Intermittence effect in electron beam writing

Analogue lithography is a suitable technology for the fabrication of contin uous surface profiles. This paper summarises investigations on the electron beam exposure of PMMA and HEBS-glass masks. At first we give an idea of th e intermittence effect we obtained by exposing PMMA and HEBS-glass masks wi th a variable shape beam e-beam writer. To understand its physical causes, the intermittence effect was investigated in detail and could be described by a simple model. The consequences of the effect for different e-beam writ ing concepts (Gaussian beam and variable shape beam) are compared. Based on this knowledge we introduce a strategy to overcome problems in variable sh ape beam writing. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.