Effect of Phase Error on Lithographic Characteristics Using Attenuated Phase-Shifting Mask

Miyazaki, Junji; Nakae, Aya; Kusunose, Haruhiko; Yoshioka, Nobuyuki; Wakamiya, Wataru; Murayama, Keiichi

doi:10.1143/jjap.33.6785

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…It has been pointed out that the phase-shifting effect will be degraded if the mask has a phase error [7]. The reason can be explained as follows.…”

Section: Thin Absorber Phase-shifting Effectmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Phase-shifting effect of thin-absorber EUV masks

Tanabe¹,

Murachi²,

Lee

et al. 2011

SPIE Proceedings

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Phase-shifting effect of EUV masks with various absorber thicknesses has been studied both by simulations and experiments. In EUV lithography, masks with 180 phase shifting absorber work like embedded attenuated phase-shifting masks. At 66nm thickness of TaN/TaON absorber, 180 degree phase shifting can be achieved in theory. Based on the experiments, we observed that the true180 degree phase shifting can be achieved with absorber thickness between 66 and 76 nm. In this paper, phase shifting impact of the various thickness absorbers has been characterized. Imaging performance of masks with 51 nm, 66 nm and 76 nm thick absorber has been experimentally compared. The process window of various thickness absorber masks are rigorously studied.

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“…It has been pointed out that the phase-shifting effect will be degraded if the mask has a phase error [7]. The reason can be explained as follows.…”

Section: Thin Absorber Phase-shifting Effectmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is well known that the best focus position of an optical EPSM shifts when the mask has a phase error [7]. This is the reason why the spec of the optical EPSM phase uniformity is very tight (3degrrees in range [8]).…”

Section: Best Focus Position Shiftmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phase-shifting effect of thin-absorber EUV masks

Tanabe¹,

Murachi²,

Lee

et al. 2011

SPIE Proceedings

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“…The aerial image generated by NFPSCL was suggested to be due to a combination of near-field and phase-shifting effects [4]. But features are resolved uniformly throughout photoresist layers of thicknesses far in excess of the exposure wavelength, which means that the dominance of near-field effects is doubtful and may even be absent [9]- [11]. In contrast, a recent experimental investigation on broadband ultraviolet (UV) lithography disclosed the high sensitivity of the feature resolution to the phase shifts built into the phase mask [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electromagnetic modeling of near-field phase-shifting contact lithography with broadband ultraviolet illumination

Wang

Weaver

Lakhtakia

et al. 2005

Optik

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Near-field phase-shifting contact lithography is modeled to characterize electromagnetic absorption in a photoresist layer with one face in contact with a quartz binary phase-shift mask. The broadband ultraviolet illumination is represented as a frequencyspectrum of normally incident plane waves. A rigorous coupled-wave analysis is carried out to determine the absorption spectrum of the photoresist layer. The specific absorption rate in the photoresist layer is calculated and examined in relation to the geometric parameters. Columnar features in the photoresist layer are of higher quality on broadband illumination in contrast to monochromatic illumination, in conformity with some recent experimental results. Feature resolution and profile are noticeably affected by the depth of the grooves in the phase-shift mask. Ideally, the feature linewidth can be less than about 100 nm for broadband illumination in the transverse-magnetic mode. These conclusions are subject to modification by the photochemistry-wavelength characteristics of the photoresist.

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“…Small phase errors are unacceptable in an AES mask, because they decrease the depth of focus and shift the optimum focus position. 11 Phase errors are caused by poor etch selectivity 8 with respect to the substrate, and more consequentially by difficulty in controlling the film's chemical composition. 6 Furthermore, the material's requirements for a partially transmitting phase shift mask are seemingly contradictory.…”

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confidence: 99%

Optical superlattices—a strategy for designing phase-shift masks for photolithography at 248 and 193 nm: Application to AlN/CrN

Carcia

French

Reilly

et al. 1997

Applied Physics Letters

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This letter illustrates with AlN/CrN multilayers that optical superlattices, comprised of multilayers of a uv transmitting dielectric layer and a metallic layer, offer a systematic approach to design and fabricate partially transmitting, phase-shift masks for photolithography. From the measured optical constants of sputtered AlN/CrN multilayers, it was found that films had-phase shift and tunable optical transmission between 5% and 15% at 365, 248, and 193 nm. We compared the optical properties of sputtered AlN/CrN multilayers to ''ideal'' superlattices, calculated from the measured optical properties of individual thick CrN and AlN layers, and to compositionally equivalent psuedobinary alloys of (AlN) 1Ϫx (CrN) x. Although optical properties for all three systems were nearly the same, which is attractive because it implies wide process lattitude, we found systematic differences that were attributed to their individual structures. A phase shift mask with 6% transmission at 365 nm was fabricated with a 1650-Å-thick (25 Å AlNϩ25 Å CrN) multilayer film.

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Effect of Phase Error on Lithographic Characteristics Using Attenuated Phase-Shifting Mask

Cited by 7 publications

References 8 publications

Phase-shifting effect of thin-absorber EUV masks

Phase-shifting effect of thin-absorber EUV masks

Electromagnetic modeling of near-field phase-shifting contact lithography with broadband ultraviolet illumination

Optical superlattices—a strategy for designing phase-shift masks for photolithography at 248 and 193 nm: Application to AlN/CrN

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