US006473237B2

(12) United States Patent (10) Patent N0.: US 6,473,237 B2 Mei (45) Date of Patent: Oct. 29, 2002

(54) POINT ARRAY MASKLESS LITHOGRAPHY 5,079,544 A 1/1992 DeMond et a1. .......... .. 340/701 5,082,755 A 1/1992 Liu ............................. .. 430/5

(75) Inventor: Wenhul Mel, Plano, TX (US) (List Continued on next page‘)

(73) Assignee: 2331]) Semiconductor, Inc., Allen, TX FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS US

EP 0552953 7/1993 ........... .. G03F/7/20

( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this W0 9110170 7/1991 ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~ G03F/9/00

pjatsenct iisziéggngedtgii adjusted under 35 OTHER PUBLICATIONS . . . y ays.

“New Multi—EB Direct Write Concept for Maskless High (21) App1_NO_:09/801,516 géiggughput”, Canon SubMicron Focus, vol. 5, Summer

(22) Filed: Mall 8, 2001 Sandstrom and Odselius, “Large—Area High Quality Photo . . . masks” Micronic Laser Systems published by SPIE vol.

(65) Prior Publication Data 2621 1’985 ’ ’ , pp. 312—318.

US 2002/0097495 A1 Jul. 25, 2002 Singh—Gasson, Sangeet et al., Maskless Fabrication of Light—Directed Oligonucleotide Microarrays Using a Digi

Related U-S-APPIiCHtiOII Data tal Micromirror Array, vol. 17, No. 10, Oct. 1999, pp. 974—978.

(63) Continuation-in-part of application No. 09/712,730, ?led on Devin Terr “ Advanced Ma Put Gene Chi Technolo N 142000 d t' t' ' t f 1' t' N ’ y’ y p gy 090V‘ ’ ’ an a Con mua “min-par 0 app lea Ion 0' on Scientists Desktops”, http://WWW.biotech.Wise.edu/Edu

/728,691, ?led on Dec. 1, 2000. . . .

(60) Provisional application No. 60/257,824, ?led on Dec. 22, Catlog/bptechnews/Genechlp'html’ Oct‘ 7’ 1999' _ 2000, Application No. 09/348,369, ?led Jul. 7, 1999, ent1ted:

(51) Int. c1.7 ...................... .. G02B 27/10, G02B 26/08; Ma§k1ess Photohthography System by M31’ Kanatake and G03B 27/42 G031: 9/00 Ish1kaWa, copy of ?rst page of speci?cation, abstract and

_ ’ _ _ Fig. 1 (Attorney Docket No. 223978402). (52) US. Cl. ..................... .. 359/619, 359/224, 359/291,

355/53; 355/67; 355/71; 355/55; 430/5; Primary Examiner—Loha Ben 430/22; 430/296; 250/492.22; 702/126 (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Haynes & Boone, LLP

(58) Field of Search ............................... .. 359/291, 619, 359/622, 224, 872; 355/55, 53, 67, 71, (57) ABSTRACT

41> 46; 430/5> 22> 30> 296> 322> 396; 250/492~22> Asystem for performing digital lithography onto a subject is 492-1; 702/126> 40 provided. The system includes a noncoherent light source

_ for producing a ?rst light and an optical diffraction element (56) References Cited

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS

3,534,467 A 10/1970 Sachs et al. ................ .. 29/583

4,126,812 A 11/1978 Wake?eld .......... .. 313/500

4,744,047 A 5/1988 Okamoto et a1. ......... .. 364/900

4,786,149 A 11/1988 Hoenig et a1. 4,879,466 A 11/1989 Kitaguchi et al. 250/370.14 5,049,901 A 9/1991 Gelbart ..................... .. 346/108

132 38,39

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for individually focusing the ?rst light into a plurality of second lights. The system also includes a pixel panel for generating a digital pattern, the pixel panel having a plurality of pixels corresponding to the plurality of second lights. A lens system may then direct the digital pattern to the subject, thereby enabling the lithography.

5 Claims, 21 Drawing Sheets

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US 6,473,237 B2 Page 2

US. PATENT DOCUMENTS 5,949,557 A 9/1999 Powell ........................ .. 359/8 5,955,776 A 9/1999 Ishikawa ........ .. . 257/618

5,106,455 A 4/1992 Jacobsen et a1. ....... .. 156/659.1 5,995,129 A 11/1999 sunagawa et a1‘ _ 347/239

243%; 2 $335 ILmaI ----------------- -- 322/35; 5,995,475 A 11/1999 Gelbart ..................... .. 369/112 5,131,976 A 7;1992 " " " " " " ""1"56/63/O 5,998,069 A 12/1999 (3110616161. ................. .. 430/5

5,132,723 A 7/1992 Gelbart .... .. 355/40 6914203 A H2000 . " 355/68 5 138 368 A 8/1992 Kahn et a1‘ 355/53 6,048,011 A 4/2000 Fruhhng et a1. ......... .. 294/64.3 5’2O8’818 A 5/1993 Gelbart et a1‘ 37260 6,052,517 A 4/2000 Matsunaga et a1. 395/500.09 5,269,882 A 12/1993 Jacobsen ~~~~ " 156/6591 6,061,118 A 5/2000 Takeda ................ .. 355/47

5 281 996 A 1/1994 Bruning et al 355/77 6,071,315 A 6/2000 Ramamurthl et a1. 716/19 ’ ’ . ' 6 072 518 A 6/2000 Gelbart .............. .. . 347/239

5,300,966 A 4/1994 Uehlra et a1. . 353/30 ’ ’ , 5,361,272 A 11/1994 Gorelik 372/50 6,084,656 A 7/2000 ch01 6‘ a1" " 355m 5,416,729 A 5/1995 Leon et a1‘ " 364/578 6,107,011 A 8/2000 Gelbart ..... .. . 430/397

6,124,876 A 9/2000 Sunagawa . 347/239 5,431,127 A 7/1995 Stevens et a1. 117/75 6 133 986 A 10/2000 Johnson ..................... .. 355/67

5,461,455 A 10/1995 Coteus et a1. . 355/43 ’ ’ , , 5 691 541 A 11/1997 ceglio et a1‘ ' 250M921 6,205,364 B1 3/2001 Llchtensteln et a1. ....... .. 700/58

’ ’ 6 238 852 B1 5/2001 Klosner 5,793,473 A 8/1998 Koyama et a1. . 355/55 ’ ’ _

. 6 251 550 B1 6/2001 IshlkaWa ................... .. 430/22 5,818,498 A 10/1998 Rlchardson et a1. .. 347/237 ’ ’

. 6 252 717 B1 6/2001 Grosskopf 5,850,310 A * 12/1998 SchWelZer ..... .. .. 359/619 ’ ’

6323 937 B1 * 11/2001 Sano ......................... .. 355/53 5,870,176 A 2/1999 Sweatt et a1. . 355/53 ’ ’ ,

6327025 B1 * 12/2001 Imal .......................... .. 355/53 5,892,231 A 4/1999 Baylor et a1. . .. 250/398 6’392’742 B1 * 5/2OO2 T .. 355/67 5,900,637 A 5/1999 Smith ......... .. 250/49222 ’ ’ Sul‘ """"""""""""""""""""""" "

5,905,545 A 5/1999 Poradish et a1. . .. 348/743 5,909,658 A 6/1999 Clarke et a1. ............. .. 702/126 * cited by examiner

S , ,

12 16

Fig. 7b F2565 A23 (PR’OR A”) P

54,55 9

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U.S. Patent 0a. 29, 2002 Sheet 2 0f 21 US 6,473,237 B2

Fig. 3a, 80“ Fig. 3b BM-N

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U.S. Patent 0a. 29, 2002 Sheet 6 0f 21 US 6,473,237 B2

Fig. 10.3 Fig. 10.2

Fig. 10. 5 Fig. 10. 4

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U.S. Patent 0a. 29, 2002 Sheet 12 0f 21 US 6,473,237 B2

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U.S. Patent 0a. 29, 2002 Sheet 14 0f 21 US 6,473,237 B2

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U.S. Patent 0a. 29, 2002

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U.S. Patent 0a. 29, 2002 Sheet 18 0f 21 US 6,473,237 B2

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