Appeal No. 96-0294
Application No. 08/168,569
THE INVENTION
The appealed subject matter is directed to a method for
repairing a defect in the light transmissive, non-printing
region of a phase-shifting mask. Phase-shifting masks are
useful in the production of integrated circuits. Appellants
describe phase-shifting masks as generally comprising "a
plurality of individual transmissive phase-shifting layers
disposed in a pattern on a transmissive substrate." (page 1,
lines 14 through 16 of the specification).
Claim 1 is believed to be adequately representative of
the appealed subject matter and is reproduced below for a more
facile understanding of the claimed subject matter.
1. A method for repairing a defect in the
transmissive nonprinting region of a phase-shifting
mask comprising the step of depositing an opaque
material on the defect from a gaseous precursor by
beam-induced deposition.
The references of record which are being relied on by the
examiner as evidence of obviousness are:
Kellogg et al. (Kellogg) 4,698,236 Oct.
2
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