—The HL-900M Series—
| Genya Matsuoka | Business Promotion Dept., Instruments Group Electronics Systems Operations, |
| Kazui Mizuno | Design Dept. 2, Instruments Group, |
| Tetsuji Nakahara | Electronics Systems Oeprations, |
| Hidetoshi Satô | AT Dept., Central Research Laboratory, |
Along with the accelerated miniaturization of semiconductor devices, the specifications for reticles used in lithography processes are rapidly demanding higher levels of accuracy. Many semiconductor manufacturers are already developing 130-nm nodes, and the electron beam writing systems used in manufacturing reticles must also follow the trend toward higher accuracy that is seen in devices. In December 1999, Hitachi, Ltd. announced the HL-900M Series electron beam photomask writing system, which was developed in response to user demand for high-precision reticles. This system is based on the HL-800M Series and introduces new electron optics, a low-distortion stage, and parallel processing function for coping with large volumes of data to achieve higher accuracy and higher throughput. The writing system is not the only factor in achieving advanced masks; the fabrication processes are also important, and progress is being made in the use of chemically amplified resists in the mask fabrication processes.
Electron beam mask writing system, HL-900M, Reticle, CAR
