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Pattern Design and Mask Fabrication

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Pattern Design

For making a pattern on a substrate it is necessary to use a software tool to design the pattern layout. This counts for all kind of lithography and laser cutting. There are a number of differernt software tools that can be used, some of the more commonly used are:

CleWin
L-Edit
Autocad

At Danchip we offer all users free access to CleWin 5 for their mask layout.

Install CleWin 5 software on your local computer: Click here for guidelines.

Layout file format

For E-beam lithography you need to prepare a set of files (GDS, V30, sdf, jdf and mgn files). For details about how to prepare the files for E-beam lithography, please see File preparation. For details about how to make alligned E-beam patterns, please have at look at Design of global marks and chip marks

For laser cutting the layout file has to be saved as a DXF file that is uploaded to the equipment computer.

For UV-lithography it is necescary to have a physical masks produced based on the layout file. The file format has to be CIF or GDS. For more details see below Mask Fabrication for UV-lithography.

For DUV-lithography and DUV-lithography it is necescary to have physical masks (reticles) produced based on the layout file. The file format has to be GDS. For more details concerning the design of reticles see Design of Reticles.

Mask Fabrication for UV-lithography

Tips and tricks for mask designing

You can find a

"Beginners guide to mask design" here and
Guide to mask making.pdf. Unfortunately this is quite old, but may be useful anyway. Note some links/e-mails etc. are not correct anymore

Alignment marks

The following alignment marks are suggested to use on the EVG620 automatic aligner for good pattern recognition. Pleased be adviced that they can be removed in KOH etching.

Alignment marks 2 .cif - You need the program "Clewin" to open this file
Alignment marks 2 .tdb - You need the program "L-Edit" to open this file

Alignment marks location

For the KS Aligner, MA6-2 and Aligner-6inch

The mask's alignment marks for 4inch process:
- For Back Side Alignment (BSA) alignment marks must be located between -1,0 and +1,0 mm in vertical location from mask center (y=0-+1mm) and exactly at 45mm in left and right in horizontal location (x=+-45mm).
- For Top Side Alignment (TSA) alignment marks must be located 35-45 mm in left and right in horizontal location and between -2 and +2 mm in vertical location.

The mask's alignment marks for 6inch process:
- Both BSA and TSA must be located between -2,5 and +2,5 mm in vertical location from mask center and 60 mm in left and right in horizontal location.
- Please notice that if you plan to use the automatic alignment option the alignment marks must be displaced from y=0 to y=+/- 1,6mm.

Alignment marks for E-beam lithography

If your UV mask is used to define wafers marks in e-beam lithography with JEOL JBX-9500, you should design your alignment marks in a way the JEOL JBX-9500 recognizes. Please follow the guide here.

How to order a mask

Our standard mask supplier is Delta Mask. The smallest feature size obtainable from Delta Mask is 1.5 µm. If you need structures smaller than this please write it specificly in the e-mail. Be aware that this will increase the price by at least a factor of 3.

Send your CIF file or GDS file (for 7" mask or masks with CD less than 1.5µm only GDS formats should be used) in an e-mail along with a text file describing your specs (example spec file).

If you are using L-edit to design your mask you should remember to mark the top cell as the fabrication cell (a small pink f should show to the left of the cell name in the Design Navigator.

Remember to make only the layers for fabrication visible. The remaining should be invisible. Give each layer appropriate GDS number respectively CIF names before exporting the file. This is done by double click on the layers and fill out the window that pops up.

E-mail address can be found in Danchip_contact_information.

Cost is available upon request. Write to danchipsupport@danchip.dtu.dk

Mask sets made by Danchip

Danchip quality control masks

This section contains a description of some of the quality control designs.

ASE standardisation designs: The quality control procedure on the ASE is using the daqmask 2 mask

RIE standardisation design: The quality control procedures on RIE2 is using the dASEfeRIE mask

Masks for process development

Travka mask set (7 masks)