摘要:
Certain classes of patterns, for example so-called zone plates, are utilized as alignment marks in the fabrication of integrated circuits. Such a plate, which functions as a lens, provides a high-brightness image that is relatively insensitive to any degradation of the pattern.
摘要:
A contact-type endoscope surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) probe includes a gradient-index (GRIN) lens, a transparent substrate adhered to the GRIN lens, and a rough metallic layer adhered to an opposite side of the transparent substrate from the GRIN lens. The GRIN lens focuses light from a Raman spectrometer onto the rough metallic layer, and the rough metallic layer is positioned at the distal end of the contact-type endoscope SERS probe.
摘要:
Techniques are disclosed to compensate for distortions in lithography by locally heating the membrane in a lithographic mask. The techniques may be used both to shrink and to expand areas of the mask locally, in order to adjust for varying magnitudes and signs of distortion. In one embodiment the correction method comprises two steps: (1) A send-ahead wafer is exposed and measured by conventional means to determine the overlay errors at several points throughout the field. (2) During exposure of subsequent wafers, calibrated beams of light are focused on the mask. The heating from the absorbed light produces displacements that compensate for the overlay errors measured with the send-ahead wafer. Any source of distortion may be corrected—for example, distortion appearing on the mask initially, distortion that only develops on the mask over time, or distortion on the wafer. In another embodiment, a reference pattern is formed on the membrane as a means of measuring mask distortion, and the heat input distribution needed to correct distortion is determined by subsequent measurements of the reference pattern. In this alternative embodiment, any source of distortion in the mask may be corrected.
摘要:
Methods are disclosed for making microstructures. In one method, the resist layer is reversibly deformed during exposure. When the resist is flattened and developed after exposure, non-vertical features result that are not obtainable through other existing means. One application of this method is to make nested cones suitable for use as a highly efficient x-ray lens. In another disclosed method, "halftone" lithography is used to generate microstructures having features whose height may vary continuously. One application of this method is to make a novel telescope array, a thin film having telescopic magnification properties.
摘要:
An electron-beam lithography apparatus and method, including an electron source with a mask or photocathode for generating a patterned electron beam; an electron-sensitive resist layer; a conductive plate with a slit, located between the electron source and the resist layer, with the patterned electron beam passing only through the slit; an electric field between the electron source and the conductive plate to accelerate electrons, with the conductive plate causing the electric field between the plate and the resist to be substantially zero; a magnetic field between the electron source and the resist, to focus electrons on the resist; and alignment device for synchronously scanning the mask or photocathode and the resist at the same velocity relative to the slit and to the electron source, and at zero velocity relative to each other, so that substantially all of the pattern of the patterned electron beam is imaged on the resist without substantial change in size.
摘要:
A method of detecting defects in a lithography mask by exposing a first mask onto a positive resist, and a second, ostensibly identical mask onto a negative resist. Remaining particles of resist after development correspond to spots in the first mask, or to holes in the second mask. The process may be repeated with the tones of the resists reversed to detect holes in the first mask, or spots in the second mask.
摘要:
A new confocal microscope and a new device fabrication method in which linewidth control is achieved using the new confocal microscope are disclosed. This new confocal microscope has a configuration which achieves multiple passes, e.g., three, four, five, six, seven or more passes, of the incident light through the objective lens of the microscope. As a consequence, the new confocal microscope exhibits a smaller effective depth of focus and a smaller effective resolution than a conventional confocal microscope.
摘要:
In an automated inspection procedure, corresponding elements from all the patterns lying along a row of a replicated-pattern mask or wafer are successively imaged onto a storage medium in an interleaved way. At the completion of an inspection cycle, sets of corresponding elements from all the patterns in the row are respectively arrayed in the storage medium in a side-by-side fashion.
摘要:
A contact-type endoscope surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) probe includes a gradient-index (GRIN) lens, a transparent substrate adhered to the GRIN lens, and a rough metallic layer adhered to an opposite side of the transparent substrate from the GRIN lens. The GRIN lens focuses light from a Raman spectrometer onto the rough metallic layer, and the rough metallic layer is positioned at the distal end of the contact-type endoscope SERS probe.
摘要:
A contact-type endoscope surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) probe includes a gradient-index (GRIN) lens, a transparent substrate adhered to the GRIN lens, and a rough metallic layer adhered to an opposite side of the transparent substrate from the GRIN lens. The GRIN lens focuses light from a Raman spectrometer onto the rough metallic layer, and the rough metallic layer is positioned at the distal end of the contact-type endoscope SERS probe.