Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B, Vol.16, No.6, 3177-3180, 1998
High throughput electron lithography with the multiple aperture pixel by pixel enhancement of resolution concept
A new lithography concept for the sub-100 nm generations is proposed. The bulk of the machine is a traditional deep ultraviolet demagnification scanner-stepper. The mask is illuminated by 10(6)-10(8) almost diffraction limited subbeams formed by a microlens array. After demagnification these subbeams are focused on a photon-electron converter plate. Each photon subbeam triggers the emission of a narrow beam of electrons. The electron beams are focused individually on the wafer, which is at a distance of about 1 mm from the converter plate. By scanning both mask and wafer through the many beams, the whole wafer is exposed.