Electron projection lithography tool development status

In the development of an electron beam projection lithography (EPL) tool, the most important tasks are to develop the high-speed vacuum stage system, reliable vacuum body system, and total control system. Nikon has a. long history of over 22 years in precision stage development for its optical lithography tools as well as over 10 years in electron beam (EB) instrument development such as the EB 60 with NTT. Recently, optical lithography stages have been developed based on air bearing and linear motor technologies. It is desirable and of minimum risk to utilize those technologies for the EPL system in order to shorten the total time period of development, but the requirements for the EB stage, body, and system control are much different from their optical counterparts and much more difficult. In this article development and implementation of the EPL vacuum stage system, vacuum body system, vacuum loader system, and control system are discussed and overviewed. (C) 2002 American Vacuum Society.