Diamondlike carbon (DLC) membrane masks for high-throughput projection electron-beam lithography have an important advantage over stencil masks: a single mask can be used to print donut-shaped patterns. At a membrane thickness on the order of a few tens of nanometers, thermal problems could occur. The temperature rise of a membrane mask was simulated with various exposure parameters. Membrane and scatterer thickness, resist sensitivity, and pattern coverage were varied. It was found that global temperature rise after exposure of a chip is on the order of 0.005degreesC, while temperature rise in a membrane area under exposure reaches 2.54degreesC. Simulation results were compared to those on a. silicon stencil mask. It was found that the global heating is less on a DLC membrane mask. (C) 2004 American Vacuum Society.