Designing dual-trench alternating phase-shift masks for 140-nm and smaller features using 248-nm KrF and 193-nm ArF lithography

John S. Petersen; Robert John Socha; Alex R. Naderi; Catherine A. Baker; Syed A. Rizvi; Douglas J. Van Den Broeke; Nishrin Kachwala; J. Fung Chen; Thomas L. Laidig; Kurt E. Wampler; Roger F. Caldwell; Susumu Takeuchi; Yoshiro Yamada; Takashi Senoh; Martin McCallum

doi:10.1117/12.328861

1 September 1998 Designing dual-trench alternating phase-shift masks for 140-nm and smaller features using 248-nm KrF and 193-nm ArF lithography

John S. Petersen, Robert John Socha, Alex R. Naderi, Catherine A. Baker, Syed A. Rizvi, Douglas J. Van Den Broeke, Nishrin Kachwala, J. Fung Chen, Thomas L. Laidig, Kurt E. Wampler, Roger F. Caldwell, Susumu Takeuchi, Yoshiro Yamada, Takashi Senoh, Martin McCallum

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 3412, Photomask and X-Ray Mask Technology V; (1998) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.328861
Event: Photomask Japan '98 Symposium on Photomask and X-Ray Mask Technology V, 1998, Kawasaki City, Japan

Abstract

One method for making the alternating phase-shift mask involves cutting a trench into the quartz of the mask using an anisotropic dry etch, followed by an isotropic etch to move the corners of the trench underneath the chrome to minimize problems caused by diffraction at the bottom corners of the phase-trench. This manufacturing method makes the addition of subresolution scattering bars and serifs problematic, because the amount of the undercut causes chrome lifting of these small features. Adding an additional anisotropically etched trench to both cut and uncut regions is helpful, but the etch does not move the trench corners under the chrome and result in a loss to intensity and image contrast. At 248 nm illumination and 4X magnification, our work shows that a combination of 240 nm dual-trench and 5 nm to 10 nm undercut produces images with equal intensity between shifted and unshifted regions without loss of image contrasts. This paper demonstrates optical proximity correction for doing 100 nm, 120 nm, 140 nm and 180 nm lines of varying pitch for a simple alternating phase-shift mask, with no dual-trench or undercut. Then the electromagnetic field simulator, TEMPEST, is used to find the best combination of dual-trench depth and amount of undercut for an alternating phase-shift mask. Phase measurement using 248 nm light and depth measurement of thirty-six unique combinations of dual-trench and phase-shift trench are shown. Based on modeling and experimental results, recommendations for making a fine tuned dual-trench 248 nm mask, as well as an extension of the dual-trench alternating phase-shift technique to 193 nm lithography, are made.

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John S. Petersen, Robert John Socha, Alex R. Naderi, Catherine A. Baker, Syed A. Rizvi, Douglas J. Van Den Broeke, Nishrin Kachwala, J. Fung Chen, Thomas L. Laidig, Kurt E. Wampler, Roger F. Caldwell, Susumu Takeuchi, Yoshiro Yamada, Takashi Senoh, and Martin McCallum "Designing dual-trench alternating phase-shift masks for 140-nm and smaller features using 248-nm KrF and 193-nm ArF lithography", Proc. SPIE 3412, Photomask and X-Ray Mask Technology V, (1 September 1998); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.328861

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