33 results about "Maskless lithography" patented technology

In one embodiment, a method of fabricating a device having at least two features of different heights includes the steps of: depositing a photoresist on a substrate; determining a topographic pattern for at least two features of the device; determining an exposure pattern for at least two features of the device; exposing a first region of the photoresist to a first dose of light, the first region corresponding to a first feature of the at least two features; exposing a second region of the photoresist to a second dose of light different from the first dose of light, the second region corresponding to a second feature of the at least two features; and developing the photoresist.

Embodiments of the systems, methods, and software provided herein patterns substrates using digital lithography patterning controlled by field programmable gate arrays (FPGA). Stage position data is provided to the FPGA from the lithography environment and the data is loaded into a memory from the FPGA. The graphics processing unit, reads the data from the memory and calculates instructions based on the data. At least a portion of a substrate disposed on the stage is processed using instructions provided by the FPGA.

The present invention relates to the field of maskless lithography illumination technology, and particularly to a hybrid illumination system with multiple bands and multiple light sources and a maskless lithography apparatus. A hybrid illumination system with multiple bands and multiple light sources includes a first light source having a first optical axis; a first lens group arranged along the first optical axis and adjacent to the first light source; a first light bar arranged along the first optical axis and adjacent to the first lens group; a second lens group arranged along the first optical axis and adjacent to the first light bar; a second and a third light source having a second optical axis, and the second optical axis is perpendicular to the first optical axis. The hybrid illumination system with multiple bands and multiple light sources of the present invention can completely eliminate the axial chromatic aberration on the image plane of the digital micromirror device to ensure the lithography effect of the maskless lithography apparatus on the premise that the hybrid light source can fully cover the 350-440 nm band.

According to the distortion compensation method and device for the straight frame type maskless photoetching and the storage medium, a direct framing anti-distortion correction method is provided, on the basis of an anti-tilt straight frame method, window cutting is carried out by moving a framing rectangle, distortion processing is carried out on a cut window graph, and then direct framing is carried out by using a filling algorithm. According to the method, a large number of intermediate calculation processes are omitted. According to the basic thought, windowing operation is carried out on an anti-inclined to-be-exposed graph through framing rectangles with aligned axes, after a graph set (windowing graph) is obtained, anti-distortion processing is carried out on the graph set according to a distortion equation, under the distortion effect, the graph set is projected to a correct position, frame image filling is carried out according to the imaging pixel precision, and although projection imaging has distortion, the image set is not subjected to distortion processing. However, after projection imaging of each pixel point, although an imaging contour is still in a distortion state, a pattern presented in the pixel point is low in distortion. The method is easy to deploy, and the imaging quality can be effectively improved on the premise of not increasing extra hardware cost.

The present disclosure relates to apparatus and methods for performing maskless lithography processes. A substrate processing apparatus includes a slab with a plurality of guiderails coupled to and extending along the slab. A first shuttle is disposed on the plurality of guiderails, a second shuttle is disposed on the first shuttle, and a metrology bar is coupled to the second shuttle. The metrology bar includes a first plurality of sensors coupled to the metrology bar. A second plurality of sensors coupled to the metrology bar are disposed laterally inward of the first plurality of sensors.

The application is suitable for the field of maskless lithography technology, and provides a maskless lithography device and a maskless lithography method. The maskless lithography device comprises an illuminating device for generating a plane array light, a digital micro-mirror device arranged on the light path of the plane array light emitted by the illuminating device, a stage assembly for carrying a substrate to be processed, a projection objective arranged between the stage assembly and the digital micro-mirror device, and a control unit electrically connected to the stage assembly and the digital micro-mirror device. The digital micro-mirror device has a plurality of micro-mirror units arranged in a longitudinal and lateral manner. The plane array light reflected by the micro-mirror units forms etching light spots on the substrate after passing through the projection objective. Each etching light spot is arranged in a longitudinal and lateral manner along a first direction and a direction perpendicular to the first direction, and the etching light spot can scan and irradiate the substrate along a second direction. The angle θ between the first direction and the second direction is an acute angle. The control unit controls the deflection of the micro-mirror units, so that the printed circuit on the substrate has continuous variability.

Systems and methods are provided for improving the fabrication of silicon pillar arrays and porous top electrodes for trace vapor preconcentration and partial separation. In an embodiment, the silicon pillar arrays are fabricated using photolithography or maskless photolithography combined with a dry etching process. Importantly, this process is more reproducible and scalable than the past fabrication method and yields better device performance.

A method includes generating pattern data including common chip design data and one or more bit spaces or place holders reserved for non-common chip design data or information related to the non-common chip design data. The method includes introducing the non-common chip design data or information related to the non-common chip design data into the one or more bit spaces or place holders of the pattern data before streaming the pattern data to the maskless pattern writer. The common chip design data defines a common design layout part of an electronic device to be created on a wafer using the maskless pattern writer. The non-common chip design data defines a non-common design layout part of the electronic device to be created on the wafer using the maskless pattern writer, the non-common design layout part being different from other electronic devices created on the wafer.

The present invention discloses a DMD maskless lithography system based on a two-dimensional galvanometer and a splicing lithography method. The system comprises a light source system, a DMD, a deflection system, a projection system, an observation system and a sample stage, which are arranged in sequence. The exposure light source is uniformly collimated and shaped to irradiate the object surface DMD. The DMD generates a digital mask and reflects a light beam carrying graphic information into the deflection system. The light beam is deflected by the two-dimensional galvanometer and an F-Theta field lens. Finally, the light beam is imaged on a substrate coated with photoresist on the sample stage through a projection system consisting of a sleeve lens and an objective lens, thereby realizing lithography exposure. The DMD plane and the image plane are conjugately imaged. The present invention deflects the light beam on the X-axis and Y-axis through the rapid response of the two-dimensional galvanometer. In conjunction with the F-Theta field lens, the change in the light beam direction caused by the galvanometer is converted into a change in the position of the focus on the intermediate image plane by the galvanometer. The galvanometer cooperates with the galvanometer to realize aberration correction and compensate for the field curvature and distortion of the system. The F-Theta field lens provides a flat image plane with high transmittance, a large scanning range, low aberration, and low F-Theta distortion. This imaging is performed through a projection system consisting of a tube lens and an objective lens, ultimately enabling array stitching lithography exposure on a substrate. This system enables maskless stitching lithography without the need for a multi-axis precision motorized translation stage. It features high efficiency, a simple structure, strong resistance to mechanical interference, and minimal error, enabling accurate, high-precision stitching lithography.

The invention discloses a Micro-LED light source structure with a driver, and a preparation method and application of the Micro-LED light source structure. The light source structure comprises a nitride single crystal conductive substrate, a plurality of LED units and a plurality of driving units. The nitride single crystal conductive substrate is provided with a first surface and a second surface, the LED unit is formed on the first surface, and the driving unit is formed on the second surface; the driving unit comprises a first nitride HEMT structure and a second nitride HEMT structure which are opposite in conduction characteristics; when the first nitride HEMT structure is conducted, first carrier gas is generated near the second face so that the LED unit can be in a forward conducting state, and when the second nitride HEMT structure is conducted, second carrier gas is generated near the second face so that the first carrier gas can be counteracted so that the LED unit can be in a reverse cut-off state. The light source structure provided by the invention has high luminous intensity and high resolution and is suitable for maskless photoetching equipment, and meanwhile, the corresponding preparation method has the advantage of high yield.

The application relates to the technical field of semiconductors, and provides a maskless photolithography method and a photolithography system. The maskless photolithography method comprises the following steps: constructing a light source array formed by a plurality of independently controlled light emitting units arranged in a two-dimensional array; acquiring a target pattern, decomposing the target pattern into a pixelated instruction set, and the pixelated instruction set comprises light intensity modulation signals corresponding to each light emitting unit; and controlling the light intensity of each light emitting unit based on the pixelated instruction set to form an optical pattern, wherein the optical pattern is proportional to the target pattern. The method has high flexibility, low cost and high efficiency.

The present invention relates to the technical field of optical technologies, and particularly relates to a focusing method and device for a maskless lithography machine, including the following steps: S1: Determine the initial position of the displacement stage and collect the light intensity at the initial position; S2: Control the displacement platform to move along the z-axis and collect the light intensity to determine the position when the light intensity reaches the maximum value; S3: Drive the displacement stage to move to a position that is separated from the maximum light intensity by a coarse step size; S4: Use the hill climbing method for rough positioning to determine the approximate position of the focal plane; S5: Fine positioning of the focal plane: Set a fine step size, within ± one coarse step size near the position in step S4, drive the displacement stage to move within this interval according to the length of the fine step size, and obtain the maximum light intensity as P1; S6: Determine the optimal positive focus position: Continue to use the hill climbing method to search for the optimal focus position near the focus, calculate the evaluation function value each time, compare the current calculated value with the database, determine the search direction and step size based on the change of the function value, and efficiently find the positive focus position.

Various embodiments relate to forming particles using undercooled metal particles in response to focused low power laser light. Particle growth can be initiated by utilizing the metastable and liquid nature of the particles, allowing for surface instability promoted by the laser light to induce liquid flow to translate to a neighboring particle. This event can cascade radially leading to accumulation of the liquid metal at the epicenter. The grown solidified particle size can be varied by using different power, exposure time, or working distance. Once the liquid has accumulated into a single region, it eventually solidifies either through homogeneous or heterogeneous nucleation to give a solid particle of larger size than the original. Such a method can be used to print patterns on a surface in four dimensions, where the fourth dimension (4D) is attained through gradient in size of the particles made. Additional systems and methods are disclosed.

Various embodiments herein relate to methods of using maskless lithography to form layers. In these embodiments, the method implements a dose-varying staircase that divides a geometry into overlay portions. The overlay portions can include different doses for each portion to achieve control of the taper. The taper can be achieved by operating the geometric "mask data" into different dose overlay portions controlled by a pixel blending (PB) exposure technique. To perform the methods described herein, a maskless lithography tool is used. The maskless lithography tool includes a controller that performs software-based "mask data" operations. Because the method is performed masklessly by software without the additional mask cost and manufacturing time, there is greater flexibility to adjust the taper angle and / or photoresist thickness residuals of multi-tone / grey-tone mask features, which is an advantage over traditional lithography methods that use masks.

The invention discloses a maskless photoetching imaging system and method based on a DMD (Digital Micromirror Device), and the system achieves the uniform modulation of incident light through a uniform light module, thereby guaranteeing the uniform illumination of a target surface of the DMD; then, modulation of an exposure light field is completed through a DMD array group, digital control of an exposure pattern is achieved, and a digital mask pattern is obtained; and finally, on the basis, the digital mask pattern is multiplied and shrunk by using an imaging module and is projected to a wafer, so that maskless photoetching imaging can be completed. Therefore, compared with a traditional mask photoetching technology based on a mask plate, the digital mask pattern is used, and the mask plate and manufacturing equipment thereof are not needed, so that the mask manufacturing cost can be greatly reduced, the mask development time can be shortened, and the photoetching efficiency can be improved; therefore, the method is very suitable for large-scale application and popularization.

The invention provides a method for optimizing the line width uniformity of a maskless photoetching machine and a photoetching system.The method comprises the steps that firstly, through exposure and measurement of a specific test pattern, line width distribution data of all positions in an exposure area are obtained; calculating a photoetching data adjustment amount required for compensating uneven energy distribution on the basis of the data; and finally, digital adjustment of local exposure energy is realized by adjusting gray values of corresponding pixels in photoetching graphic data of a target product, so that line width errors caused by characteristics or drifting of an optical system are compensated. Under the condition that hardware optical setting does not need to be adjusted, the uniformity of the pattern line width can be effectively improved, and the process stability and the equipment adaptability are improved.

The invention provides a maskless photoetching equipment alignment and exposure motion calibration method and device, and belongs to the technical field of photoetching equipment alignment and exposure. The alignment and exposure motion calibration method for the maskless photoetching equipment comprises the following steps: S1, acquiring a first coordinate conversion relation and a second coordinate conversion relation; s2, acquiring a first to-be-measured coordinate; s3, acquiring a second to-be-measured coordinate, and acquiring a third to-be-measured coordinate; and S4, controlling the DMD center to perform exposure dotting on the first to-be-measured point based on the second to-be-measured coordinate, and controlling the camera to align the first to-be-measured point based on the third to-be-measured coordinate. According to the method, the limitation of projection transformation is avoided when coordinate transformation is carried out by applying a calibration algorithm and an interpolation algorithm, the perspective effect can be simulated, alignment of cameras with different height distances can be carried out, three-dimensional space or more complex transformation can be processed, and the method can adapt to more coordinate transformation.

This invention discloses a maskless lithography machine and its control method. The maskless lithography machine includes: a laser, a homogenizer, a spatial light modulator, a projection lens, a substrate, a motion platform, a controller, and a light intensity sensor. The spatial light modulator rotates a fixed angle around the Z-axis relative to the XY plane of the motion platform, and its pattern refresh is synchronously controlled by a position trigger signal of the motion platform. The light intensity sensor is disposed on the motion platform and is used to measure the light intensity distribution of the spatial light modulator. The controller controls the operating parameters of the laser, the spatial light modulator, the motion platform, and the light intensity sensor. Based on the light intensity distribution of the spatial light modulator measured by the light intensity sensor, the controller shuts down some pixels on the spatial light modulator to achieve illumination uniformity compensation. After processing by the controller, the upper part of the pixels of the spatial light modulator is shut down, thereby achieving the effect of illumination uniformity compensation.

The invention discloses a metamaterial honeycomb and a preparation method thereof, and relates to the technical field of honeycombs, and the preparation method comprises the steps: S1, preparing a copper circuit pattern on a PI film through laser maskless photoetching; s2, node glue is applied to related positions of the copper circuit pattern; s3, combining the PI film with the glue layer coated with the node glue in a stacking hot-pressing manner; s4, curing the cellular board formed by the node glue; s5, stretching and shaping the honeycomb plate to form a honeycomb shape; and S6, carrying out gum dipping and curing on the stretched and shaped honeycomb to obtain the metamaterial honeycomb. According to the method, the idea of patterning first and then integrating the honeycomb is adopted, a traditional post-etching method is replaced, meanwhile, a laser direct writing method is used for replacing a traditional conductive ink spraying mode, the technical problems that honeycomb hole grid wall micropatterns are unstable, combination is poor and the like can be effectively solved, and the method has the advantages of being convenient to implement and high in conductive reliability; and the hole walls of the honeycomb grids have the advantage of stable microstructure patterns.

The utility model discloses a photoetching verification machine table in the maskless photoetching field, which comprises a light source adjusting module, the light source adjusting module comprises a plurality of first adjusting units which can be independently adjusted, and the adjusting ends of the plurality of first adjusting units are connected with a light source; the lens adjusting module comprises a plurality of second adjusting units which can be independently adjusted, the adjusting ends of the plurality of second adjusting units are connected with a lens mounting plate, and the lens mounting plate is arranged on the propagation path of the light source; a sample wafer adjusting module, wherein the sample wafer adjusting module comprises an adjustable sample wafer objective table; the inlet end of the focus detection module is arranged corresponding to the light source; the first adjusting unit adjusts the position of the light source, and the second adjusting unit adjusts the position of the photoetching lens, so that the adjustable degree of freedom of the device is increased, and the photoetching verification function in the sample preparation stage of the maskless photoetching machine based on the light source can be completed.

The application is suitable for the field of maskless lithography technology, and provides a maskless lithography device and method. The device comprises an illumination device, a digital micromirror device arranged on the light path of the illumination device, a stage assembly for carrying a substrate, a projection objective arranged between the stage assembly and the digital micromirror device, and a control unit. The digital micromirror device has a plurality of micro-mirror units arranged in a longitudinal and lateral manner. The surface array light reflected by the micro-mirror units forms etching light spots on the substrate after passing through the projection objective. Each etching light spot is arranged in a longitudinal and lateral manner along a first direction and a direction perpendicular to the first direction, and the etching light spot can scan and irradiate the substrate along a second direction. The substrate comprises a first bottom surface in contact with the stage assembly, a second bottom surface opposite to the first bottom surface and facing the projection objective, and a first side surface parallel to the second direction, and the stage assembly can drive the substrate to move along the first direction. The control unit controls the deflection of the micro-mirror units, and the printed circuit on the substrate has continuous variability.

The invention provides a method for seamless image stitching in maskless photoetching, and relates to the technical field of image stitching. Comprises: acquiring a to-be-projected image; segmenting the image to be projected to obtain a segmented image set; and exposing each image subset in the segmented image set to the same position of the photoresist in sequence to obtain an exposed spliced image. According to the invention, the problem that seam lines and artifacts in a spliced image generated by maskless gray scale photoetching cannot be eliminated in the prior art is solved.

A method of creating electronic devices such as semiconductor chips using a maskless lithographic exposure system such as a charged particle multi-beamlet lithography system (301A-301D). The maskless lithographic exposure system comprises a lithography subsystem (316) including a maskless pattern writer such as a charged particle multi-beamlet lithography machine (1) or ebeam machine. The method comprises introducing unique chip design data (430) or information related thereto into pattern data comprising common chip design data before streaming the pattern data to the maskless pattern writer.

This invention relates to the field of micro-nano optics, and particularly to a method for fabricating a vortex optical lens based on the ARDE effect of deep silicon etching, and the vortex optical lens itself. The fabrication method includes: designing a mask pattern with a gradient distribution of aperture size; forming a patterned mask on a substrate using maskless photolithography; performing deep silicon etching using the mask as a barrier layer, utilizing the ARDE effect to increase the etching rate with increasing aperture size, and directly forming a spiral phase structure on the silicon substrate through single-step etching. This invention also discloses the vortex optical lens and lens array fabricated by this method. This invention utilizes the ARDE effect to achieve single-step three-dimensional forming, resulting in small step height error, high contour accuracy, and excellent sidewall perpendicularity; it has a wide adjustable range of topological charge, high optical efficiency, and a high array fill factor; the process is compatible with CMOS processes, supports wafer-level mass production, and is low-cost and has a short cycle time, making it widely applicable in fields such as optical communication, quantum information, and super-resolution imaging.

A system (100) for synthesizing copolymerized molecules on a substrate (10) includes: a light source (20) emitting exposure light; a programmable light direction unit (30) for redirecting the light in specific patterns; a substrate holder (40); a reagent delivery system (50) for dispensing reagents; and a lateral movement mechanism (60) for generating relative movement between the light direction unit and the substrate holder. A controller (70) controls: i) reagent dispensing; ii) light exposure in a first pattern; iii) relative movement and adjustment of the light direction unit to a second pattern; and iv) subsequent exposure in the second pattern.

The invention discloses a high-productivity super-resolution optical fiber digital photoetching system, a using method and equipment, and relates to the field of semiconductor equipment and chip manufacturing. In the system, an intelligent digital programming and high-speed scanning control module is used for programming a photoetching pattern and regulating and controlling the photoetching process; the light source module emits STED super-resolution photoetching excitation and suppression light beams at the same time; the laser modulation and beam combination module is used for optimizing laser beam properties and beam combination; the super-resolution digital optical fiber mask module generates and switches a super-resolution photoetching pattern; the high-speed scanning module is used for carrying out super-resolution multi-focus parallel scanning photoetching; and the photoetching illumination and imaging module observes the inscribing state and structure in real time. The problems of high research and development difficulty and high cost of an ultrashort wavelength light source, a complex optical lens group and a precise mask plate in a traditional ultraviolet projection photoetching machine are solved, the problems of low resolution and low productivity of a maskless photoetching machine are also solved, and the relationship among high productivity, high resolution, high flexibility and low cost is greatly balanced.

According to the direct frame type maskless photoetching distortion compensation method and the storage medium, on the basis of an alternating-direct frame solving method, anti-distortion preprocessing is performed on a framing matrix to obtain an anti-distortion framing matrix, and then direct framing is performed by using the anti-distortion framing matrix. According to the basic thought, an anti-distortion framing matrix consistent with the distortion of a projection lens is constructed, framing processing is conducted through an alternating-direct frame solving method, although projection imaging has distortion, when a frame image is generated, the value of each pixel point is obtained according to the distorted position, and therefore when the frame image is subjected to projection imaging, although the imaging contour is still in a distorted state, the distortion of the frame image is not influenced. However, the pattern presented inside is low in distortion. According to the method, the imaging quality can be effectively improved on the premise of not increasing extra hardware cost; the requirement on the distortion coefficient of the lens is reduced, and the generation and assembly cost of the lens is saved; the method is simple and easy to implement, distortion compensation can be achieved only by constructing the anti-distortion matrix on the basis of the alternating-direct frame method, and deployment is easy.

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a system, software application, and method of a lithography process that updates one or more of a mask pattern, a maskless lithography device parameter, a lithography process parameter using a document readable by each component of a lithography environment. The document readable by each component of the lithography environment stores and shares textual information and facilitates communication between components of the lithography environment to update a mask pattern corresponding to a pattern to be written, calibrate a maskless lithography device of the lithography environment, and correct a process parameter of the lithography process to accurately write the mask pattern on successive substrates.

To provide a system, software, and a method of using the system to edit a design to be printed by a lithography system.SOLUTION: The system and methods utilize a server of a maskless lithography device. The server includes a memory. The memory includes a virtual mask file. The virtual mask file includes cells and the cells include sub-cells that form one or more polygons. The server further includes a controller coupled to the memory. The controller is configured to receive a replacement table. The replacement table includes instructions to replace the cells of the virtual mask file. The controller is further configured to replace the cells with replacement cells according to the replacement table to create an edited virtual mask file.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

A method for preparing a flexible double-encrypted hydrogel film by 3D printing belongs to the field of responsive functional films. The method mainly comprises the following steps: (1) selecting a flexible transparent hydrogel as a support layer; (2) using a fluorescent material with light response, adding it to the hydrogel film, and processing it into a microstructured two-dimensional code hydrogel film with photochromic function using maskless photolithography technology to form an information storage and first encryption layer; (3) selecting two polymers with hydrogen bond complexation and pH-responsive hydrogen bond density, and processing them into an opaque flexible hydrogel film using maskless photolithography to construct a second encryption layer; (4) the above three-layer structure forms a flexible double-encrypted hydrogel film; the prepared flexible double-encrypted hydrogel film has high security level, fast response, easy integration and good flexibility, and can be used for encryption in the fields of medicine, currency, precious goods, military, electronics, etc.