Charged particle blocking elements, exposure devices comprising such elements, and methods of using such exposure devices

摘要

The present invention relates to an exposure apparatus and method for projecting a charged particle beam onto a target. The exposure apparatus includes a charged particle optics that includes a charged particle source that generates a charged particle beam and a charged particle blocking element and / or a current limiting element that blocks at least a portion of the charged particle beam from the charged particle source. The charged particle blocking element and the current limiting element comprise a substantially flat substrate provided with an absorbing layer comprising boron, carbon or beryllium. In addition, the substrate preferably comprises at least one aperture for transmitting charged particles. The absorbent layer is disposed spaced apart from the at least one aperture.