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Advanced Electron Beam Lithography System Protected by Venner Shipley

Traditionally, electron beam lithography systems used in semi-conductor and nanotechnology industries are a significant investment, requiring large and costly clean rooms. In contrast, the new nB3 electron beam lithography system designed in Cambridge by NanoBeam Ltd offers a leap forward in performance. It halves the size of clean room required, uses 90% less power and so needs less cooling, has excellent resistance to stray fields and, because of its all-metal construction, is more friendly to clean room conditions. In addition, the machine can be installed almost anywhere in a building because of its advanced vibration tracking system, which can help compensate for noise that can arise when the machine is supported by less stable platforms, such as an upper floor in a building.

Not surprisingly, such a major advance needs to be fully protected by patents, worldwide, and the Cambridge company turned to Venner Shipley, a local firm of patent attorneys who could match their own specialist knowledge in this highly competitive field.

The nB3 is a round-beam, vector-scan system with a unique auto-loading system, using a step-and-repeat method for nano-patterning and has been specially designed for ‘mix-and-match’ lithography. The innovative design of electron optics and automation can achieve up to five times the throughput compared with other machines, combined with outstanding reliability, low power consumption and an estimated 95% uptime in operation.

The short column of the nB3 is protected by four patent applications, covering the beam blanker electron gun, the substrate robot handler, the efficient mirror assembly interferometer laser system and the active tracking vibration compensation system.

“Dr Pawel Piotrowicz at Venner Shipley made the whole patent process very positive,” says Chief Executive Officer Dr Tao Zhang, “because he is qualified in this field himself. Pav wrote all of the specifications and it went through very smoothly – he was a tower of strength! As a start-up company, costs were a major consideration and he helped us to spread these through the process.”