Method and apparatuses for disposing of excess material of a photolithographic mask

1 . A method comprising:

providing a deposition gas;

providing at least one additive gas comprising ammonia;

providing a particle beam incident on a surface of excess material arranged on a surface of the mask, wherein the excess material is displaceable;

displacing the excess material from a transmissive or reflective region of the photolithographic mask to a region of an absorbing pattern element of the photolithographic mask;

depositing a first material onto the excess material while the excess material is on the absorbing pattern element of the photolithographic mask, the depositing being performed based at least in part on the deposition gas, the additive gas and the particle beam and enlarging the excess material; and

removing enlarged excess material from the photolithographic mask.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one additive gas further comprises an oxidant.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the at least one oxidant comprises nitrogen dioxide.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the at least one oxidant comprises water vapor.

5 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the at least one oxidant comprises oxygen.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the material is deposited to replace an absent part of a pattern element of the photolithographic mask.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first material is an absorbing material.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first material comprises chromium.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first material comprises chromium nitride.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the deposition gas comprises a metal carbonyl.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the metal carbonyl comprises a chromium carbonyl.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the metal carbonyl comprises a chromium hexacarbonyl.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the particle beam comprises an electron beam.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the first material is deposited based at least in part on an electron beam induced deposition.

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the particle beam induces a local chemical reaction of the deposition gas at the point of incidence on the surface.

16 . The method of claim 1 wherein depositing the first material comprises nanostructuring of the excess material by use of an electron beam-based or electron beam-induced deposition process.

17 . The method of claim 1 wherein removing the enlarged excess material comprises applying the cleaning fluid to an enlarged surface area of the enlarged excess material.

18 . The method of claim 1 wherein targeted deposition of the material onto the surface of the excess material comprises targeted deposition of at least one of carbon, metal carbonyl, or metal halide over a small area on the excess material.

19 . The method of claim 1 wherein the excess material is displaceable as a whole on the surface of the photolithographic mask, and wherein after the targeted depositing of the first material, no additional first material is deposited on the surface of the mask in the area surrounding the excess material prior to removal of the excess material, the area surrounding the excess material remains free of deposited first material prior to removal of the excess material.

20 . The method of claim 1 wherein depositing the first material comprises targeted deposit of the first material onto the surface of the excess material to increase a height of the excess material without depositing the first material onto the surface of the mask in the area surrounding the excess material.

21 . The method of claim 20 wherein removing the enlarged excess material from the photolithographic mask comprises removing the enlarged excess material from the photolithographic mask using a cleaning fluid,

wherein the increased height is configured to enable the excess material with the increased height to be impinged by a portion of the cleaning fluid flowing at a higher velocity at a higher height relative to the surface of the mask, as compared to a portion of the cleaning fluid flowing at a lower velocity at a lower height relative to the surface of the mask, and enable the excess material with the increased height to be removed from the surface of the mask by the cleaning fluid.

22 . A method comprising:

providing a deposition gas;

providing at least one additive gas comprising ammonia;

providing a particle beam incident on a surface of excess material arranged on a surface of the photolithographic mask;

displacing the excess material from a transmissive or reflective region of the photolithographic mask to a region of an absorbing pattern element of the photolithographic mask;

depositing a first material onto the excess material while the excess material is on the absorbing pattern element of the photolithographic mask, the depositing being performed based at least in part on the deposition gas, the additive gas and the particle beam and enlarging the excess material to form enlarged excess material, wherein the first material comprises at least one of carbon, a metal carbonyl, or a metal halide; and

removing the enlarged excess material from the photolithographic mask.

23 . The method of claim 22 wherein the excess material is displaceable as a whole on the surface of the photolithographic mask, and wherein depositing the first material comprises targeted deposit of the first material onto the surface of the excess material to increase a height of the enlarged excess material without depositing the first material onto the surface of the mask in the area surrounding the excess material.

24 . The method of claim 23 wherein after the targeted depositing of the first material, no additional first material is deposited on the surface of the mask in the area surrounding the excess material prior to removal of the excess material, the area surrounding the excess material remains free of deposited first material prior to removal of the excess material.

25 . The method of claim 22 wherein removing the enlarged excess material from the photolithographic mask comprises removing the enlarged excess material from the photolithographic mask using a cleaning fluid, and

wherein the enlarged excess material has an increased height configured to enable the enlarged excess material to be impinged by a portion of the cleaning fluid flowing at a higher velocity at a higher height relative to the surface of the mask, as compared to a portion of the cleaning fluid flowing at a lower velocity at a lower height relative to the surface of the mask, and enable the enlarged excess material to be removed from the surface of the mask by the cleaning fluid.

26 . A method comprising:

processing a photolithographic mask having excess material on a surface of the mask, comprising:

displacing the excess material from a transmissive or reflective region of the photolithographic mask to a region of an absorbing pattern element of the photolithographic mask;

prior to applying a cleaning process that uses a cleaning fluid to clean the mask, performing targeted deposition of a first material on the excess material while the excess material is on the absorbing pattern element of the photolithographic mask, the targeted deposition being performed to increase a height of the excess material, wherein the excess material prior to the targeted deposition has a first height and after the targeted deposition has a second height; and

applying the cleaning process by using the cleaning fluid to remove the excess material having the second height, wherein the cleaning fluid has a lower flow velocity at the first height and a higher flow velocity at the second height, the second height is selected to enable the excess material having the second height to be removed by the cleaning fluid with the higher flow velocity.

27 . The method of claim 26 wherein the targeted deposition comprises:

providing a deposition gas;

providing at least one additive gas comprising ammonia;

providing a particle beam incident on a surface of the excess material; and

depositing the first material onto the excess material based at least in part on the deposition gas, the additive gas and the particle beam.