Mitigation of EUV mask blank substrate pit and scratch defects by Accelerated Neutral Atom Beam (ANAB) processing

M. Walsh; K. Chau; S. Kirkpatrick; R. Svrluga; B. Piwczyk; F. Goodwin; D. Balachandran

doi:10.1117/12.2046686

Translator Disclaimer

18 March 2014 Mitigation of EUV mask blank substrate pit and scratch defects by Accelerated Neutral Atom Beam (ANAB) processing

M. Walsh, K. Chau, S. Kirkpatrick, R. Svrluga, B. Piwczyk, F. Goodwin, D. Balachandran

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9048, Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Lithography V; 90480I (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2046686
Event: SPIE Advanced Lithography, 2014, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

EUV mask blank substrates will be subject to extraordinarily demanding requirements upon flatness, smoothness and absence of residual defects. To date, no combination of available surface preparation techniques has been able to produce essentially perfect substrates with zero residual defect populations. A critical problem yet to be resolved involves small numbers of nanoscale divots and scratches which are generated by the operations used to meet smoothness requirements. A new non-contact surface sputtering technique known as accelerated neutral atom beam (ANAB) shows promise for mitigating the divot and scratch defects without increasing surface roughness and without altering flatness and planarity. This paper describes a mask blank substrate study which has been conducted to demonstrate the ANAB defect mitigation capability.

Citation Download Citation

M. Walsh, K. Chau, S. Kirkpatrick, R. Svrluga, B. Piwczyk, F. Goodwin, and D. Balachandran "Mitigation of EUV mask blank substrate pit and scratch defects by Accelerated Neutral Atom Beam (ANAB) processing", Proc. SPIE 9048, Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Lithography V, 90480I (18 March 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2046686

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE