Impact of 14-nm photomask uncertainties on computational lithography solutions

Sturtevant, John L.; Tejnil, Edita; Lin, Tim; Schulze, Steffen; Buck, Peter; Kalk, Franklin D.; Nakagawa, Kent H.; Guo, Ningqun; Ackmann, Paul; Gans, Fritz; Buergel, Christian

doi:10.1117/1.jmm.13.1.011004

Cited by 11 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…The 3D mask effects are mainly subject to the morphology of the mask absorber including mask absorber thickness and absorber profile. Related research has indicated that mask absorber thickness (MAT) and the absorber sidewall angle (SWA) have a big impact on critical dimension (CD), best focus (BF), and depth of focus (DOF) [4][5][6][7][8][9]. However, mask absorber errors are inevitably introduced by the imperfect etching process in mask fabrication and measurement [10,11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, the MAT error and tapered SWA deformation of the absorber are increased by repeated mask cleaning process [12,13]. Recently, Sturtevant et al and Rudolph et al studied the impact of photomask uncertainties on computational lithography [4,14,15]. The results revealed that the variations of MAT and SWA cause significant CD errors (CDEs) that cannot be ignored.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mitigating the Impact of Mask Absorber Error on Lithographic Performance by Lithography System Holistic Optimization

Sheng

Sun

et al. 2019

Applied Sciences

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The non-ideal mask absorber can cause an increase in critical dimension error (CDE) and decrease in process window (PW). However, the random mask absorber errors induced during mask fabricating and measuring are not considered in computational lithography. The problem cannot be neglected as the continuous scaling of lithography technology node. In this work, for the first time to our knowledge, a source, numerical aperture (NA), and process parameters co-optimization (SNPCO) method is developed to reduce the CDE induced by absorber errors and improve the PW. First, the source is represented by Zernike polynomials to balance computational burden and flexibility of source. Then a weighted cost function containing CDE and PW that incorporates the influences of absorber errors is created. Finally, a statistical optimization method is used to optimize the lithographic system parameters. Simulations of 1D mask pattern show that for the system with extreme absorber errors, the pattern errors of the proposed method are reduced by 62.1% and 58.9%, and the PWs are increased by 40.3% and 36.4%, respectively. The results illustrate that this method is effective in mitigating the CDE caused absorber errors and improving process robustness.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mitigating the Impact of Mask Absorber Error on Lithographic Performance by Lithography System Holistic Optimization

Sheng

Sun

et al. 2019

Applied Sciences

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Improved accuracy of capacitive sensor-based micro-angle measurement with angular-to-linear displacement conversion

Tan

Zhu

Wang

et al. 2017

Review of Scientific Instruments

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This paper presents a capacitive sensor-based micro-angle measurement (CSMAM) method that uses an angular-to-linear displacement conversion to achieve high accuracy. The principal and secondary error components of CSMAMs are modeled and analyzed to reveal their impacts on the measurement accuracy. The theoretical accuracies of six types of commonly used CSMAMs are analyzed to determine the optimum configuration of capacitive sensors for 1D and 2D micro-angle measurements. An angular-to-linear displacement conversion method with a linear motional stage and a hemisphere decoupler is used to eliminate the principal error of CSMAM. Experimental results indicate that the optimized CSMAM can achieve accuracies of 0.157 arc sec and 0.052 arc sec in the ranges of ±900 arc sec and ±300 arc sec, respectively, in the case that the effective length of the rotation arm is 100 mm and the linear displacement measurement accuracy of the capacitive sensor is 2 nm. These results can be used as a reference to further improve CSMAM designs and achieve high accuracy in a large measurement range, for use in a wide range of precision engineering applications including angle metrology, micro- and nano-radian angle generators, beam steering mechanisms, and high-performance precision stages.

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Improved Duplicate Photomask Matching using AIMS™ Metrology for 14nm and smaller

Fakhoury

Lawliss

Faure

et al. 2020

2020 31st Annual SEMI Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Conference (ASMC)

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Impact of 14-nm photomask uncertainties on computational lithography solutions

Cited by 11 publications

References 12 publications

Mitigating the Impact of Mask Absorber Error on Lithographic Performance by Lithography System Holistic Optimization

Mitigating the Impact of Mask Absorber Error on Lithographic Performance by Lithography System Holistic Optimization

Improved accuracy of capacitive sensor-based micro-angle measurement with angular-to-linear displacement conversion

Improved Duplicate Photomask Matching using AIMS™ Metrology for 14nm and smaller

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