US 6,982,135 B2
Pattern compensation for stitching
Chung-Hsing Chang, Chin-Mei (Taiwan); Chien-Hung Lin, Hsin-Chu (Taiwan); Burn J. Lin, Hsin-Chu (Taiwan); Chia-Hui Lin, Hsin-Chu (Taiwan); Chih-Cheng Chin, Junghe (Taiwan); Chin-Hsiang Lin, Kaohsiung (Taiwan); Fu-Jye Liang, Kaohsiung (Taiwan); Jeng-Horng Chen, Hsin-Chu (Taiwan); and Bang-Ching Ho, Hsin-Chu (Taiwan)
Assigned to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd., (Taiwan)
Filed on Mar. 28, 2003, as Appl. No. 10/402,590.
Prior Publication US 2004/0191643 A1, Sep. 30, 2004
Int. Cl. G03F 9/00 (2006.01); G03F 7/20 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 430—5 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for transferring a pattern from a mask to a substrate, comprising:
(a) dividing a mask generation data file into a plurality of segments, said segments including a main pattern area and a stitching area, each stitching area containing a respective common pattern that extends across an entire width of a pair of line segments that extend on both sides of the stitching area, the common pattern including a plurality of rectangles or squares;
(b) forming an image of an illuminated portion of said main pattern area;
(c) illuminating connection ends of said segments in a substrate area with an illumination beam; and
(d) forming an image of the illuminated portion of said main pattern area and producing a halftone gray level dosage distribution in said substrate area corresponding to the common pattern, wherein said common patterns of adjacent segments substantially overlap in the substrate area.