Proceedings Article | 7 March 2008
Wen-Hao Cheng, Jeff Farnsworth, Wai Kwok, Andrew Jamieson, Nathan Wilcox, Matt Vernon, Karmen Yung, Yi-Ping Liu, Jun Kim, Eric Frendberg, Scott Chegwidden, Richard Schenker, Yan Borodovsky
KEYWORDS: Photomasks, Optical lithography, Glasses, Image resolution, Chromium, Etching, 3D modeling, Electron beam lithography, Defect inspection, Semiconducting wafers
Pixelated phase masks rendered from computational lithography techniques demand one generation-ahead mask
technology development. In this paper, we reveal the accomplishment of fabricating Cr-less, full field, defect-free
pixilated phase masks, including integration of tapeout, front-end patterning and backend defect inspection, repair,
disposition and clean. This work was part of a comprehensive program within Intel which demonstrated microprocessor
device yield.
To pattern mask pixels with lateral sizes <100nm and vertical depth of 170nm, tapeout data management, ebeam write
time management, aggressive pattern resolution scaling, etch improvement, new tool insertion and process integration
were co-optimized to ensure good linearity of lateral, vertical dimensions and sidewall angle of glass pixels of arbitrary
pixelated layout, including singlets, doublets, triplets, touch-corners and larger scale features of structural tones
including pit/trench and pillar/mesa. The final residual systematic mask patterning imperfections were corrected and
integrated upstream in the optical model and design layout.
The volume of 100nm phase pixels on a full field reticle is on the order tera-scale magnitude. Multiple breakthroughs in
backend mask technology were required to achieve a defect free full field mask. Specifically, integration of aerial
image-based defect inspection, 3D optical model-based high resolution ebeam repair and disposition were introduced.
Significant reduction of pixel mask specific defect modes, such as electro static discharge and glass pattern collapse,
were executed to drive defect level down to single digit before attempt of repair. The defect printability and repair yield
were verified downstream through silicon wafer print test to validate defect free mask performance.
