A Feasibility Study on the Micro Eletro-Discharge Machining Process for Photomask Fabrication

A feasibility study of micro electro-discharge machining (micro-EDM) technology has been conducted for its possible contri-bution in the photomask industry. A series of experimental runs was performed on three specimens using a micro-EDM system with built-in wire electro-discharge grinding. Different thicknesses of chromium films were coated on borosilicate glass substrates. Unwanted chromium metal was machined through to the transparent glass substrate, leaving behind the desired pattern. In this study, lines were machined at different voltages, using electrodes of 20 _m in diameter, and no significant wear of electrodes was observed. The machined regions on the specimens were quantified in terms of linewidth deviation and light transmission. The experimental results showed that the linewidth deviations for all three specimens are below the 10% cut-off threshold. The best average light transmission obtained from this experiment was 75.8% at 90 V. The results gathered so far, suggests that the application of micro-EDM to produce a photomask is an acceptable process.