Polarized phase shift mask: concept, design, and potential advantages to photolithography process and physical design

Wang, Ruoping; Grobman, W. D.; Reich, Alfred J.; Thompson, Matthew A.

doi:10.1117/12.458317

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…There are some papers that talk about polarization lithography and polarization masks. 92,93,94,95,96,97,98 The earliest I found is from Nikon 92 that says various things about polarization and consequences for imaging. Some more recent ones from Motorola about purposing a polarization mask, 97 but the materials that would add the polarizers to the mask are not so clearly developed.…”

Section: Future Trendsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Resolution enhancement technology: the past, the present, and extensions for the future

Schellenberg

2004

SPIE Proceedings

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Definitions and criteria for "resolution" and "resolution enhancement" are discussed, and the primary resolution enhancement techniques (RETs) of OPC, PSM and OAI are categorized according to their control of the fundamental properties of a wave: amplitude, phase, and direction. The history of the invention and development of each of these techniques is then reviewed.Modern RETs are generally combinations of these primary RETs, leading to increased complexity in RET recipes. CAD tools have evolved to cope with this increased complexity. Although these existing RET solutions may allow optical lithography be extended as far as the 32nm IC node, even more capability may be developed if the fourth variable of an electromagnetic wave, polarization, can be exploited as an additional primary RET as well.This manuscript is adapted from a transcript of the SPIE Microlithography plenary session, Feb. 23, 2004.

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Section: Future Trendsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Resolution enhancement technology: the past, the present, and extensions for the future

Schellenberg

2004

SPIE Proceedings

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“…A novel concept has also been proposed by introducing two orthogonal polarization vectors on the mask to resolve the phase conflict issue [25]. In this concept, polarization is "assigned" locally on the shifter by thin film technique, such that four colors are acquired from the two (0 and ) phases with additional two orthogonal polarizations.…”

Section: Four-color Maskmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alternating phase shift mask architecture scalability, implementations, and applications for 90-nm and 65-nm technology nodes and beyond

2003

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Alternating phase shift mask (altPSM) as a strong resolution enhancement technique is increasingly required to meet the tighter lithographic requirements on gate critical dimension (CD) control, depth of focus and low k1 applications in full chip patterning of logic and memory devices. While the frequency doubling mechanism of altPSM benefits the quality of imaging, the inherent intensity asymmetry between phase shifters, or image imbalance, causes line shift. The effect of mask topography on electromagnetic wave propagation must be compensated in practice. Various designs of mask structure for correcting the intrinsic imaging asymmetry have been extensively studied. In this paper, we discuss several image imbalance correction methods for hidden phase edge altPSM architectures, including chrome undercut, shifter width sizing, sidewall chrome alternating aperture mask. We compared both hidden phase edge as well as exposed phase edge altPSM in terms of scalability, image correction effectiveness, and manufacturability for 90-nm, 65-nm technology nodes and beyond. Specifically, we define the altPSM architecture scalability in terms of three key components: 1. Mask manufacturability, design layout complexity, and effectiveness of image balance correction, 2. Mask patterning resolution, pattern fidelity, image placement, CD & overlay control at both chrome and glass levels, 3. Tightening quartz etch process control for given phase error tolerance. Applications of altPSM technology to line/space, hole, and phase shifted assisted features patterning with various altPSM architectures are also addressed.

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“…Polarization from masks can be used as a new lever to improve lithographic performance in microlithography systems. Wang, et al [4] introduced the concept of the polarization mask, using thin films on top of the mask to rotate the polarization and solve the map coloring problem.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Resolution enhancement in optical lithography with chromium wire-grid polarization mask

Wan-Tao

Xing

et al. 2005

SPIE Proceedings

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Polarization effects have only recently been considered an issue that is growing more for optical lithography. It has been demonstrated that wire-grid structures placed within features have the ability to polarize incident light on a mask. This paper also recognizes the advantages that can be gleamed from the polarization properties, but differs in that it attempts to use a chromium wire-grid polarization mask itself to polarize the incident light. In this paper, we explore a vector model of microlithography imaging with polarization distribution function. Polarization from chromium wire-grid polarization mask can be used as a new lever to improve lithographic performance. This paper also addresses the fundamental issues underlying the design of such a chromium wire-grid polarization mask. The influence of a chromium wire-grid polarization mask on microlithography system has been systematically investigated by comparison on the imaging contrast and the process window. We compare the effects of polarization light imaging with a conventional mask and a chromium wire-grid polarization mask at wavelength of 0.248 m , a numerical aperture of 0.65 and a partial-coherence of 0.2. It can be concluded that a high-resolution imaging performance can be obtained by using chromium wire-grid polarization mask.

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Polarized phase shift mask: concept, design, and potential advantages to photolithography process and physical design

Cited by 7 publications

References 3 publications

Resolution enhancement technology: the past, the present, and extensions for the future

Resolution enhancement technology: the past, the present, and extensions for the future

Alternating phase shift mask architecture scalability, implementations, and applications for 90-nm and 65-nm technology nodes and beyond

Resolution enhancement in optical lithography with chromium wire-grid polarization mask

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