Rigorous EM simulation of the influence of the structure of mask patterns on EUVL imaging

Yunfei Deng; Bruno M. La Fontaine; Harry J. Levinson; Andrew R. Neureuther

doi:10.1117/12.484986

16 June 2003 Rigorous EM simulation of the influence of the structure of mask patterns on EUVL imaging

Yunfei Deng, Bruno M. La Fontaine, Harry J. Levinson, Andrew R. Neureuther

Proceedings Volume 5037, Emerging Lithographic Technologies VII; (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.484986
Event: Microlithography 2003, 2003, Santa Clara, California, United States

Abstract

Rigorous electromagnetic scattering simulation is used to characterize mask diffraction of various EUVL mask structures. Planar multilayer masks with three kinds of absorber stacks and new subtractive (binary, att-PSM, alt-PSM) etched multilayer masks are studied for lithography performance for line and space features in the 45 nm node. The simulation results for process window show that the combined depth of focus of the Cr/SiO₂ absorber stack masks is about 320 nm maximum with sigma of 0.8 when mask CD biases are applied. The biased etched binary mask has a higher DOF of 360 nm at sigma = 0.6. The line width variations caused by the absorber thickness changes are shown to be about 2 nm due the interference effects and image placement errors (IPE) are 4-7 nm with a 0.4 nm variation. The consideration of a full 2% EUV illumination bandwidth decreases the interference effects by 50%. The etched binary mask is not affected by such phenomenon and provides better contrast. The H-V bias and IPE results of absorber stacks show a linear dependence of absorber thickness. The etched binary multilayer mask has less H-V bias and IPE due to its smaller effective thickness. A simple alternating PSM structure created by the subtractive multilayer mask patterning technique is also proposed and it shows a larger 722 nm DOF.

Citation Download Citation

Yunfei Deng, Bruno M. La Fontaine, Harry J. Levinson, and Andrew R. Neureuther "Rigorous EM simulation of the influence of the structure of mask patterns on EUVL imaging", Proc. SPIE 5037, Emerging Lithographic Technologies VII, (16 June 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.484986

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available