Electron beam drawing apparatus and electron beam drawing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10074507-B2
Application number	US-201715646663-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 11, 2017
Priority date	Jul 12, 2016
Publication date	Sep 11, 2018
Grant date	Sep 11, 2018

Abstract

In one embodiment, an electron beam drawing apparatus includes an electron gun including a cathode and an anode, a current control circuit controlling a total emission current, a first detector detecting a first emission current from an outer peripheral portion of the cathode, a second detector detecting a second emission current from an central portion of the cathode, and a controller that determines a coefficient, which is a ratio of an emission current from the outer peripheral portion of the cathode to the first emission current. During a period in which a pattern is drawn on the substrate, the controller estimates a value of the second emission current by subtracting a value, which is resulted by multiplying the first emission current by the coefficient, from the total emission current, and controls the current control circuit in a manner of holding the estimated value constant.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electron beam drawing apparatus comprising:
an electron gun including a cathode that emits an electron beam, an anode, and a Wehnelt arranged between the cathode and the anode;
a power supply circuit including a high-voltage power supply that applies an acceleration voltage between the cathode and the anode, and a current control circuit that controls a total emission current;
a first detector that detects a first emission current from an outer peripheral portion of the cathode, the first emission current being part of the total emission current;
a stage on which a substrate as a drawing target is placed;
a second detector that detects a second emission current from an central portion of the cathode, the second emission current being part of the total emission current; and
a controller that determines a coefficient, which is a ratio of an emission current from the outer peripheral portion of the cathode to the first emission current, by employing the total emission current, the first emission current, and the second emission current,
wherein, during a period in which a pattern is drawn on the substrate, the controller estimates a value of the second emission current by subtracting a value, which is resulted by multiplying the first emission current by the coefficient, from the total emission current, and controls the current control circuit in a manner of holding the estimated value constant.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a drawing region on the substrate is virtually divided into a plurality of stripe regions, and the pattern is drawn by each of the stripe regions,
the second detector detects the second emission current in a period after the drawing in a first stripe region and before starting the drawing in a second stripe region that is a next stripe region in a drawing sequence, and
the controller updates the coefficient by employing the detected second emission current, and estimates a value of the second emission current by employing the updated coefficient during the drawing in the second stripe region.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first detector is disposed in association with the anode.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first detector is disposed in association with a sensor arranged under the anode.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first detector is disposed in association with each of the anode and a sensor arranged under the anode, and a total of currents detected from both the anode and the sensor is used as the first emission current.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the second detector is disposed at a position different from a region of the stage where the substrate is placed.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising an aperture member having a plurality of openings formed therein, the electron beam emitted from the electron gun passing through the openings to form multiple beams,
wherein the second detector detects the second emission current on the basis of respective current amounts of all of the multiple beams or a predetermined number of beams among the multiple beams.

8. An electron beam drawing method comprising:
controlling a total emission current between a cathode and an anode of an electron gun, and emitting an electron beam from the cathode;
detecting a first emission current from an outer peripheral portion of the cathode, the first emission current being part of the total emission current;
detecting a second emission current from an central portion of the cathode, the second emission current being part of the total emission current; and
determining a coefficient, which is a ratio of the emission current from the outer peripheral portion of the cathode to the first emission current, by employing the total emission current, the first emission current, and the second emission current,
wherein, during a period in which a pattern is drawn on a substrate with use of the electron beam, a value of the second emission current is estimated by subtracting a value, which is resulted by multiplying the first emission current by the coefficient, from the total emission current, and the total emission current is controlled in a manner of holding the estimated value constant.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein a drawing region on the substrate is virtually divided into a plurality of stripe regions, and drawing is performed in units of the stripe region,
the second emission current is detected in a period after the drawing in a first stripe region and before starting the drawing in a second stripe region that is a next stripe region in a drawing sequence, and
the coefficient is updated by employing the detected second emission current, and a value of the second emission current is estimated by employing the updated coefficient during the drawing in the second stripe region.

10. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the first emission current is detected using a first detector disposed in association with the anode.

11. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the first emission current is detected using a first detector disposed in association with a sensor that is arranged under the anode.

12. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the first emission current is given as a total of currents detected by the first detectors that are disposed respectively in association with the anode and the sensor arranged under the anode.

13. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the second emission current is detected using a second detector that is disposed at a position different from a region of a stage where the substrate is placed.

14. The method according to claim 13 , further comprising causing the electron beam to pass through a plurality of openings formed in an aperture member, and forming multiple beams,
wherein the second detector detects the second emission current on the basis of respective current amounts of all of the multiple beams or a predetermined number of beams among the multiple beams.

Assignees

• Nuflare Technology Inc

Inventors

• Iwata Hideyuki

Classifications

• H01J37/073 Primary

  Electron guns using field emission, photo emission, or secondary emission electron sources · CPC title

• H01J2237/24564

  Measurements of electric or magnetic variables, e.g. voltage, current, frequency · CPC title

• H01J37/244

  Detectors; Associated components or circuits therefor · CPC title

• H01J37/243

  Beam current control or regulation circuits (H01J37/241 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01J37/3174 Primary

  Particle-beam lithography, e.g. electron beam lithography · CPC title