Demonstration of multiblanker electron-beam technology

A set of multiple electron-beam (e-beam) aperture/blanker chips have been f abricated using silicon microelectro-mechanical systems (MEMS) techniques. The aperture sizes range from 8 to 4 mum (nominal) squares, and the chip co nfigurations feature either eight individually controlled monopolar blanker electrodes or four bipolar electrode pairs. The chips replace the shapers of a 20 kV AEBLE(TM) shaped e-beam lithography column. The apertures in the chips convert an incident 150 mum diameter e-beam into multiple beamlets. Each beamlet can be independently blanked off of a 100 mum aperture placed at the following beam crossover. Data are presented that demonstrates the a bility to independently blank each beamlet by applying 10 V. Magnified imag es of the beamlets show square or rectangular shapes with sharp corners, in dicating that the apertures were properly fabricated. The degree of electro static blanker crosstalk was measured and found to be up to 15% at the cros sover plane for different pairs of beamlets, but no observable beam displac ement occurred at the image plane. We compared the experimental results to a rough model that estimates the effect of the electrostatic field distribu tion of one excited blanker electrode on the unblanked beams. The results m atched to within 20%. (C) 2000 American Vacuum Society. [S0734-211X(00)1470 6-7].