OPC model prediction capability improvements by accounting for mask 3D-EMF effects

Cheng, Jacky; Schramm, Jessy; Zhang, Dong Qing; Foong, Yee Mei; Zuniga, Christian; Do, Thuy; Tejnil, Edita; Sturtevant, John L.; Chung, Angeline; Jantzen, Kenneth

doi:10.1117/12.916863

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…[1]~eq. [3] with empirical coefficient 'A' fitted for a particular mask writing condition. With the method developed for mask contour extraction and GDSII back conversion, performance of 3-segment corner-chop is compared with real written mask and fixed radius chopped design data using rigorous simulation.…”

Section: Figure3 Workflow Of Contour Extraction and Magnification Cal...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At node 28nm and beyond, details in OPC workflow start to become more prominent in order to achieve sub-nm accuracy (1). From mask 3D, resist top-loss effects to contour based wafer metrology, efforts are being made to tackle those issues, which makes OPC more delicate and challenging than ever (2)(3)(4)(5). Mask corner-chopping implemented in simulations of full-chip OPC is one such a feature that takes care of pattern deformation characteristics on mask from post-OPC data (1) (6).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mask Corner Chopping Strategy Optimization and Its Impact on Random 2D Logic Pattern OPC Recipe Accuracy

et al. 2014

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At advanced node, mask making details need to be taken into account in OPC in order to achieve the demanded accuracy. Mask corner rounding, which is often emulated by corner chopping of polygons in OPC implementation, is one such an example. In this work, we demonstrated fixed radius corner-chop improves OPC accuracy, however, such an implementation is unable to offer required OPC accuracy, since it still leaves non-negligible ADI error at some random 2D patterns. A 3-segments rule based chop strategy is proposed and tested with which significant simulation accuracy improvement is achieved at little extra computational cost.

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Section: Figure3 Workflow Of Contour Extraction and Magnification Cal...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mask Corner Chopping Strategy Optimization and Its Impact on Random 2D Logic Pattern OPC Recipe Accuracy

et al. 2014

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“…As the Z4 will have biggest impacts on BFD, a concept of virtual Z4 VA with mask pattern dependence is introduced in order to demonstrate the impact of mask 3D topography. The pattern dependent Z4 VA can be written as follows: (1) where p is the pitch, s is the width of a space, h is the effective height of a pattern, n and k are the refractive index and extinction coefficient, respectively. Once a mask stack has been fixed, the shape of function in equation ( 1) will be determined by the patterns and can be written as, The second and third items in the equation ( 2), which are the coefficients represented by partial differentials, can be calibrated by the experimental data, the concept of Z4 VA in above will have different meaning comparing to usual Zernike terms used in litho simulations.…”

Section: Theoretical Consideration For Virtual Aberration Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This will cause not only complexity but also accuracy issue during simulation of OPC and SMO. Thus, currently, most of efforts are focused on the area to improve accuracy of OPC and SMO simulation [1][2][3]. As a result, good improvements have been achieved so far.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

(Invited) Development of Mask 3D Virtual Aberration Model to Predict Pattern Best Focus Deviation

2013

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Mask 3D effect induces non-negligible inter-pattern best focus deviation in lithography process. In this paper, mask 3D effects are studied fundamentally and a new novel virtual aberration model is proposed to predict pattern best focus deviation caused by mask 3D effect. Furthermore, resist thickness effect on the phase error is studied and a vitual aberation model is suggested to reflect resist thickness effect. Experimental data shows that the proposed models are effective and accurate to predict total best focus deviation caused by mask 3D and resist thickness effects.

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“…Nevertheless, some characteristic phenomena such as mask-induced polarization effects [3][4][5], mask-induced wave aberrations and best-focus (BF) shifts [6][7][8], and an impact on the obtained OPC models [9,10] can be observed. These so-called 'three-dimensional (3D) mask effects' or 'mask topography effects' depend on the 3D geometrical shape of the mask and on the optical properties, specifically the extinction value k and the refractive index n, of the mask materials.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization and mitigation of 3D mask effects in extreme ultraviolet lithography

Erdmann

Evanschitzky

et al. 2017

Advanced Optical Technologies

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Abstract:The reflection and diffraction of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light from lithographic masks and the projection imaging of these masks by all-reflective systems introduce several significant imaging artifacts. The off-axis illumination of the mask causes asymmetric shadowing, a size bias between features with different orientations and telecentricity errors. The image contrast varies with the feature orientation and can easily drop far below intuitively expected values. The deformation of the wavefront or phase of the incident light by thick absorbers generates aberration-like effects, especially variations of the best-focus (BF) position vs. the pitch and size of the imaged patterns. Partial reflection of light from the top of the absorber generates a weak secondary image, which superposes with the main image. Based on a discussion of the root causes of these phenomena, we employ mask diffraction and imaging analysis for a quantitative analysis of these effects for standard EUV masks. Simulations for various non-standard types of mask stacks (e.g. etched multilayers, buried shifters, etc.) and for various non-standard absorber materials are used to explore the imaging capabilities of alternative masks for EUV lithography. Finally, an outlook at anamorphic systems for larger numerical apertures is given.

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OPC model prediction capability improvements by accounting for mask 3D-EMF effects

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Mask Corner Chopping Strategy Optimization and Its Impact on Random 2D Logic Pattern OPC Recipe Accuracy

Mask Corner Chopping Strategy Optimization and Its Impact on Random 2D Logic Pattern OPC Recipe Accuracy

(Invited) Development of Mask 3D Virtual Aberration Model to Predict Pattern Best Focus Deviation

Characterization and mitigation of 3D mask effects in extreme ultraviolet lithography

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