Color filter technology for liquid crystal displays

A photomask blank is provided comprising an etch stop film which is disposed on a transparent substrate and is resistant to fluorine dry etching and removable by chlorine dry etching, a light-shielding film disposed on the etch stop film and including at least one layer composed of a transition metal/silicon material, and an antireflective film disposed on the light-shielding film. When the light-shielding film is dry etched to form a pattern, pattern size variation arising from pattern density dependency is reduced, so that a photomask is produced at a high accuracy.

Photomask blank and photomask

A portable hand held optical reader having a specially constructed two-dimensional image sensor array is operational in a bar code decoding mode and in a picture taking mode. The specially constructed image sensor array, in one embodiment, is a hybrid monochrome and color image sensor pixel array, wherein a first subset of the pixels are monochrome pixels devoid of wavelength selective color filter elements and a second subset of the pixels are color sensitive pixels including wavelength selective color filter elements.

Digital picture taking optical reader having hybrid monochrome and color image sensor array

Method and apparatus for etching a metal layer disposed on a substrate, such as a photolithographic reticle, are provided. In one aspect, a method is provided for processing a photolithographic reticle including positioning the reticle in a first orientation on a reticle support in a processing chamber, wherein the reticle comprises a metal photomask layer formed on an optically transparent substrate, and a patterned resist material deposited on the metal photomask layer, etching the metal photomask layer in the first orientation, positioning the reticle in at least a second orientation, and etching the metal photomask layer in the at least second orientation.

Methods for substrate orientation

A light-shielding film 2 is formed on a transparent substrate 1. A hard mask film 3 is formed on this light-shielding film 2. The entire hard mask film 3 is made of a chromium-containing material including tin. The film made a chromium-containing material including tin can cause a significant increase in the etching rate at the time of chlorine-containing dry etching. Furthermore, comparing with a film made of a chromium-containing material in which part of chromium is replaced with a light element, the above film has an equal or higher level of etching resistance to fluorine-dry etching. Thus, burden on a photoresist at the time of etching the chromium-containing material film can be reduced. Therefore, high-precision pattern transfer can be performed even in the case that the resist film is thinned.

Photomask blank and method for manufacturing photomask

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a halftone phase shift photomask using a molybdenum silicide-base halftone phase shift film material and having a structure with an enhanced etching selectivity ratio to a quartz substrate while retaining superior workability of the molybdenum silicide-base material and chemical stability after working. SOLUTION: A blank for the halftone phase shift photomask has a halftone phase shift layer on a transparent substrate and the halftone phase shift layer is formed from a multilayer film having at least a layer based on molybdenum silicide and containing oxygen and/or nitrogen and comprising two or more layers. A layer based on chromium, tantalum or a chromium-tantalum alloy is included in the multilayer film and this layer is disposed nearer the transparent substrate than the layer based on molybdenum silicide and containing oxygen and/or nitrogen. COPYRIGHT: (C)2002,JPO

Halftone phase shift photomask and blanks for the same

A blank for halftone phase shift photomask is disclosed. The blank has a transparent substrate, a halftone phase shift layer and a light shielding film, the halftone phase shift layer and the light shielding film being layered in this order on the transparent substrate, and the l light shielding film is a single layered or multiple layered film which has a layer of tantalum.

Halftone phase shift photomask and blank for halftone phase shift photomask

PURPOSE:To facilitate production, inspection and measurement by suppressing the transmittance on a visible long wavelength side to be used for inspection, etc, of a halftone mask, thereby preventing the degradation in the contrast of transparent parts and translucent parts and preventing charge up at the time of exposing with electron beams CONSTITUTION:This halftone phase shift mask has the translucent regions and transparent regions to exposing light on a transparent substrate 1 and is so composed that the phase difference between the transparent regions and the translucent regions substantially attains pi The translucent films constituting the translucent regions consist of multilayered films 3, 4 composed of chromium or chromium compds; for example, the layer 3 consists of chromium oxide, chromium oxynitride, chromium oxycarbide or chromium oxynitrocarbide and the layer 4 consists of chromium or chromium nitride The layer 3 plays the role of mainly a phase shift layer and the layer 4 plays the role of mainly a transmittance adjusting layer to suppress the transmittance of the long wavelength side

Phase shift photomask and blank for phase shift photomask and their production

A chromium blank for forming a black matrix-screen to be used as a color filter for a liquid crystal display is formed by forming at least a first antireflection film, a second antireflection film and a screening film sequentially in that order on one major surface of a transparent substrate. Each of the first and the second antireflection film is a semitransparent film formed of a chromium compound or a chromium mixture, containing chromium as a principal component, and the screening film is formed of chromium, a chromium compound containing chromium as a principal component. The transparent substrate, the first antireflection film, the second antireflection film and the screening film meet an inequality: n s <n 1 <n 2 <n 3 , where n s is the refractive index of the transparent substrate, n 1 is the real part of the complex index of refraction of the first antireflection film, n 2 is the real part of the complex index of refraction of the second antireflection film, and n 3 is the real part of the complex index of refraction of the screening film, in the substantially entire visible wavelength range.

Chromium blanks for forming black matrix-screen and color filter for liquid crystal display

The invention relates a halftone phase shift photomask and a blank therefor, which enables the transmittance of a phase shift portion to be varied even after blank or photomask fabrication, can accommodate to a variety of patterns, and can be fabricated on a mass scale. The exposure light transmittance of a halftone phase shift layer is arbitrarily variable within the range of 1% to 50%, inclusive, by exposing the blank or photomask to a high temperature elevated to at least 150° C., to an oxidizing atmosphere, or to a reducing atmosphere at a step that can provided independent of the steps for film-forming or photomask fabrication step. This enables the exposure light transmittance of the halftone phase shift layer to be changed to any desired value after blank or photomask fabrication, and so an optimal halftone phase shift photomask to be obtained depending on the size, area, location, shape, and the like of the transferred pattern.

Junji Fujikawa

Papers

Halftone phase shift photomask and blanks for the same

Halftone phase shift photomask and blank for halftone phase shift photomask

Phase shift photomask and blank for phase shift photomask and their production

Chromium blanks for forming black matrix-screen and color filter for liquid crystal display

Blanks for halftone phase shift photomasks, halftone phase shift photomasks, and methods for fabricating them