EBES4--A new electron-beam exposure system.

EBES4 is an electron-beam exposure machine designed for accurate submicron lithography with good throughput. It can write on optical and x-ray mask substrates and directly on semiconductor substrates. Standard pattern data are preprocessed using a special-purpose processor to remove overlap and to reverse the tone if required. The address size can be varied from 1/16 to 1/8micron. Patterns are written by first breaking them into microfigures which can be rectangles, parallelograms, or 45degree triangles with a maximum size of 16x16 addresses. Each microfigure is positioned on the continuously moving substrate using magnetic and electrostatic deflection systems. The coordinate system can be distorted by digital hardware to correct for mechanical errors or to register with another lithography level.