| Abstract: | Thermal distortion of reticles or masks can be significantly reduced by emissivity engineering, i.e., the selective placement or omission of coatings on the reticle. Reflective reticles so fabricated exhibit enhanced heat transfer thereby reducing the level of thermal distortion and ultimately improving the quality of the transcription of the reticle pattern onto the wafer. Reflective reticles include a substrate having an active region that defines the mask pattern and non-active region(s) that are characterized by a surface that has a higher emissivity than that of the active region. The non-active regions are not coated with the radiation reflective material. |