Novel analysis technique for examining the effect of exposure conditions on the mask error enhancement factor

Stewart A. Robertson; Michael T. Reilly; Colin R. Parker

doi:10.1117/12.425201

26 April 2001 Novel analysis technique for examining the effect of exposure conditions on the mask error enhancement factor

Stewart A. Robertson, Michael T. Reilly, Colin R. Parker

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 4404, Lithography for Semiconductor Manufacturing II; (2001) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.425201
Event: Microelectronic and MEMS Technologies, 2001, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Abstract

Several recent studies of the MEEF have identified that it is a function of print bias. These works have primarily studied the variation of MEEF for a fixed resist feature as the mask dimension is altered. An alternative way of studying the impact of bias is to use a fixed mask layout and change the exposure level. A Bossung plot shows the impact of exposure and focus on printed CD. An analogous plot is introduced which substitutes MEED for CD on the assumption that the target CD at each focus and exposure setting is the one realized on the Bossung plot for the correctly sized mask. Such a MEEFFEL can be constructed simply from three sets of FEM CD data, if an appropriate mask is available. Comparisons between the Bossung plot and the MEEFFEL plot allow understanding of the relationships between the MEEF response to focus/exposure variations and that of CD. An initial simulation study of line features on a binary mask reveals that MEEF is lowest where the resist feature exhibits iso-focal behavior. This behavior appears to be consistent through both pitch and nominal mask feature size.

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Stewart A. Robertson, Michael T. Reilly, and Colin R. Parker "Novel analysis technique for examining the effect of exposure conditions on the mask error enhancement factor", Proc. SPIE 4404, Lithography for Semiconductor Manufacturing II, (26 April 2001); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.425201

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