Precision substrate material multi-processing using miniature-column charged particle beam arrays
US10734192B1 · kind B1 · utility
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Dec 19, 2017 |
| Grant date | Aug 4, 2020 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 19, 2037 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH01L21/26513
- WIPO fieldSemiconductors
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Methods, tools and systems for patterning of substrates using charged particle beams without photomasks, without a resist layer, using multiple different processes (different chemistry processes and/or different ones of material deposition, removal and/or modification) in the same vacuum space, wherein said processes are performed independently (without cross-interference) and simultaneously. As a result, the number of process steps can be reduced and some lithography steps can be eliminated, reducing manufacturing cycle time and increasing yield by lowering the probability of defect introduction. Also, because such processes are resist-less, layer-to-layer registration and other column control processes can be performed by imaging previous-layer features local to (or in contact with) features to be written in a next layer as designated by the design layout database.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.