Improved line-end foreshortening and corner-rounding control in optical proximity correction using radius of curvature method

Maharaj Mukherjee; Vinhthuy Phan

doi:10.1117/12.474487

Translator Disclaimer

30 July 2002 Improved line-end foreshortening and corner-rounding control in optical proximity correction using radius of curvature method

Maharaj Mukherjee, Vinhthuy Phan

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 4691, Optical Microlithography XV; (2002) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.474487
Event: SPIE's 27th Annual International Symposium on Microlithography, 2002, Santa Clara, California, United States

Abstract

We describe how to generate better Optical Proximity Corrections (OPC) for line-ends and corners by using rounded anchors and serifs. These rounded serifs and anchors can be made smaller in size and shape than the traditional rectilinear anchors and serifs. The smaller size of the serifs tend to have less problems in satisfying mask-rule constraints. They also have less adverse effects on the printability of neighboring shapes. We refer to these rounded anchors and serifs as Mouse-Ears. The rounding is done by circles which are regular octagons with Ortho-45 straight lines. The main idea of this paper stems from the physical description of the lithographic process, which can be conceptualized as a low-pass filter. The low-pass filter eliminates the sharp corners of the feature which are made of high spatial-frequency components and retains the low spatial-frequency components. Since the rounded anchors and serifs have fewer high-frequency components than their rectilinear counterparts they get less deformed in the lithographic process.

Citation Download Citation

Maharaj Mukherjee and Vinhthuy Phan "Improved line-end foreshortening and corner-rounding control in optical proximity correction using radius of curvature method", Proc. SPIE 4691, Optical Microlithography XV, (30 July 2002); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.474487

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE