Transcript
US007508570B1
(12) Ulllted States Patent Meisburger
(10) Patent N0.:
US 7,508,570 B1
(45) Date of Patent:
(54)
GRAY LEVEL METHOD FOR SLIM-BASED OPTICAL LITHOGRAPHY
(75)
Inventor:
5,049,901 A 5,132,723 A 5,330,878 A
William Daniel Meisburger, San Jose,
5,455,602 A
Mar. 24, 2009
9/1991 Gelbart 7/1992 Gelbart 7/1994 Nelson
10/1995 TeW
CA (Us)
(Continued)
(73) Assignee: Maskless Lithography, Inc., San Jose, CA (Us)
(*)
Notice:
FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35
U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days.
Beyond,” Ulrich Ljungblad, Tor Sandstrom, Hans Buhre, Peter Diirr, Hubert Lakner, 20th Annual Bacus Symposium on Photomask Tech
Oct. 24, 2007
nology, Brian J. Grenon, and Giang T. Dao, Editors, Proceedings of
Continuation of application No. 10/941,969, ?led on Sep. 14, 2004, now Pat. No. 7,295,362, which is a division of application No. 10/ 646,525, ?led on Aug.
(60) Provisional application No. 60/406,030, ?led on Aug. 24, 2002(51)
Int- Cl-
Primary ExamineriRicky L Mack Assistant ExamineriBrandi N Thomas
(74) Attorney, Agent, or FirmiSchneck & Schneck
An optical lithography system comprises a light source, a spatial light modulator, imaging optics and means for con tinuously moving a photosensitive substrate relative to the
G02B 26/00
(2006-01)
spatial light modulator. The spatial light modulator comprises
(2006-01) (2006-01)
at least one array of individually switchable elements. The spatial light modulator is continuously illuminated and an
G033 2 7/72
(2006-01)
image of the spatial light modulator is continuously projected
G033 2 7/70
(2006-01)
on the substrate; consequently, the image is constantly mov across the Surface of the substrate_
355/35; 355/67
(56)
the SPIE, vol. 4186, 2001.
G02B 26/08 G02F 1/29
U-S. Cl. ..................... ..
(58)
6/2003
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Related US. Application Data
(60)
W0 03/052516 A1
“New Architecture for Laser Pattern Generators for 130 NM and
(21) App1.No.: 11/923,390 (22) Filed:
W0
Field of Classi?cation Search ............... .. 359/290,
the image is
moving across the surface, elements of the spatial light modu lator are switched such that a pixel on the surface of the
359/291, 292, 298, 224; 355/35, 44, 66,
substrate receives, in serial, doses of energy from multiple
355/ 67, 71 See application ?le for complete search history.
elements of the spatial light modulator, thus forming a latent image on the substrate surface. The imaging optics is con?g ured to project a blurred image of the spatial light modulator on the substrate, enabling sub-pixel resolution feature edge Placement
References Clted U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 4,571,603 A
2/1986 Hornbeck et a1.
4,879,605 A
11/1989 Warkentin et a1.
412
413
25 Claims, 35 Drawing Sheets
US 7,508,570 B1 Page 2 US. PATENT DOCUMENTS 5,459,492 5,461,411 5,482,818 5,490,009 5,504,629 5,523,193 5,672,464
5,691,541 5,870,176 6,124,876 6,130,750 6,204,875 6,229,649 6,251,550 6,271,957 6,285,488 6,288,830 6,295,153 6,312,134 6,375,903
A A A A A A A A A A A B1 B1 B1
B1 B1 B1 B1 B1 B1
10/1995 10/1995 l/1996 2/1996 4/1996 6/1996 9/1997 11/1997 2/1999 9/2000 10/2000 3/2001 5/2001 6/2001
Venkateswar Florence etal. Nelson Venkateswar et a1. Lim Nelson Nelson Ceglio eta1~ Sweatt et al. Sunagawa Ausschnitt et a1. De L99reta1~ Woods er 91 Ishikawa
8/2001 Quate eta1~ 9/2001 9/2001 9/2001 11/2001 4/2002
Sandstrom Kinoshita Garner Jain e131. Cerrina e131.
6,379,867 6,399,261 6,411,366 6,421,573 6,425,669 6,428,940 6,473,237 6,480,324 6,493,867 6,504,644 6,509,955 6,537,738 6,552,779 6,567,205 6,581,070 6,590,632
B1 B1 B2 B1 B1 B1 B2 B2 B1 B1 B2 B1 B2 B1 B1 B2
6,637,329 B1 6,665,121 6,717,650 6,965,364 2002/0080339 2003/0184730
B2 B2 B1 A1 A1
4/2002 6/2002 6/2002 7/2002 7/2002 8/2002 10/2002 11/2002 12/2002 1/2003 1/2003 3/2003 4/2003 5/2003 6/2003 7/2003
Mei et a1. Sandstrom Luellau 6131. Kafka et 31‘ Mei 6131. Sandstrom Mei Quate 6131. Mei 6131. Sandstrom Meiet a1‘ Mei 6131. Mei Eggers 6131. Gibbon 6131. Sumi
10/2003 Madeley 12/2003 4/2004 11/2005 6/2002 10/2003
Gelbart 6131. Jain Eggers et a1. Takahaski Price
US. Patent
Mar. 24, 2009
Sheet 1 0f 35
US 7,508,570 B1
100
170
120
110 130
140
z
E x
y
Fig. 1
US. Patent
Mar. 24, 2009
200
110
X
Sheet 2 0f 35
US 7,508,570 B1
250\
170
120 130
140
L
6
Z
1.60 X
y
Fig. 2
US. Patent
300
Mar. 24, 2009
Sheet 3 0f 35
US 7,508,570 B1
\v 250 \ 170 120
110
‘130
340
“2b {,0 344
Z
mo X
y
Fig. 3
US. Patent
Mar. 24, 2009
Sheet 4 0f 35
US 7,508,570 B1
US. Patent
Mar. 24, 2009
Sheet 5 0f 35
US 7,508,570 B1
US. Patent
Mar. 24, 2009
Sheet 6 0f 35
520 521
US 7,508,570 B1
522 523 524
610
150
Fig. 6
US. Patent
Mar. 24, 2009
NE.
Sheet 7 0f 35
US 7,508,570 B1
US. Patent
Mar. 24, 2009
Sheet 8 0f 35
140
853
4
US 7,508,570 B1
US. Patent
Mar. 24, 2009
Sheet 9 0f 35
Fig. 9
US 7,508,570 B1
US. Patent
Mar. 24, 2009
Sheet 10 0f 35
US 7,508,570 B1
0a; 2.5
_
_
_
_
J.-
mUQU NU?UmU
uomsod slensqns
US. Patent
Mar. 24, 2009
C1
C2
Sheet 11 0135
C3
C4
R1
R4
1002 /
._1 Fig. 11
US 7,508,570 B1
C5
C6
US. Patent
Mar. 24, 2009
Sheet 12 0f 35
100% r
Fig. 12
US 7,508,570 B1
US. Patent
Mar. 24, 2009
Sheet 13 0f 35
100%
Light Inte sity
Fig. 13
US 7,508,570 B1
US. Patent
Mar. 24, 2009
Sheet 14 0f 35
US 7,508,570 B1
100% '
38 M 30G 50%
1 404. .-------------------__------
-—n-u----o-—-n------------¢
Fig. 14
US. Patent
1
Mar. 24, 2009
Sheet 15 0f 35
US 7,508,570 B1
%
38, 30C 1504
M--------—-----------~---—— -----C;----—--—-—----—-
Unexposed Region
\1507 Fig. 15
US. Patent
Mar. 24, 2009
Sheet 16 0f 35
US 7,508,570 B1
16Fig.
10 8
C5C6C4C3C1C2
10 0 uopgsod amnsqng
US. Patent
Mar. 24, 2009
w
2
uomsod awnsqng
Sheet 17 0f 35
US 7,508,570 B1
US. Patent
Mar. 24, 2009
Sheet 18 0f 35
US 7,508,570 B1
0
Q)
EE-*
00
‘II-1 0
a'n
{in
go
V3
0
(‘1
2
of as
\D
U In
U Q
U m
U N
0
E3 O O
52 uopgsod smnsqng
8
