Charging phenomena of a mask material during electron beam exposure
are analyzed in an electron beam projection lithography system. First,
the three-dimensional charge deposition distribution by the electron
beam irradiation is obtained. Next, in every time step, the
distributions of the accumulated charge and the potential are obtained
considering the current flow due to the diffusion and the drift. As a
narrow bridge pattern defined in a 5 μm × 5 μm area is
assumed to lay out all over the field of 1 mm × 1 mm and the
potential is grounded at the circumference of the field (1 mm × 1
mm × 1 mm), the saturated potential distribution is obtained at
the central 5 μm × 5 μm area in the field. The maximum
potential attained is around 4.23 μV at the center of the bridge,
if the accelerating voltage of the electron beam is 100 kV, the current
density is 10 A/cm2, and the material of the mask is the
intrinsic Si. The contribution of the charging may be negligible to the
electron beam with such a high accelerating voltage, which is going
through the opening beside the bridge pattern in the projection
lithography.