Development of a massively parallel electron beam write (MPEBW) system: aiming for the digital fabrication of integrated circuits

A prototype of a massively parallel electron beam write (MPEBW) system has been developed for maskless (direct-write) lithography. A 100 x 100 array of nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) electron emitters is controlled by an active matrix-driving large-scale integrated device. This device is designed so that arrayed electron beams are reduced by a factor of 100 using electron optics and focused onto the wafer as 10 nm square spots. The electron beam emitter array has an aberration correction function. A planar 10 mu m square nc-Si emitter array and the driving LSI device were fabricated and their operations were confirmed. A 17 x 17 nc-Si emitter array was assembled with driver circuits and used to perform active matrix electron beam exposure in a 1:1 exposure test system. A Pierce emitter array for the active matrix drive is the subject of the target commercial system. The operations of the Pierce emitter array were studied using basic prototyping and simulation.

Automated summary

A prototype of a massively parallel electron beam write system has been developed for maskless lithography. The system includes a nanocrystalline silicon electron emitter array and an active matrix-driving integrated device. The electron beams from the array are focused onto the wafer using electron optics. The operations of the array and the driving device were confirmed in a test system.