Device for selecting and maintaining a fixed distance between a workpiece and a vacuum device in particle beam lithography systems.

摘要

Disclosed is a particle beam lithography system (10) having a workpiece loading/unloading position to one side of a particle beam (32) and beam column (12) where a workpiece (14), to be processed, is placed in a vacuum chuck (100) to eliminate any irregularity or warpage of the workpiece (14). At this same position, the workpiece (14) is oriented and fixed at a preselected distance from a standard by gap setting means (162, 162b). This distance correlates withj a preselected gap (G) between a seal apparatus (16) and the workpiece (14) during workpiece processing. The workpiece (14) and chuck (100) are then moved beneath the seal apparatus (16) and beam column (12) for workpiece processing. After processing, the workpiece (14) and chuck (100) are returned to the loading/unloading position to be removed from the lithography system (10). An interface plate (64) is moved from the loading/unloading position to the workpiece processing position by an X-Y stage (50) and a workpiece transport system (130) is provided to transport the workpieces (14) to and from the lithography system (10) to appropriate cassettes (132,134).