Application of a high-brightness electrodeless Z-pinch EUV source for metrology, inspection, and resist development

Horne, Stephen F.; Besen, M.; Smith, Douglas L.; Blackborow, Paul A.; D'Agostino, Robert J.

doi:10.1117/12.655696

Cited by 28 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 4 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In this chapter we showed that a tool using a 13.5 nm Energetiq Z-pinch EUV source [21] with full NA = 0.07 and 1/f 1 = 30 nm, 1/f 2 = 15 nm, and z 1 = z 2 = 20 mm can operate with 15 µrad of tilt error, 1% grating pitch mismatch, and up to 20% grating noise energy while achieving a fringe contrast greater than 80%.…”

Section: Utility Of This Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extreme ultraviolet lithography: A few more pieces of the puzzle

Anderson¹

2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The work described in this dissertation has improved three essential components of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography: exposure tools, photoresist, and metrology.Exposure tools. A field-averaging illumination stage is presented that enables nonuniform, high-coherence sources to be used in applications where highly uniform illumination is required. In an EUV implementation, it is shown that the illuminator achieves a 6.5% peak-to-valley intensity variation across the entire design field of view. In addition, a design for a stand-alone EUV printing tool capable of delivering 15 nm half-pitch sinusoidal fringes with available sources, gratings and nano-positioning stages is presented. It is shown that the proposed design delivers a near zero line-edge-rougness (LER) aerial image, something extremely attractive for the application of resist testing.

show abstract

Section: Utility Of This Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extreme ultraviolet lithography: A few more pieces of the puzzle

Anderson¹

2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…There are various methods of measuring the EUV output power of the source, several examples of which have already been described in past publications. 14 A typical arrangement is shown in Fig. 6.…”

Section: Powermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…EQ-10 Output PerformanceThe performance of the standard EQ-10 source has been well characterized 14,15. Here we will review several key aspects that are pertinent for a metrology source, namely stability, and brightness.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Extreme-ultraviolet light source development to enable pre-production mask inspection

Partlow

Besen

Blackborow

et al. 2012

J. Micro/Nanolith. MEMS MOEMS

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

As extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) lithography moves into preproduction, the requirement for commercially available mask metrology tools becomes more urgent. A key to developing a successful tool is a reliable, high-brightness EUV light source. The Energetiq EQ-10 is a commercially available EUV light source, with an installed base of over 15 sources in the field. The source relies on an electrodeless Z-pinch™ to produce greater than 10 Watts∕2π of 13.5 nm 2% bandwidth light. In order to meet brightness and stability requirements of mask metrology tools, we have investigated modifications to the original design of the EQ-10. The result of these modifications has roughly doubled the source output power, and has achieved brightness greater than 8 Watts∕mm 2 ∕sr, without sacrificing the spatial and pulse-to-pulse stability of the original design. This level of performance is sufficient for initial mask blank and imaging inspection tools.

show abstract

“…The source is currently being used for metrology, mask inspection, and resist development [2,3,4]. Energetiq's higher brightness source has been selected as the source for pre-production actinic mask inspection tools.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

High brightness electrodeless Z-Pinch EUV source for mask inspection tools

et al. 2012

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Energetiq Technology has been shipping the EQ-10 Electrodeless Z-pinchTM light source since 1995[1]. The source is currently being used for metrology, mask inspection, and resist development [2,3,4]. Energetiq's higher brightness source has been selected as the source for pre-production actinic mask inspection tools. This improved source enables the mask inspection tool suppliers to build prototype tools with capabilities of defect detection and review down to 16nm design rules.In this presentation we will present new source technology being developed at Energetiq to address the critical source brightness issue. The new technology will be shown to be capable of delivering brightness levels sufficient to meet the HVM requirements of AIMS and ABI and potentially API tools. The basis of the source technology is to use the stable pinch of the electrodeless light source and have a brightness of up to 100W/mm^2-sr. We will explain the source design concepts, discuss the expected performance and present the modeling results for the new design.

show abstract

Application of a high-brightness electrodeless Z-pinch EUV source for metrology, inspection, and resist development

Cited by 28 publications

References 4 publications

Extreme ultraviolet lithography: A few more pieces of the puzzle

Extreme ultraviolet lithography: A few more pieces of the puzzle

Extreme-ultraviolet light source development to enable pre-production mask inspection

High brightness electrodeless Z-Pinch EUV source for mask inspection tools

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About