High-speed data storage and processing for projection mask-less lithography systems

Advantageous optical interconnect technology was chosen for the projection mask-less lithography application to transmit the exposure data to the blanking plate electronics inside a high-voltage vacuum area. Ensuring continuous and reliable operation requires a dedicated preparation and buffering of the transmission data. This paper presents the implementation aspects and the design of a high-speed buffer system based on the field programmable gate array (FPGA) technology. The high data rates and the highly parallelized system operation require a specific architecture and careful signal integrity design for proper functionality