JPH0541547Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a cassette for holding a material to be drawn, such as mask glass, which is drawn by an electron beam.

[Prior art]

Some cassettes of this type are of a type in which the material to be drawn is inserted from the side; in this case, conventionally, the material to be drawn is slid along a guide surface provided on the cassette. However, this sliding method has the drawback that a lot of dust is generated due to friction, and the dust can cause defects in masks and the like used for submicron-order electron beam lithography. To suppress the generation of this garbage,
It would be possible to reduce the friction against the drawing material by providing a guide roller, but this would require installing multiple guide rollers to each cassette, making the structure of the cassette complex and making it difficult to obtain high precision. At the same time, it becomes expensive, and in particular, several dozen cassettes are required for one electron beam lithography apparatus, which has a large effect on cost.

[Purpose of invention]

The present invention solves the above-mentioned drawbacks and problems, and provides a cassette for an electron beam lithography system that can achieve high accuracy with a simple structure, keep the total cost low, and suppress the generation of dust. It is in.

[Structure of the idea]

In order to achieve this object, the present invention does not provide a guide roller on the cassette itself, but instead allows the guide roller provided on the drawing material setting jig to be located at the position where it should be provided on the cassette. The cassette is provided with only a space for receiving the guide roller.

〔Example〕

The following Figures 1 to 2 show an embodiment of the present invention.
The diagram will be explained. Reference numeral 1 designates a cassette body, and on its upper surface side (upper side in FIG. 2), there is a recess 1a for receiving a material 2 to be drawn, shown by a two-dot chain line, and a presser plate 3 and a spring 4 for pressing the material upward. The drawing material 2 is allowed to enter and exit the recess 1a through an entrance 5 provided on the left side in FIGS. 1 and 2. On the upper surface of the cassette main body 1, there are provided a plurality of reference pieces 6 in the vertical direction (the vertical direction in FIG. 2, referred to as the Z direction). By pressing the drawing material 2, which has been positioned by the reference member in the direction (direction), against the lower surface of the reference piece 6 using the presser plate 3, the drawing material 2 is positioned relative to the cassette main body 1 in the XY and Z directions. It is designed to be fixed by doing this. Since the structure of the cassette described above is the same as that of the conventional one, a detailed description thereof will be omitted, and the vertical movement mechanism of the presser plate 3 for clamping and unclamping the drawing material 2 will be omitted from illustration.

The cassette body 1 and the holding plate 3 are provided with a plurality of through holes 7 at positions corresponding to both lateral ends (upper and lower ends in FIG. 1) of the drawing material 2 inserted therein. Note that this through hole 7 becomes a hole when looking at the cassette A (whole) consisting of the cassette main body 1, the presser plate 3, etc. For example, as in the presser plate 3 of this embodiment,
This includes cases where the parts are only notches.

Each of the above-mentioned through holes 7 are arranged in the setting jig 8 when the set jig 8 is placed in a predetermined positional relationship by the positioning protrusion 9 of the set jig 8 shown by the two-dot chain line. Of the plurality of guide rollers 11 and 12 provided on the upper surface via the protrusion 10, the first and second guide rollers
It is adapted to receive several guide rollers 11 and 12 located on the right side in the figure. Of the guide rollers 11 and 12, the guide roller 11 is used for the drawing material 2, as shown in FIG.
The other guide roller 12 guides both side ends of the drawing material 2 with a relatively small gap, and guides the drawing material 2 into the recess 1a of the cassette main body 1. It's getting old.

Next, the loading of the drawing material 2 into the cassette A will be explained. First, the cassette A is set in alignment with the positioning protrusion 9 of the setting jig 8.
By this setting, the guide rollers 11 and 12 provided on the setting jig 8 enter the through hole 7 and are placed in a predetermined positional relationship with respect to the recess 1a of the cassette A. Next, the presser plate 3 is placed in the lowered position shown in FIG. 2 against the spring 4 using a push-down handle (not shown), and the presser plate 3 is placed on the guide roller 11 located to the left of the cassette A as shown in FIG. By placing the drawing material 2 on it and pushing it to the right in the figure while being guided by the guide rollers 12, the drawing material 2 will move between the guide rollers 11, 12 and the cassette A. Guide roller 1 located in through hole 7
1 and 12, it is guided into the recess 1a without causing any sliding friction.

The drawing material 2 inserted into the recess 1a is positioned by reference members in the X and Y directions (not shown), and is then held down by the spring 4 by returning the push-down handle (not shown) to its original position. The lower surface of the reference piece 6 is pressed and fixed by the pressing force of the plate 3.

The cassette A loaded with the material 2 to be drawn in this way is removed from the setting jig 8 and sent to the electron beam drawing device, but the material 2 to be drawn is placed on the guide roller 1.
Regardless of the guide rollers 11 and 12, there is no problem at all because they are held and fixed in place by the reference member in the X, Y, and Z directions, the reference piece 6, and the presser plate 3. Even if it is made of a magnetic material, it is not present in cassette A during writing, so it has the advantage that it does not adversely affect the electron beam.

In the embodiment described above, the through hole 7 was provided in the cassette A in order to receive the guide rollers 11 and 12. However, the present invention is not limited to this. , the guide roller 1 without making any special holes.
1 and 12 may be formed, and the guide roller may be only one that receives the lower surface of the drawing material 2, and various other modifications are possible.

[Effect of idea]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the cassette itself is not provided with a guide roller, the number of parts of the cassette does not increase, and it is only necessary to provide a space such as a hole, which eliminates the need for a large number of parts. Although this cassette is highly accurate and does not increase the cost of the cassette to be used and does not increase machining errors or distortions due to machining, it does not require a pre-prepared cassette jig and a pre-prepared cassette jig to load the drawing material. By combining them, it is possible to suppress the sliding friction and the generation of dust. Incidentally, normally only one setting jig is required, accuracy is not required, and there is no need to consider the influence on the electron beam, so a commonly used material may be used.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing a cassette for an electron beam drawing apparatus according to the present invention and a setting jig used therewith, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line - of FIG. 1. A... cassette, 1... cassette body, 1a...
...recess, 2...drawing material, 3...pressing plate, 4...
Spring, 5: entrance/exit, 6: reference piece, 7: through hole (space), 8: setting jig, 9: positioning protrusion, 10: protrusion, 11, 12: guide rollers.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] 1. In a cassette for an electron beam lithography system in which a material to be drawn, such as a mask glass, is loaded by inserting it from the side, a portion located below the material to be drawn in a loaded state is A cassette for an electron beam lithography apparatus, characterized in that it has a space for receiving a plurality of guide rollers from the side. 2. The cassette for an electron beam lithography apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the space is formed by a through hole. 3. The cassette for an electron beam lithography apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the space is provided along both lateral ends of the lithographic material to be inserted.