Electron-beam microcolumns for lithography and related applications

Lithography with an array of miniaturized scanning electron-beam columns presents one of the most promising high-throughput possibilities for fabrication of devices with feature sizes less than 100 nm. With scanning electron beams no mask is required and the necessary resolution and alignment of overlay structures are realizable. With arrays of microcolumns, the lithography throughput of a single column can be multiplied. The approach can also be used for a number of lithography related applications such as metrology, inspection, testing, etc. We review the status of the microcolumn program and discuss opportunities and challenges of this approach to high-throughput nanolithography and related applications. Special emphasis is given to lithography in the 100 nm regime. (C) 1996 American Vacuum Society.