Paper
19 May 2008 What you see is what you print: aerial imaging as an optimal discriminator between printing and non-printing photomask defects
Author Affiliations +
Abstract
Advanced photomasks for low-k1 lithography, are prone to various defects sources: contamination, geometry, transmission, phase, etc. These defects exhibit a complex relation between the signal from an imaging detector and its print related impact, with important consequences for the performance of the detection scheme under nuisance-ubiquity conditions. We studied numerically several imaging schemes, with respect to their defect detection signal and its relation to the associated CD effect. We show that for actinic aerial imaging detection the signal is tightly correlated and linearly scaled with the induced CD variation regardless of defect source and location. Conversely, the correlation of non-actinic and/or non-aerial (high-resolution based) detection signal with printing effect is poor. Whereas the linear behavior characterizing aerial imaging is independent of the distribution of defect attributes, the statistics of non-aerial defect signal is shown to be highly sensitive to defect distribution. Such non-aerial detection schemes would generally have to compromise detection sensitivity in order to maintain a constant nuisance false alarm rate. Aerial imaging is therefore the optimal discriminator between printing and non-printing defects. The tight linear correlation between defect signal and CD effect in aerial inspection systems, allows for an optimized and effective mask inspection, suitable for all mask types and technologies. Specifically, we show here that such a tool allows a straightforward migration from 65nm node to 45nm and 32nm with double patterning, by tuning the detection threshold without being flooded by nuisance induced false alarms.
© (2008) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Amir Sagiv and Shmoolik Mangan "What you see is what you print: aerial imaging as an optimal discriminator between printing and non-printing photomask defects", Proc. SPIE 7028, Photomask and Next-Generation Lithography Mask Technology XV, 70281E (19 May 2008); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.793055
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CITATIONS
Cited by 6 scholarly publications and 2 patents.
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KEYWORDS
Critical dimension metrology

Photomasks

Signal detection

Airborne remote sensing

Inspection

Printing

Double patterning technology

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