A study of the effect of pellicle support structures on aerial-image quality in EUV lithography by rigorous electromagnetic simulation

Michael S. Yeung; Eytan Barouch; Hye-Keun Oh

doi:10.1117/12.2045618

17 April 2014 A study of the effect of pellicle support structures on aerial-image quality in EUV lithography by rigorous electromagnetic simulation

Michael S. Yeung, Eytan Barouch, Hye-Keun Oh

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9048, Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Lithography V; 90481U (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2045618
Event: SPIE Advanced Lithography, 2014, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

To protect an EUV mask from contamination, a pellicle can be used. However, the pellicle membrane must be very thin due to EUV absorption. As a result, a pellicle support structure is needed to avoid deflection of the membrane by gravity. Previous authors have shown that such a structure would produce a non-uniform intensity distribution on the wafer. In this paper, we use simulation to re-examine the issue. The results show that, when coherent illumination is used, a pellicle support structure would have an undesirable effect on the aerial image. However, we also show that, when partially coherent illumination is used, the intensity non-uniformity caused by the pellicle support structure can be effectively smoothed out, resulting in a perfectly acceptable aerial image.

Citation Download Citation

Michael S. Yeung, Eytan Barouch, and Hye-Keun Oh "A study of the effect of pellicle support structures on aerial-image quality in EUV lithography by rigorous electromagnetic simulation", Proc. SPIE 9048, Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Lithography V, 90481U (17 April 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2045618

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