Reference plate manufacturing process for the ion projection lithography pattern lock system

The 4 × Ion Projection Lithography (IPL), which is designed to reach sub 70-nm feature sizes is a promising technology for the Next Generation Lithography (NGL). An important feature of IPL is the 'pattern lock' system allowing on-line control of the reduction ion image of stencil mask patterns projected onto the resist coated wafer substrate. An important part of the pattern lock system is a reference plate' which is attached to the last lens electrode of the ion-optical column. A process flow for the fabrication of this reference plate out of Si and Zerodur has been developed. This paper describes the Si device manufacturing process. First results of LMS IPRO placement measurements are presented and discussed.