David D Thibault

US Patent:

20060199082, Sep 7, 2006

Filed:

Mar 1, 2005

Appl. No.:

10/906662

Inventors:

Philip Flanigan - South Burlington VT, US
Emily Gallagher - Burlington VT, US
Louis Kindt - Milton VT, US
Michael Schmidt - Milton VT, US
David Thibault - Colchester VT, US
Carey Thiel - Williston VT, US

Assignee:

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION - Armonk NY

International Classification:

C03C 25/68
C23C 14/32
B44C 1/22
C03C 15/00
C23F 1/00
C23C 14/00
G03F 1/00

US Classification:

430005000, 204192300, 216041000, 204192330

Abstract:

A photomask repair method is provided which has the spatial resolution of a focused energy beam process without the corresponding potential for damage to the photomask pattern and underlying transparent substrate. A photomask defect is repaired by first providing a masking film over the photomask pattern. Next, a high spatial resolution focused energy beam repair technique, such as laser ablation, focused ion beam, or electron beam, is used to remove a portion of the masking film which corresponds to an underlying defect in the photomask pattern. After the defect in the photomask pattern has been exposed and the rest of the non-defective photomask pattern is protected by the masking film, a chemical etching process is used to remove the defect which selectively etches the photomask pattern material without harming the underlying substrate. Once the defect has been removed, the masking film is removed. Additionally, a conductive layer may be included to reduce charge build up on the surface and its negative impact on charged beam placement control.