Extendibility of multibeam mask writer MBM-2000

Multi-beam mask writer is the mainstream for leading edge mask manufacturing. To fulfill advanced node’s mask quality and to keep reasonable throughput, stable current density is important for controlling draw time within specific range without energy variation during exposure. Furthermore, to keep tool uptime as high as possible, regular maintenance time reduction is necessary and must be done. Meanwhile, some mature nodes’ products are still in demand since electric vehicles’ control systems and IoT applications keeps blooming. However, the requirement for advanced nodes and for mature nodes differs and have different emphasize based on their basic needs. To fully utilize mask writers and fulfilling both needs, tsmc has cooperated with NuFlare to develop features to control beam size virtually and to intentionally shift beam shots to match the fidelity and proximity trend as mature mask writer performs, which make multibeam writer produces masks with comparable behavior as VSB writer does. At the same time, our multibeam mask writer is also performing good quality with fair draw time to output advanced node’s masks. This work will go through the advance features for leading edge masks, while also covering functions to enable writing masks with equivalent quality as traditional VSB writers. The result shows MBM-2000 can produce advanced node’s masks steadily with cost effective draw time per mask under minimized regular tool maintenance time, while also capable to produce mask down to 16 nm node with same quality as single beam writer does.