Impact of EUV absorber variations on wafer patterning

Lawrence S. Melvin III; Yudhishthir Kandel; Tim Fühner; Ulrich Welling; Emily Gallagher; Andreas Frommhold; Yoshitake Shusuke

doi:10.1117/12.2515511

26 March 2019 Impact of EUV absorber variations on wafer patterning

Lawrence S. Melvin III, Yudhishthir Kandel, Tim Fühner, Ulrich Welling, Emily Gallagher, Andreas Frommhold, Yoshitake Shusuke

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 10957, Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Lithography X; 109570N (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2515511
Event: SPIE Advanced Lithography, 2019, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

Mask absorber variations are known to impact wafer imaging. To understand these impacts, absorber variations around SRAF and line-end features are studied on both bright and dark field masks. The primary areas of investigation are SRAF absorber thickness and sidewall angle variation. The working hypothesis was that these two variations are most prevalent in EUV mask absorber processing and could limit EUV imaging. In addition, this study will investigate whether Optical Proximity Correction (OPC) and can compensate for absorber thickness and sidewall variations. AFM data were collected to identify whether qualitative variations between SRAF and main features in the mask absorber were present. Simulations were deployed to quantify the response of wafer images to mask absorber variations. The study found sensitivity to SRAF SWA and thickness variations in the dark field and bright field cases. The study also found that OPC mitigates a large part of the mask SRAF shape variations, if the OPC model includes the quantified variation. Consequently, mask characterization and inclusion in OPC models is needed to reduce model errors.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

Lawrence S. Melvin III, Yudhishthir Kandel, Tim Fühner, Ulrich Welling, Emily Gallagher, Andreas Frommhold, and Yoshitake Shusuke "Impact of EUV absorber variations on wafer patterning", Proc. SPIE 10957, Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Lithography X, 109570N (26 March 2019); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2515511

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