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Optical lithography with an ArF excimer laser (193 nm) can produce sub 100nm patterns. Without the reduction of wavelength, further increase in resolution is expected by employing an immersion technique in which a liquid medium is filled between the objective lens and underlying photoresist. In this case, resolution can be enhanced through the increase of numerical aperture. However, in order for immersion lithography to be successful, many problems associated with the liquid environment need to be solved. One of the serious problems is the interaction between liquid and photoresist. Liquid may penetrate into the photoresist and cause leaching problem. This in turn modifies the physical and chemical properties of the photoresist. Thus, it is important to monitor the modification of the photoresist by immersion liquid. In this work, spectroscopic ellipsometry and imaging ellipsometry are used to investigate the absorption of liquid by photoresist as well as top coat which is used to prevent water penetration into underlying photoresist. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

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The photomask (PM) surface is covered with a pellicle to protect from dust and other airborne particles. However, a defect known as haze appears on the surface of the PM during exposure even with a pellicle cover. As lithography goes into the deeper UV, the photochemical reactions of contaminants become enhanced to form haze on the PM surface. This affects the lithography as haze absorbs or scatters UV. Ellipsometry may be an ideal technique for the early detection of a haze layer. However, when the PM is covered with a pellicle, the ellipsometric data collected from the surface become extremely distorted owing to the non-normal transmission through the pellicle. In this article, we introduce a novel technique so that the conventional ellipsometric data can be obtained without removing the pellicle. If ellipsometry can be used for the inspection of the PM with a pellicle in place, the cleaning frequency of the PM will be reduced significantly.