This application discloses a
wafer-level pattern modification method and an
ion beam
etching apparatus, applicable to the
semiconductor manufacturing field. In this method, a target
ion beam
voltage is first determined based on the
hardness grade of the material to be etched on the
wafer surface. An initial pattern is formed on the
wafer surface by the material to be etched. Then, based on a first
ion beam incident angle and the target
ion beam voltage, the initial pattern is modified on one side in a first direction using the
ion beam to obtain a first modified pattern. Therefore, only one
photolithography step is needed before
ion beam etching to form the initial pattern, avoiding low product yield caused by
overlay errors. Through
ion beam etching, the initial pattern formed by the material to be etched on the wafer surface can be modified on one side in a highly controllable manner in a first direction parallel to the wafer surface, reducing the distance between adjacent patterns and improving the success rate of forming the first modified pattern, thus increasing the yield of products requiring small CD patterns.