Diamond membranes with controlled stress for submicron lithography

X-ray and ion projection lethography use membrane-based masks for the fabrication of microstructures with line widths below 0.5 Mym. To minimize pattern distortions during mask fabrication and under operating conditioins, membranes with high mechanical stability and defined stress are required. Because of its intrinsic properties diamond should therefore be the membrane material of choice. In this paper we demonstrate, that polycrystalline diamond membranes produced with controlled stress from chemical vapor deposited diamond films are able to meet the requirements on properties and processing for the fabrication of masks used in submicron lithography.