PHOTOMASK DEFECT CORRECTION METHOD, DEFECT CORRECTION APPARATUS, AND PHOTOMASK

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To evaluate side etching nondestructively without taking out a photomask from a vacuum chamber, the side etching being generated in an edge of a circuit pattern formed after a black defect of the photomask is corrected.SOLUTION: A photomask defect correction method corrects a defect of a photomask by the steps of: newly forming an edge of a circuit pattern by etching a black defect of the photomask with a charged particle beam; projecting a laser beam onto the vicinity of the edge and measuring the light transmittance at which the laser beam transmits the photomask; and observing the side etching caused at the edge by the light transmittance.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1