Evaluation of a new X-ray stepper XRA

A new X-ray stepper XRA, which is equivalent to beta -machine for proximity X-ray lithography (PXL), was installed at ASET Amagasaki-branch, and we ha ve started the evaluation of its performance. The present alignment accurac y using global alignment method is 5.3 +/- 18.2 mn (x) and 3.8 +/- 30.5 run (y). We evaluate the magnification correction function installed on XRA, a nd obtain a good linearity between the magnification and the applied force. By considering the dependence of the beam position and its size to the sto red current, the critical dimension (CD) repeatability is improved from 15. 5 to 5.5 run (3 sigma). (C) 2001 Elsevier Science BY All rights reserved.