JPH0547643A - Apparatus and method for electron beam exposure - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Object] To improve an electron beam exposure apparatus and an exposure method for exposing a complicated pattern such as a semiconductor chip of an integrated circuit device, and to provide a non-rectangular pattern with a small roughness of a pattern edge on the surface of an object to be irradiated. It is an object of the present invention to provide an electron beam exposure apparatus and an exposure method capable of performing high-speed irradiation. [Structure] An electron beam emitted from an electron gun 1 is condensed by a condenser lens 2, passed through an electromagnetic lens 4, turned on and off by a blanking deflector 5 when switching shots, and shot by the main deflector 6 with this electron beam. Is an electron beam exposure apparatus which irradiates an object to be irradiated 10 mounted on a table 8 on an XY table 9 by defining the position of the main deflector 6 through the electromagnetic lens 7. A shot forming deflector 3 for shaping a spot beam of an electron beam for irradiating the surface region of the irradiation object 10 whose position is defined by is arranged between the condenser lens 2 and the electromagnetic lens 4.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electron beam exposure apparatus and an exposure method for exposing a complicated pattern such as a semiconductor chip of an integrated circuit device.

In an exposure method using an electron beam exposure apparatus in recent years, when an integrated circuit pattern having a complicated pattern shape is exposed, the number of divided shots increases, resulting in a decrease in processing capability and an electron beam exposure apparatus. Is reducing the throughput of.

From the above situation, the processing capacity is lowered,
There is a demand for an electron beam exposure apparatus and an exposure method capable of preventing a decrease in throughput of the electron beam exposure apparatus.

[0004]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional electron beam exposure apparatus and exposure method will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is a side sectional view showing a schematic structure of a conventional electron beam exposure apparatus, and FIG. 4 is a view for explaining a conventional electron beam exposure method.

As shown in FIG. 3, in the conventional electron beam exposure apparatus, the electron beam emitted from the electron gun 11 is condensed by the condenser lens 12 and formed into a rectangular shape by the first slit 13a and the second slit 13b. After being formed into an electron beam and passing through the electromagnetic lens 14, it is turned on and off by the blanking deflector 15 when the shot is switched, the position is defined by the main deflector 16, and the electromagnetic lens 17 is passed to pass the XY table.
A rectangular electron beam is applied to a region of the surface of an object to be irradiated 20 placed on a stage 18 on the table 19.

In the electron beam exposure method using such a conventional electron beam exposure apparatus, as shown in FIG. 4, the exposure area 20a on the surface of the irradiation object 20 is divided into a plurality of rectangular areas.
20a ₁ , a rectangular area 20a ₂ and a rectangular area 20a ₃ are divided, and the electron beam is shaped into an electron beam corresponding to these rectangular areas by using the first slit 13a and the second slit 13b of the electron beam exposure apparatus. The exposure region 20a is exposed by successively irradiating the surface of the irradiation target 20 with a plurality of shaped rectangular electron beams.

However, when the area to be exposed is a non-rectangular pattern as shown in FIG. 5, the non-rectangular pattern is divided into rectangular patterns as shown in FIG. A rectangular electron beam
The first slit 13a and the second slit 13b are used for shaping, and the plurality of rectangular shaped electron beams thus shaped are successively irradiated onto the surface of the object to be exposed for exposure, but the number of divisions is small. In this case, as shown in the drawing, the unevenness of the edge in the oblique direction results in a rough exposure with a great edge roughness.

In order to make the edge roughness finer, the non-rectangular pattern is divided into an extremely large number of rectangular patterns as shown in FIG. 5 (b), and a rectangular electron beam corresponding to each of the rectangular patterns is first divided. Through the slit 13a and the second slit 13b, it is necessary to perform irradiation by successively irradiating the surface of the irradiation target with a plurality of divided rectangular electron beams successively, which results in the throughput of the electron beam exposure apparatus. Is falling.

[0009]

In the conventional electron beam exposure apparatus and exposure method described above, in the case of irradiating an electron beam having a non-rectangular pattern as shown in FIG. When this non-rectangular pattern is divided into a small number of rectangular patterns, the edge roughness becomes coarse, and when this non-rectangular pattern is divided into a very large number of rectangular patterns as shown in FIG. There is a problem that the throughput is reduced.

Under the circumstances as described above, the present invention aims to provide an electron beam exposure apparatus and an exposure method capable of irradiating a surface of an object to be irradiated with a non-rectangular pattern having a small pattern edge roughness at a high speed. It is what

[0011]

In the electron beam exposure apparatus of the present invention, an electron beam emitted from an electron gun is condensed by a condenser lens, passed through an electromagnetic lens, and turned on and off by a blanking deflector when switching shots. An electron beam exposure apparatus which defines a shot position of the electron beam by a main deflector, passes the electromagnetic lens, and irradiates the irradiation target placed on a stage on an XY table with the electron beam. , A shot forming deflector for shaping a spot beam of the electron beam for irradiating a region of the surface of the object whose position is defined by the main deflector is provided between the condenser lens and the electromagnetic lens. Constitute.

The electron beam exposure method of the present invention is an electron beam exposure method which is carried out by using the above-mentioned electron beam exposure apparatus, and in the area of the surface of the irradiated object whose position is defined by the main deflector, The spot beam of the electron beam formed by the shot forming deflector is scanned and irradiated.

[0013]

That is, in the present invention, a spot beam of an electron beam for irradiating an area of the surface of an object whose position is defined by the main deflector is formed between the condenser lens and the electromagnetic lens of the electron beam exposure apparatus. Since the shot forming deflector is provided, the spot area of the electron beam formed by this shot forming deflector is continuously scanned at high speed in the exposure area on the surface of the irradiation target whose position is defined by this main deflector. Therefore, the electron beam can be irradiated onto the surface of the object to be irradiated in a short time even in the case of a non-rectangular pattern.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An electron beam exposure apparatus and an exposure method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing a schematic structure of an electron beam exposure apparatus of one embodiment according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an electron beam exposure method of one embodiment according to the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, in the electron beam exposure apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention, the electron beam emitted from the electron gun 1 is condensed by the condenser lens 2 and is shot by the shot forming deflector 3 to, for example, 0.04. The surface of the irradiated object 10 which is shaped into a spot beam having a diameter of about μm, is turned on and off by the blanking deflector 5 when the shot is switched after passing through the electromagnetic lens 4, and is placed on the stage 8 on the XY table 9. The main deflector 6 irradiates the exposure area whose position is defined.

In the electron beam exposure method performed by using the electron beam exposure apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention as described above,
As shown in FIG. 2, the exposure area 10a on the surface of the irradiation object 10 is divided into areas 10a ₁ , 10a ₂ , whose positions are defined by the main deflector 6.
In 10a ₃ , the spot beam of the electron beam formed by the shot forming deflector 3 is moved at high speed as shown in the figure.
For example, since the irradiation is continuously performed at a speed of about 10 m / sec, even when the electron beam is continuously irradiated to the non-rectangular exposure area at a high speed, the electron beam with good edge roughness can be exposed at a high speed. Becomes

[0017]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to perform high-precision and high-speed electron beam exposure on a non-rectangular region by changing the structure of an extremely simple electron beam exposure apparatus. Therefore, it is possible to provide an electron beam exposure apparatus and an exposure method that have advantages such as being able to prevent a decrease in throughput of the manufacturing process of a semiconductor device, and are expected to have significant economic and reliability improving effects. is there.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing a schematic structure of an electron beam exposure apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an electron beam exposure method according to an embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view showing a schematic structure of a conventional electron beam exposure apparatus,

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a conventional rectangular beam electron beam exposure method;

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a conventional non-rectangular pattern electron beam exposure method;

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 is an electron gun, 2 is a condenser lens, 3 is a shot forming deflector, 4 is an electromagnetic lens, 5 is a blanking deflector, 6 is a main deflector, 7 is an electromagnetic lens, 8 is a stage, 9 is an XY table, 10 is the irradiated object,

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An electron beam emitted from an electron gun (1) is condensed by a condenser lens (2), passed through an electromagnetic lens (4), and turned on and off by a blanking deflector (5) when switching shots. The position of the shot of the electron beam is defined by the main deflector (6), passes through the electromagnetic lens (7), and the electron beam is placed on the stage (8) on the XY table (9) to be irradiated. An electron beam exposure apparatus for irradiating an object (10), wherein the irradiation object (1) whose position is defined by the main deflector (6) is
A shot forming deflector (3) for shaping a spot beam of the electron beam for irradiating the surface region of (0) is provided between the condenser lens (2) and the electromagnetic lens (4). Electron beam exposure system. 2. An electron beam exposure method using the electron beam exposure apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the irradiation object (1) whose position is defined by the main deflector (6) is defined.
0) in the area of the surface, said shot forming deflector
An electron beam exposure method, which comprises scanning and irradiating the spot beam of the electron beam formed in (3).