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].