Charged particle beam exposure method and charged particle beam exposure device
View Patent ↗When a space, sandwiched by large patterns having a predetermined size or more, is exposed using a charged particle beam, the space sandwiched by the large patterns is exposed using a common block mask having the space and edge portions of the large patterns on both sides of the space, and portions other than the edge portions of the large patterns on both sides are exposed by a variable rectangular beam or by using another block mask.
1. An exposure data generation method for generating exposure data from design data including a plurality of patterns, comprising:
detecting a narrow space area sandwiched by a pair of large patterns having a predetermined size or more among said plurality of patterns;
extracting edge patterns having a predetermined width from the pair of large patterns sandwiching said detected narrow space; and
generating, using a computer, first exposure data for exposing said narrow space area using a first block mask having said narrow space and edge patterns on both sides thereof, and second exposure data for exposing said pair of large patterns other than said narrow space area using a second block mask that is different from said first block mask, or a mask for a variable rectangular beam.
2. The exposure data generation method according to claim 1 , wherein said generation step includes matching said narrow space of said narrow space area and the edge patterns on both sides thereof with a pre-generated pattern of the first block mask having a narrow space and stripe pattern on both sides thereof, and generating the first exposure data for exposing the matched narrow space area using said matched first block mask.
3. The exposure data generation method according to claim 1 , wherein said generation step includes generating said first exposure data for exposing said narrow space area sandwiched by said pair of large patterns by irradiating a charged particle beam using said first block mask repeatedly.
4. The exposure data generation method according to claim 1 , wherein said first block mask includes at least block masks corresponding to both edges of said narrow space area and a block mask corresponding to an area other than both edges of said narrow space area.
5. The exposure data generation method according to claim 1 , wherein said first block mask further includes a plurality of sets of block masks, that are different in such a way that the narrow space width of said block mask becomes wider as the size of said pair of large patterns increases, and an optimum block mask is selected from said plurality of sets of block masks according to the size of said large patterns.
6. The exposure data generation method according to claim 1 , wherein an exposure target area is divided into a plurality of exposure fields, and said first exposure data includes data for exposing said narrow space area using said first block mask even if said narrow space coincides with the boundary of said exposure fields.
7. The exposure data generation method according to claim 1 , wherein said second exposure data includes data for exposing a narrow space area sandwiched by a pair of large patterns having a size less than said predetermined size without using said first block mask.