of film shaking during the movement is measured by a laser distance measuring sensor. As a result, the speed was 1300mm/s and the acceleration was 2940mm/s ² Deceleration 2940mm/s ² The maximum amount of shaking on the protruding side of the pellicle membrane was about 2.3mm, which is a value at which there is no fear of membrane contact.

[ example 2]

The protective film was produced in the same manner as in the above-described examples, with the amount of strain applied to the protective film membrane being varied. The following tensile strain is imparted at this time: the elongation in the major axis direction was 19mm and the elongation was about 1.1%, and the elongation in the minor axis direction was 10mm and the elongation was 0.6%. The amount of membrane shaking of the completed pellicle membrane was evaluated under exactly the same conditions as in the above example, and as a result, the maximum amount of shaking of the pellicle membrane was about 3.7mm, which was a level at which there was no concern of membrane contact in practice.

[ comparative example ]

Similarly to example 1, a protective film material solution in which an amorphous fluorine resin (product name: seaku (CYTOP) manufactured by Asahi glass (Asahi glass) was dissolved was applied to a substrate made of smoothly polished quartz of 1620mm × 1780mm × 17mm in thickness by a slit die coater, and dried. A support frame 100 as shown in fig. 10 is bonded to the peripheral edge of the protective film sheet on the substrate, and the protective film sheet 101 is obtained by gradually peeling off the support frame from the corner. In examples 1 and 2, the pellicle membrane is peeled off and held by the support frame 50, and tensile strain is applied by the tensile mechanism, but the support frame 100 of this comparative example does not have the tensile mechanism. In order to prevent wrinkles, the centers of the long sides and the short sides of the protective film sheet 101 are stretched outward as indicated by arrows in the drawing, and the protective film sheet is bonded to the protective film frame manufactured in the same manner as in examples 1 and 2 while maintaining this state, and the extra film around the frame is cut by a dicing machine to complete the protective film. At this time, the support frame 100 has a shape in which the film is stretched while the entire film is flexed when the center of the side is pulled, and the amounts of stretching of the long side and the short side affect each other. Therefore, the tensile amount cannot be easily compared with the above examples, but if the tensile strain is determined at the center of the sides as a reference, the long sides and the short sides are both about 0.5%.

The membrane oscillation amount of the completed pellicle was evaluated under the same conditions as those of examples 1 and 2, and as a result, the maximum oscillation amount of the pellicle membrane was about 5.2mm on the protruded side, which is a level of concern that the pellicle membrane may contact the inside of the device.

Claims

1. A photomask with a pellicle formed by mounting a pellicle on the photomask, the pellicle including at least one pellicle frame having a side length exceeding 1000mm and a pellicle membrane adhered to one frame-shaped surface thereof, the photomask with the pellicle being characterized in that,

the protective film membrane is provided with a tensile strain of 1% to 2.5% in a direction parallel to a pair of protective film frame sides which are parallel to each other and linearly symmetrical.

2. The pellicle-bearing photomask of claim 1,

the protective film membrane is provided with a tensile strain of 0.5% or more and 2% or less in a direction perpendicular to the pair of protective film frame sides.

3. The pellicle-bearing photomask of claim 1,

the protective film frame is rectangular, and the pair of protective film frame edges are long edges of the rectangle.

4. The pellicle-bearing photomask of claim 3,

the protective film sheet is provided with a tensile strain of 0.5% or more and 2% or less in a direction perpendicular to the long side of the rectangle.

5. The pellicle-bearing photomask of claim 3 or 4,

at least one linear reinforcement with the thickness of 100 mu m at most is jointed to the protective film membrane and is arranged between two opposite sides of the protective film frame in an extending mode.

6. The photomask with pellicle of claim 3 or 4, characterized in that,

and two linear reinforcements with the thickness of 100 mu m at most are jointed to the protective film membrane and are arranged along the diagonal line of the protective film frame in an expanding mode.

7. The photomask with a pellicle of any of claims 1-4, wherein the pellicle membrane is made of amorphous fluorine-based resin.

8. An exposure system having a mechanism for performing exposure using the pellicle-equipped photomask according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

9. A system for manufacturing a panel for a flat panel display, characterized by having a mechanism for performing exposure using the pellicle-equipped photomask of any one of claims 1 to 7.