A study on various curvilinear data representations and their impact on mask manufacturing flow

Sayalee Gharat; Bhardwaj Durvasula; Ravi Pai; Peter Buck; Sandeep Koranne; Alexander Tritchkov

doi:10.1117/12.2588374

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22 February 2021 A study on various curvilinear data representations and their impact on mask manufacturing flow

Sayalee Gharat, Bhardwaj Durvasula, Ravi Pai, Peter Buck, Sandeep Koranne, Alexander Tritchkov

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Proceedings Volume 11613, Optical Microlithography XXXIV; 116130B (2021) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2588374
Event: SPIE Advanced Lithography, 2021, Online Only

Abstract

Inverse Lithography Technology OPC (ILT) is going to play a critical role in addressing challenges of optical and EUV lithography as industry pushes towards advanced nodes. One major barrier in adoption of ILT was mask writer’s inability to efficiently write curvilinear patterns. With the introduction of multi-beam mask writers [1] [2], this barrier has been removed and widespread adoption of ILT is imminent. Traditionally, mask writers have accepted only trapezoidal inputs to the tool, though recent trends show that mask writers are adopting to newer formats which already reduce file size. However, as the ILT shape complexity and data volume increases further for 5nm nodes and beyond, the explosion of mask pattern data file size becomes a major concern. Therefore, there is a need for the industry to look towards other compact formats of data representation that will be capable of serving well for multiple generations of mask making. In this paper we will be comparing various curvilinear data representation schemes and their value in the curvilinear ILT based mask manufacturing flow. We will demonstrate that given the nature of curvilinear data, representing it using native curve formats has lot of value in terms of file size reduction for futuristic mask making flows. Same format may not be applicable for all type of features in the input mask. These options will be discussed. There is also a need to compare the value of such exotic representations with regular simplification approaches that reduce data volume using standard methods. We will make that comparison in the paper and discuss the extents/limits of all these techniques. Comparison of changes in simulated mask contours and wafer contours will also be made.

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Sayalee Gharat, Bhardwaj Durvasula, Ravi Pai, Peter Buck, Sandeep Koranne, and Alexander Tritchkov "A study on various curvilinear data representations and their impact on mask manufacturing flow", Proc. SPIE 11613, Optical Microlithography XXXIV, 116130B (22 February 2021); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2588374

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