Contrast reversal effect in scanning electron microscopy due to charging

Abe, Hidekazu; Babin, S.; Borisov, S. S.; Hamaguchi, Akira; Kadowaki, M.; Miyano, Yumiko; Yamazaki, Yuichiro

doi:10.1116/1.3114486

Cited by 27 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 9 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…These simulations take into account charging and discharging effects, electromagnetic fields, detector configurations, and so on. [1][2][3][4] The simulated results are consistent with the experimental results and can describe the physical phenomena of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) mask imaging and metrology. 3,4 As the pattern size of the EUV mask shrinks, thin absorber defects from etching residue tend to become more discernible.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Identification of residual-type defect on extreme ultraviolet mask by projection electron microscope using Monte Carlo simulation

Iida¹,

Amano²,

Hirano³

et al. 2012

Journal of Vacuum Science &Amp; Technology B, Nanotechnology and Microelectronics: Materials, Processing, Measurement, and Phen

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Thin absorber defects called residual-type defects are etching residues that tend to become more discernible as the pattern size of the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) mask shrinks. Projection electron microscope (PEM) images of the residual-type defects with various thicknesses were investigated using Monte Carlo simulation. In the case of the secondary electron image, the thickness of the defect was identified by the defect's signal intensity. It was found that the material and its relative thickness affected the signal intensity. In the case of the mirror electron image, three kinds of defects were selectively identified by controlling the primary electron energy. When the energy distribution of the primary electrons was taken into account, these defects were identified by the defects' signal intensities. It was found that the surface potential of the residual-type defects on the EUV mask greatly affected the mirror electron image. These results suggest that the thickness of the residual-type defect is identifiable by the PEM technique, and the defect selectivity is greatly affected by the thickness of the oxide layer when mirror electrons are used.

show abstract

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Identification of residual-type defect on extreme ultraviolet mask by projection electron microscope using Monte Carlo simulation

Iida¹,

Amano²,

Hirano³

et al. 2012

Journal of Vacuum Science &Amp; Technology B, Nanotechnology and Microelectronics: Materials, Processing, Measurement, and Phen

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…These simulations take into account the charging and discharging effects, electromagnetic fields, detector configurations, and so on. [8][9][10][11][12] The simulated results are consistent with experimental results and can describe the physical phenomena of EUV mask imaging and metrology. 11,12 In this study, we describe defect detection using simulated PEM image by Monte Carlo simulation.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Extreme ultraviolet mask defect inspection with a half pitch 16-nm node using simulated projection electron microscope images

Iida¹,

Amano²,

Hirano³

et al. 2013

J. Micro/Nanolith. MEMS MOEMS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. According to an International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS-2012) update, the sensitivity requirement for an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) mask pattern inspection system is to be less than 18 nm for half pitch (hp) 16-nm node devices. The inspection sensitivity of extrusion and intrusion defects on hp 64-nm line-andspace patterned EUV mask were investigated using simulated projection electron microscope (PEM) images. The obtained defect images showed that the optimization of current density and image processing techniques were essential for the detection of defects. Extrusion and intrusion defects 16 nm in size were detected on images formed by 3000 electrons per pixel. The landing energy also greatly influenced the defect detection efficiency. These influences were different for extrusion and intrusion defects. These results were in good agreement with experimentally obtained yield curves of the mask materials and the elevation angles of the defects. These results suggest that the PEM technique has a potential to detect 16-nm size defects on an hp 64-nm patterned EUV mask. © The Authors.Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.

show abstract

“…It considers charging of the target, e.g., deflection of the primary and secondary electrons above the target. For example, the image reversal by the charging can be successfully simulated by this software 5 . The results using CHARIOT in combination with our in house software will be discussed in chapter 4.…”

Section: Monte Carlo Simulation Of Semmentioning

confidence: 98%

Influence of the charging effect on the precision of measuring EUV mask features

et al. 2011

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Influence of the prominent charging effect on the precision of measuring EUV mask features using CD-SEM was studied. The dimensions of EUV mask features continuously measured by CD-SEM gradually varied because of the charging. The charging effect on the measured CD variation mainly consists of three factors: 1) shift of the incident points of primary electrons deflected by the surface charge, 2) distortions of the profiles of secondary electron signal intensity caused by the deflection of the secondary electrons, 3) deviation of the maximum slope points of the secondary electron signal intensity due to the variation of the image contrast. For those three factors described above, how the material constant affect the CD variation measured by CD-SEM is discussed.

show abstract

Contrast reversal effect in scanning electron microscopy due to charging

Cited by 27 publications

References 9 publications

Identification of residual-type defect on extreme ultraviolet mask by projection electron microscope using Monte Carlo simulation

Identification of residual-type defect on extreme ultraviolet mask by projection electron microscope using Monte Carlo simulation

Extreme ultraviolet mask defect inspection with a half pitch 16-nm node using simulated projection electron microscope images

Influence of the charging effect on the precision of measuring EUV mask features

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About