1 April 2003 Predicting overlay performance for electron projection lithography masks
Author Affiliations +
Abstract
Minimizing mask-level distortions is critical to the success of electron projection lithography (EPL) in the sub-100-nm regime. A number of possibilities exist to reduce mask-fabrication and pattern-transfer distortion including subfield correction, "dummy" patterns, pattern splitting, and film stress control. Finite element modeling was used to illustrate the advantages and capabilities of these correction schemes for a 100-mm stencil mask with 1-mm×1-mm membrane windows. Static-random-access-memory-type circuit features, including both the interconnect and contact levels, were used, to simulate realistic circuit layouts with both cross-mask and intra-membrane pattern density gradients. With such correction techniques, it is possible to reduce the EPL mask-level distortions for "worst-case" mixed pattern types to less than 1.0 nm.
©(2003) Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)
Phillip L. Reu, Cheng-Fu Chen, Roxann L. Engelstad, Edward G. Lovell, Michael J. Lercel, Obert R. Wood II, and R. Scott Mackay "Predicting overlay performance for electron projection lithography masks," Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS 2(2), (1 April 2003). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.1563646
Published: 1 April 2003
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CITATIONS
Cited by 3 scholarly publications.
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KEYWORDS
Photomasks

Mask making

Manufacturing

Electron beam lithography

Performance modeling

3D modeling

Finite element methods

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