Method for manufacturing a membrane assembly

1. A method for manufacturing a membrane assembly for EUV lithography, the method comprising:

providing a stack comprising a membrane layer between a supporting substrate and an attachment substrate, wherein the supporting substrate comprises an inner region and a first border region;

processing the stack, including selectively removing a portion of the attachment substrate and selectively removing the inner region of the supporting substrate, to form a membrane assembly comprising:

a membrane formed from at least the membrane layer; and

a support holding the membrane, the support formed at least partially from the first border region of the supporting substrate.

2. The method of claim 1 , comprising bonding the attachment substrate directly or indirectly to the membrane layer so as to provide the stack comprising the membrane layer between the supporting substrate and the attachment substrate.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the bonding of the attachment substrate to the membrane layer is done via a wafer bonding technique.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the attachment substrate comprises a cover region and a second border region; and

processing the stack includes removing at least the cover region of the attachment substrate.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the selective removal of the inner region of the supporting substrate and the removal of at least the cover region of the attachment substrate are performed simultaneously.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the cover region of the attachment substrate is selectively removed such that the support of the membrane assembly is formed partially from the second border region of the attachment substrate.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the second border region of the attachment substrate is removed together with the cover region.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the supporting substrate has a chemical composition and the attachment substrate has the essentially same chemical composition.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the attachment substrate is attached directly to a layer of the stack that at least partially forms the membrane of the membrane assembly.

10. A membrane assembly for EUV lithography, the membrane assembly comprising:

a membrane; and

a support holding the membrane, the support formed from a first border region of a supporting substrate and a second border region of an attachment substrate, wherein the membrane is between the first border region of the supporting substrate and the second border region of the attachment substrate and wherein there is an aperture extending in a direction across a first surface of the membrane between portions of the first border region of the supporting substrate and an aperture extending in a direction across a second surface of the membrane between portions of the second border region of the attachment substrate.

11. The membrane assembly of claim 10 , wherein the second border region of the attachment substrate is attached directly to the membrane of the membrane assembly.

12. The membrane assembly of claim 10 , wherein the second border region of the attachment substrate is attached to an adhesion layer between the membrane and the second border region of the attachment substrate.

13. The membrane assembly of claim 10 , wherein the attachment substrate is directly or indirectly bonded to the membrane layer so as to provide a stack comprising the membrane layer between the supporting substrate and the attachment substrate.

14. The membrane assembly of claim 13 , wherein the bonding of the attachment substrate to the membrane layer is a wafer bonding.

15. A patterning device assembly for EUV lithography comprising the membrane assembly of claim 10 .

16. A dynamic gas lock assembly for EUV lithography comprising the membrane assembly of claim 10 .

17. A method for manufacturing a membrane assembly for a lithographic apparatus, the method comprising:

providing a supporting substrate with a membrane layer;

bonding an attachment substrate to the supporting substrate provided with the membrane layer to form a stack, wherein the membrane layer is at least sandwiched between the supporting substrate and the attachment substrate; and

processing the stack, including etching the attachment substrate and selectively removing at least a region of the supporting substrate, to form a membrane assembly comprising:

a membrane formed from at least the membrane layer, and

a support holding the membrane, the support formed at least partially from a border region of the supporting substrate.

18. The method according to claim 17 , wherein the bonding of the attachment substrate to the stack is provided via a wafer-bonding technique.

19. A method for manufacturing a membrane assembly for a lithographic apparatus, the method comprising:

providing a supporting substrate having an average thickness of at least 600 μm with a membrane layer;

wafer bonding an attachment substrate having an average thickness of less than 500 μm to the supporting substrate provided with the membrane layer to form a stack, wherein the membrane layer is at least sandwiched between the supporting substrate and the attachment substrate; and

subsequently thinning the supporting substrate bonded to the attachment substrate to an average thickness of the supporting substrate to be less than 500 μm.

20. The method according to claim 19 , wherein the thickness of the thinned supporting substrate and the thickness of the attachment substrate are substantially equal.