Correction of pattern size deviations in the fabrication of photomasks made with a laser direct-writer

When using Heidelberg DWL66+ laser writer to fabricate the photomask, the pattern feature dimensions may have deviations. These deviations can be caused by the lithography process and the undercut in the metal etch process. The same deviation value of 0.8µm was found to appear in all the patterns independent of the pattern original size and local pattern density. To overcome this universal deviation, a universal bias is suggested to be applied to the original patterns during the data preparation for the lithography process. In order to ensure this pre-exposure bias method can work, both the laser direct-write exposure conditions (laser power, filters, focus parameters) and the metal etch time should be kept consistent.