Contribution of EUV mask CD variability on LCDU

Zhengqing John Qi; Jed Rankin; Lei Sun; Harry Levinson

doi:10.1117/12.2258136

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24 March 2017 Contribution of EUV mask CD variability on LCDU

Zhengqing John Qi, Jed Rankin, Lei Sun, Harry Levinson

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Proceedings Volume 10143, Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Lithography VIII; 101431Y (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2258136
Event: SPIE Advanced Lithography, 2017, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

The shrink in feature sizes enabled by EUV lithography introduces a regime where stochastic limits to resolution can manifest in the form of line edge roughness (LER) for line/space patterns and local critical dimension uniformity (LCDU) for contact/holes. To meet increasing tolerances on edge placement error (EPE) and suppression of stochastic effects, an understanding of EUV mask contributions on lithographic patterning variability is essential. The work here explores stochastic noise originating from the mask patterning process and attempts to quantify its contributions towards on-wafer LCDU. A semiempirical approach was used to statistically decompose the mask variability component from the measured LCDU and provide a first-order understanding of the mask’s impact on wafer. Taking a more direct approach, a one-to-one correlation of local CD variation between mask and wafer was also experimentally shown, presenting the possibility for predicting the contributions and impact of mask LCDU on wafer prior to exposure.

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Zhengqing John Qi, Jed Rankin, Lei Sun, and Harry Levinson "Contribution of EUV mask CD variability on LCDU", Proc. SPIE 10143, Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Lithography VIII, 101431Y (24 March 2017); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2258136

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