PREVAIL - An e-beam stepper with Variable Axis Immersion Lenses
MNE '94 Proceedings of the international conference on Micro- and nano- engineering '94
PREVAIL: Proof-of-Concept system and results
MNE '99 Proceedings of the 25th international conference on Microelectronic engineering
PREVAIL - Evolution and properties of large area reduction projection electron optics
MNE '99 Proceedings of the 25th international conference on Microelectronic engineering
On mask layout partitioning for electron projection lithography
Proceedings of the 2002 IEEE/ACM international conference on Computer-aided design
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This paper is an overview of work in the IBM Microelectronics Division to extend electron-beam lithography technology to the projection level for use in next-generation lithography. The approach being explored--Projection Reduction Exposure with Variable Axis Immersion Lenses (PREVAIL)--combines the high exposure efficiency of massively parallel pixel projection with scanning-probe-forming systems to dynamically correct for aberrations. In contrast to optical lithography systems, electron-beam lithography systems are not diffraction-limited, and their ultimate attainable resolution is, for practical purposes, unlimited. However, their throughput has been--and continues to be--the major challenge in electron-beam lithography. The work described here, currently continuing, has been undertaken to address that challenge. Novel electron optical methods have been used and their feasibility ascertained by means of a Proof-Of-Concept (POC) system containing a Curvilinear Variable Axis Lens (CVAL) for achieving large-distance (20 mm at a reticle) beam scanning at a resolution of 2 section of the reticle. A production-level prototype PREVAIL system, an "alpha" system, for the 100-nm node has been under development jointly with the Nikon Corporation. At the writing of this paper, its electron-optics subsystem had been brought up to basic operation and was being prepared for integration with its mechanical and vacuum subsystem, under development at Nikon facilities.