LITHOGRAPHIC PATTERON GENERATION

THE DEVELOPMENT OF A LOW COST LASER BEAM WRITER THAT COULD GENERATE LITHOGRAPHIC PATTERNS AT HIGH SPEED WOULD BE OF SIGNIFICANT BENEFIT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH-QUALITY, HIGH EFFICIENCY, BINARY OPTICAL COMPONENTS AND SUBSYSTEMS. IT IS PROPOSED TO INVESTIGATE A NEW CONCAPT FOR A HIGH EFFICIENCY IMAGING PROTOTYPE LASER BEAM WRITER AND DEVELOP A LABORATORY PROTOTYPE TO DEMONSTRATE ITS FEASIBILITY. THE HEART OF THE PROPOSED LASER BEAM WRITER IS A HIGH-RESOLUTION, HIGHOPTICAL-EFFICIENCY NYBRID SPATIAL LIGHT MODULATOR CALLED THE ELECTROSTATIC PRECIPITATING LIGHT MODULATOR (EPLM) THAT CAN BE ELECTRONICALLY OR OPTICALLY PROGRAMMED WITH MASK PATTERNS. BY READING OUT THE DEVICE WITH EXPANDED AND COLLIMATED UV LASER RADIATION, AN IMAGE OF THE DESIRED MASK PATTERN CAN BE PROJECTED ONTO THE SURFACE OF THE MATERIAL TO BE PROCESSED. THE PROPOSED FINAL VERSION OF THE LASER BEAM WRITER WILL EMPLOY A MODULATOR WITH AN ACTIVE AREA (SQUARE) OF 100MM X 100MM, A SPATIAL RESOLUTION OF ABOUT 33 LINES/MM, AND A FULLFRAME WRITE TIME OF ABOUT ONE SECOND. THUS BY DEMAGNIFYING THE MODULATOR IMAGE WITH HIGH QUALITY IMAGING OPTICS, MASKS WITH SPATIAL RESOLUTION IN EXCESS OF 200 LINES/MM CAN BE PRODUCED QUICKLY AND EFFICIENTLY. THE SYSTEM IS ALSO CAPABLE OF MODIFYING AND COPYING EXISTING LITHOGRAPHIC MASKS BY IMAGING THSES MASKS ONTO THE OPTICAL THE OPTICAL INPUT PORT OF THE SPATIAL LIGHT MODULATOR.