	US 12,259,649 B2
	Cleaning method for photo masks and apparatus therefor
Hsin-Chang Lee, Zhubei (TW); Pei-Cheng Hsu, Taipei (TW); Hao-Ping Cheng, Taichung (TW); and Ta-Cheng Lien, Cyonglin Township (TW)
Assigned to TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, LTD., Hsinchu (TW)
Filed by TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, LTD., Hsinchu (TW)
Filed on Nov. 22, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/517,828.
Application 18/517,828 is a continuation of application No. 17/853,624, filed on Jun. 29, 2022, granted, now 11,852,969.
Application 17/853,624 is a continuation of application No. 17/109,878, filed on Dec. 2, 2020, granted, now 11,385,538, issued on Jul. 12, 2022.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/031,071, filed on May 28, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2024/0085781 A1, Mar. 14, 2024
Int. Cl. G03F 1/82 (2012.01); G03F 1/64 (2012.01); G03F 1/62 (2012.01); G03F 1/66 (2012.01)

CPC G03F 1/82 (2013.01) [G03F 1/64 (2013.01); G03F 1/62 (2013.01); G03F 1/66 (2013.01)]

20 Claims

1. A method, comprising:

placing a photo mask on a support such that a patterned surface of the photo mask faces down;

applying an adhesive sheet to edges of a backside surface of the photo mask to clean the edges of the backside surface of the photo mask;

transferring the photo mask with cleaned edges of the backside surface to an extreme ultraviolet lithography apparatus;

exposing the photo mask to extreme ultraviolet radiation; and

directing the extreme ultraviolet radiation from the photo mask to a photo resist layer disposed on a semiconductor substrate, thereby forming an image of a pattern on the photo mask on the photo resist layer.