Enhanced e-beam pattern writing for nano-optics based on character projection

The pattern generation for nano-optics raises high demands on resolution, writing speed and flexibility: nearly arbitrary complex structures with feature sizes below 100 nm should be realized on large areas up to 9 inches in square within reasonable time. With e-beam lithography the requirements on resolution and flexibility can be fulfilled but the writing time becomes the bottle neck. Acceleration by Variable Shaped Beam (VSB) writing principle (geometrical primitives with flexible size can be exposed with a single shot) is sometimes not sufficient. Character Projection (CP) is able to speed up the writing drastically because complex pattern of a limited area can be exposed by one shot [1]. We tested CP in the Vistec SB350 OS for optical applications and found a shot count reduction up to 1/1000, especially for geometries which are hard to approximate by geometrical primitives. Additionally, the resolution and the pattern quality were influenced in a positive way. Another benefit is the possibility to spend a part of the gain in writing speed to the use of a high resolution but low sensitive resist like HSQ. The tradeoff between speed and flexibility should be compensable by a large number of characters available.