Scintillating global-fiducial grid for electron-beam lithography

An organic scintillator has been developed for use in electron-beam lithogr aphy. The scintillator can be deposited in a thin film (<200 nm) on the sub strate, and can be patterned by an ultraviolet-interferometric exposure to produce a uniformly thick, scintillating, fiducial grid. When scanned with the electron beam, the scintillating pattern produces a high-contrast (>2) optical signal. It is expected that the signal from this type of-grid will improve the pattern-placement precision. to within 1 nm when used in conjun ction with spatial-phase-locked electron-beam lithography. (C) 1998 America n Vacuum Society. [S0734-211X(98)02106-4].