Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
  • H01J37/00—Discharge tubes with provision for introducing objects or material to be exposed to the discharge, e.g. for the purpose of examination or processing thereof
  • H01J37/30—Electron-beam or ion-beam tubes for localised treatment of objects
  • H01J37/3002—Details
  • H01J37/3007—Electron or ion-optical systems
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
  • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
  • H01L21/02—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof
  • H01L21/027—Making masks on semiconductor bodies for further photolithographic processing not provided for in group H01L21/18 or H01L21/34
  • H01L21/0271—Making masks on semiconductor bodies for further photolithographic processing not provided for in group H01L21/18 or H01L21/34 comprising organic layers
  • H01L21/0273—Making masks on semiconductor bodies for further photolithographic processing not provided for in group H01L21/18 or H01L21/34 comprising organic layers characterised by the treatment of photoresist layers
  • H01L21/0274—Photolithographic processes
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B82—NANOTECHNOLOGY
  • B82Y—SPECIFIC USES OR APPLICATIONS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MEASUREMENT OR ANALYSIS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF NANOSTRUCTURES
  • B82Y10/00—Nanotechnology for information processing, storage or transmission, e.g. quantum computing or single electron logic
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B82—NANOTECHNOLOGY
  • B82Y—SPECIFIC USES OR APPLICATIONS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MEASUREMENT OR ANALYSIS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF NANOSTRUCTURES
  • B82Y40/00—Manufacture or treatment of nanostructures
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
  • H01J37/00—Discharge tubes with provision for introducing objects or material to be exposed to the discharge, e.g. for the purpose of examination or processing thereof
  • H01J37/02—Details
  • H01J37/04—Arrangements of electrodes and associated parts for generating or controlling the discharge, e.g. electron-optical arrangement or ion-optical arrangement
  • H01J37/045—Beam blanking or chopping, i.e. arrangements for momentarily interrupting exposure to the discharge
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
  • H01J37/00—Discharge tubes with provision for introducing objects or material to be exposed to the discharge, e.g. for the purpose of examination or processing thereof
  • H01J37/30—Electron-beam or ion-beam tubes for localised treatment of objects
  • H01J37/317—Electron-beam or ion-beam tubes for localised treatment of objects for changing properties of the objects or for applying thin layers thereon, e.g. for ion implantation
  • H01J37/3174—Particle-beam lithography, e.g. electron beam lithography
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
  • H01J37/00—Discharge tubes with provision for introducing objects or material to be exposed to the discharge, e.g. for the purpose of examination or processing thereof
  • H01J37/30—Electron-beam or ion-beam tubes for localised treatment of objects
  • H01J37/317—Electron-beam or ion-beam tubes for localised treatment of objects for changing properties of the objects or for applying thin layers thereon, e.g. for ion implantation
  • H01J37/3174—Particle-beam lithography, e.g. electron beam lithography
  • H01J37/3177—Multi-beam, e.g. fly's eye, comb probe
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
  • H01J2237/00—Discharge tubes exposing object to beam, e.g. for analysis treatment, etching, imaging
  • H01J2237/04—Means for controlling the discharge
  • H01J2237/043—Beam blanking
  • H01J2237/0435—Multi-aperture
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
  • H01J2237/00—Discharge tubes exposing object to beam, e.g. for analysis treatment, etching, imaging
  • H01J2237/04—Means for controlling the discharge
  • H01J2237/045—Diaphragms
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
  • H01J2237/00—Discharge tubes exposing object to beam, e.g. for analysis treatment, etching, imaging
  • H01J2237/04—Means for controlling the discharge
  • H01J2237/045—Diaphragms
  • H01J2237/0451—Diaphragms with fixed aperture
  • H01J2237/0453—Diaphragms with fixed aperture multiple apertures
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
  • H01J2237/00—Discharge tubes exposing object to beam, e.g. for analysis treatment, etching, imaging
  • H01J2237/04—Means for controlling the discharge
  • H01J2237/049—Focusing means
  • H01J2237/0492—Lens systems
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
  • H01J2237/00—Discharge tubes exposing object to beam, e.g. for analysis treatment, etching, imaging
  • H01J2237/15—Means for deflecting or directing discharge
  • H01J2237/1501—Beam alignment means or procedures

Definitions

• This invention relates to charged particle optical system for a charged particle exposure apparatus, in particular a maskless lithography system using charged particles.
• the supply of data can be increased in two ways.
• a first way of increasing the data rate is by sending the pattern data directly to the beam source or sources, thus switching the source of sources on and off.
• the source or sources continuously emit one or more beamlets and the pattern data is provided to modulation means that modulate the emitted beamlets along their pathway towards the target to be patterned.
• Each individual source has a settling time that is source-dependent and becomes too large easily. It is therefore preferred to modulate the beamlets along their optical pathway.
• these modulation means are often electrostatic deflection arrays, also known as blanking aperture arrays (BAA) or deflection arrays. Examples of such arrays are disclosed in US-patent 6188074 by Advantest and in EP-patent application 1253619 by Canon.
• BAA blanking aperture arrays
• deflection arrays are disclosed in US-patent 6188074 by Advantest and in EP-patent application 1253619 by Canon.
• This aperture array has several functions. In lithography systems comprising a single source it is used to split an emitted beam in a plurality of beamlets. Furthermore, it determines the opening angle of the beam at the deflection array. Additionally the aperture array reduces the heat load on the deflection array, thereby enhancing its performance .
• misalignment of the consecutive components (lenses, apertures etc.) of the system or a slight change of the position of the beam by for instance external electromagnetic fields, for instance resulting from charging of surfaces or irregularities on charged surfaces results in dose variations.
• dose variation the control of the critical dimensions of the features to be patterned is no longer guaranteed.
• One way of dealing with misalignment problems is increasing the opening angle of each beamlet, i.e. making the cross section of a beamlet on an aperture array larger than the aperture which is passes. In that way, it is ensured that the entire area of an aperture is illuminated.
• the invention therefore provides a charged-particle- optical system for a charged particle beam exposure apparatus, said system comprising: a first aperture means comprising at least a first substantially round aperture for partially shielding an emitted charged particle beam for forming at least one charged particle beamlet;
• a lens system comprising at least one lens for focussing said charged particle beamlet or beamlets, originating or arriving from said first aperture, within or in the vicinity of an image focal plane of said lens; - a deflector means, substantially located in said image focal plane, comprising at least one beamlet deflector for the deflection of said charged particle beamlet or beamlets when passing said deflector upon the reception of a control signal, and
• a second aperture means comprising at least one second substantially round aperture positioned in the conjugate plane of the first aperture, and said second aperture being aligned with said first aperture and said beamlet deflector for blocking said charged particle beamlet or beamlets upon deflection by said beamlet deflector and to transmit it otherwise.
• conjugate planes planes formed by a plane on one side of a lens or lens system and its image plane at the other side of the lens or lens system by shielding or blocking.
• the system relates to a system according to the present invention for a charged particle beam exposure apparatus using a plurality of charged particle beamlets, wherein said first aperture means comprises a plurality of said first apertures forming an aperture array with one aperture for each beamlet, said lens system comprises a plurality of said lenses forming an array of lenses, each lens positioned to focus one of the plurality of charged particle beamlets from said first aperture means, said second aperture means comprises a plurality of said second apertures forming an aperture array, said deflector means comprising a plurality of said beamlet deflectors, each beamlet deflector positioned for the deflection of a passing charged particle beamlet upon receiving a control signal corresponding to the desired pattern to be exposed.
• said lens or lenses comprises an electrostatic lens.
• said beamlet deflector or beamlet deflectors comprises an electrostatic deflector.
• said electrostatic deflector comprises at least two deflection electrodes .
• the system used in an apparatus using a plurality of beamlets further comprises a second lens system arranged before said first aperture means and comprising a plurality of lenses forming an array of lenses, said lenses arranged for converging said beamlets.
• the system further comprises a third lens system arranged before said first aperture means and comprising a plurality of lenses, arranged to project images of a source of a charged particle beam exposure apparatus in the principal plane of said second lens system, the charged particle optical system further comprising a third aperture array wherein the second lens array is arranged to project images of said third aperture array on said first aperture array.
• the invention further relates to a charged particle exposure apparatus for exposing a substrate to a plurality of charged particle beamlets, comprising a first aperture array comprising a plurality of first apertures, one aperture for each charged particle beamlet, a lens system comprising a plurality of lenses forming an array of lenses, said lenses aligned with said first apertures, and a second aperture array comprising a plurality of second apertures aligned with said first apertures, wherein said lens system is arranged between said first aperture array and said seconds aperture array for imaging said first aperture array on said second aperture array.
• the apparatus comprises at least one further aperture array and at least one further lens array, wherein between each aperture array a lens array is positioned, arranged for imaging a previous lens array on a subsequent lens array.
• the invention further relates to a charged particle exposure apparatus for exposing a substrate to at least one charged particle beamlet, comprising a substantially round first aperture for blocking part of said charged particle beamlet, a lens system comprising at least one lens, said lens system aligned with said first apertures, a substantially round second aperture aligned with said first apertures, and deflection means comprising at least one beamlet deflector for deflecting said beamlet when passing said deflector upon reception of a control signal, said lens system arranged between said first aperture and said second aperture for projecting an image of said first aperture on said second aperture, and said deflector substantially located in an image focal plane of said lens system.
• this apparatus can have one or more of the features described above or in the description of embodiments below.
• the invention further relates to a method of exposing a pattern on a target exposure surface using the system or the apparatus according to the invention.
• the invention further relates to a substrate processed with the system or apparatus of the invention.
• said charged particle beam or charged particle beamlet is an electron beam. In another embodiment, said charged particle beam or charged particle beamlet is an ion beam.
• the invention further relates to a charged particle beam lithography system comprising the apparatus of charged particle optical system of the invention described above.
• the invention further relates to a substrate processed with such a charged particle beam lithography system.
• the invention further relates to a charged particle beam microscopy system comprising the apparatus described above .
• Figure 1A shows a top view of figure 1.
• figure 2 shows a cross-section of a multi-beamlet charged particle optical system
• figures 3a-3d explain the problems
• figures 4a-4c explain further problem
• figure 5 shows a first embodiment of a charged particle optical system for a single beam system according to the present invention
• figure 6 shows a first embodiment of a charged particle optical system for a multibeam system according to the present invention
• figure 7 shows a second embodiment of a charged particle optical system for a multibeam system according to the present invention
• figure 8 shows a third embodiment of a charged particle optical system for a multi particle beam system according to the present invention
• figure 9 yet another embodiment of the system.
• FIGURE 1 shows cross section along the optical axis of a charged particle beam exposure apparatus comprising a charged particle source, two apertures, two lenses and one electrostatic deflector.
• the FIGURE 1A shows a top-view of FIGURE 1
• the source 1 emits a diverging charged particle beam 2.
• Said lens 4 focuses the beam substantially on the plane of the electrostatic deflector 5.
• the deflector 5 deflects the passing charged particle beam.
• the second aperture 6, being substantially round, can have several purposes. First of all it may limit the opening angle of the beam falling on the second lens 7. Secondly it blocks the beam when deflected by the electrostatic deflector 5. When the beam is transmitted through the second aperture 6 the second lens 7 focuses it on an image plane 8.
• FIGURE 2 shows the same principle of operation for a multi-beam system.
• a plurality of beamlets 9 passes consecutively a first aperture array 10, a first lens array 11, a deflector array 12, a second aperture array 13 that serves as beamlet stop array and a second lens array
• the beamlets 9 may be created with a plurality of charged particle sources or by splitting a collimated charged particle beam emitted by a single charged particle source, for instance by means of an aperture plate.
• FIGURES 1 and 2 The concept depicted in FIGURES 1 and 2 is widely used, but it has a major disadvantage that especially becomes important when operating at high deflection frequencies.
• the spot on the second aperture 6 is not sharply defined. Its intensity fades away.
• the deflection angle needed to block the beamlets 16 completely is not well defined. Consequently a large deflection angle is needed to ensure the blocking operation.
• a small deflection angle is desired.
• FIGURE 3a shows an example of a correctly positioned deflector.
• the beamlet fills the area of both apertures.
• Figure 4b shows the effect of the a slight rotation or the optical axis of beamlet 2 on the optical configuration of figure 4a: the heatload increases considerable.
• Figure 4c shows the effect of a shift in the optical axis of beamlet 2 from o to position o' : again, the heat load on the second aperture increases. The heatload on the first aperture 3 also increases. Furthermore, the position of a beamlet on image plane 8 varies with the position of the optical axis of the beamlet, and with the angle of the optical axis of the beamlet.
• the current passing through the apertures is different for each individual aperture. Consequently the current arriving at the image plane 8 varies per charged particle beamlet 15.
• the current variations result in dose variations i.e. variations in the number of charged particles per unit area. Due to these dose variations the critical dimension control of a pattern with high-resolution features is no longer possible.
• a method to reduce the negative influences of position variations is to enlarge the opening angle falling on the apertures as is shown in
• FIGURE 4b and 4c Although part of the current is "thrown away" each individual aperture now transmits a similar area of an individual charged particle beamlet.
• a simple enlargement of the opening angle has a major disadvantage though.
• the lens filling of the lens following the aperture with a larger opening angle increases. Consequently the performance of the lens deteriorates.
• FIGURES 5 and 6 show a first embodiment of the present invention for a single beam and a multibeam electron optical system respectively.
• the first aperture 3 is placed in the conjugate plane of the second aperture 6.
• the filling of the first lens 4 is therefore reduced, which enhances its performance i.e. less aberrations are introduced.
• the spot on the second aperture 6 is sharp, which results in a well-defined deflection angle of the electrostatic deflector 5 to accomplish blocking of the passing charged particle beam. If the heat load on the first aperture 3 becomes too large, several apertures elements are arranged in a serial order along the path of the charged particle beam.
• the aperture elements are then mutually aligned and preferably arranged in a serial order with decreasing diameter along the electron optical path.
• the beam-limiting aperture element is then imaged on the second aperture 6.
• the second aperture 6 also comprises a series of aperture elements, preferably with decreasing diameter along the electron optical path
• the beam limiting aperture element of the first aperture 3 is projected on the beam limiting aperture element of the second aperture 6 by the first lens 4.
• the first embodiment of the present invention is implemented in the multibeam system as depicted in FIGURE 6.
• FIGURE 7 shows such a single source multibeam electron optical system incorporated with the first embodiment of the present invention.
• a charged particle source 17 emits a diverging beam 18, which is collimated by a collimator lens 19 before reaching the first aperture array 10.
• the first aperture array 10 then splits the beam into a plurality of beamlets. The rest of the operation is similar to the operation of the system described with respect to FIGURE 6.
• the collimator lens 19 introduces additional aberrations in the system.
• FIGURE 8 Details of this approach are disclosed in PCT/NL2004/000174 by this applicant, said document referenced as if fully set forth.
• an additional lens array 20 is positioned between said collimator lens 19 and said charged particle source 17.
• a third aperture array 21 is placed between the lens array 20 and the source 17. Now the aperture array 21 splits the emitted charged particle beam 18 in a plurality of beamlets 22 and additionally takes care of the large heat load.
• FIGURE 9 shows the first embodiment of the present invention applied in the system depicted in FIGURE 8. Following the same reasoning as with the first embodiment regarding position variations, the position of the third aperture array 21 should be positioned in the conjugate plane of the first aperture array 10. The lens fillings of all lens arrays 11, 14, 20 are minimised, while the opening angles are large enough to deal with the position variations. Furthermore the spot on the beamlet stop array 13 remains sharp, which leads to the capability to deflect with a high frequency due to the small minimum deflection angle . It is to be understood that the above description is included to illustrate the operation of the preferred embodiments and is not meant to limit the scope of the invention. From the above discussion, many variations will be apparent to one skilled in the art that would yet be encompassed by the spirit and scope of the present invention.

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• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Nanotechnology (AREA)
• Analytical Chemistry (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Crystallography & Structural Chemistry (AREA)
• Condensed Matter Physics & Semiconductors (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
• Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
• Mathematical Physics (AREA)
• Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
• Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
• Power Engineering (AREA)
• Electron Beam Exposure (AREA)
• Exposure And Positioning Against Photoresist Photosensitive Materials (AREA)

Priority Applications (5)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (2)

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ID=33490650

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Cited By (3)

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• 2004
  • 2004-05-27 JP JP2006532135A patent/JP4949843B2/ja not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2004-05-27 KR KR1020127003554A patent/KR101175523B1/ko not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2004-05-27 CN CNB2004800145787A patent/CN100543920C/zh not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2004-05-27 US US10/856,050 patent/US7084414B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2004-05-27 EP EP07075242A patent/EP1830384B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2004-05-27 AT AT07075242T patent/ATE524822T1/de active
  • 2004-05-27 AT AT04748613T patent/ATE358885T1/de active
  • 2004-05-27 EP EP04748613A patent/EP1627412B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2004-05-27 KR KR1020057022719A patent/KR101168200B1/ko not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2004-05-27 DE DE602004005704T patent/DE602004005704T2/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2004-05-27 WO PCT/NL2004/000381 patent/WO2004107050A2/en not_active Ceased

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