Investigation of defect detectability for extreme ultraviolet patterned mask using two types of high-throughput electron-beam inspection systems

Susumu Iida; Ryoichi Hirano; Tsuyoshi Amano; Hidehiro Watanabe

doi:10.1117/1.JMM.15.1.013510

22 March 2016 Investigation of defect detectability for extreme ultraviolet patterned mask using two types of high-throughput electron-beam inspection systems

Susumu Iida, Ryoichi Hirano, Tsuyoshi Amano, Hidehiro Watanabe

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Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS, Vol. 15, Issue 1, 013510 (March 2016). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JMM.15.1.013510

Abstract

Defect detectability using electron-beam (EB) inspection for an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) mask was investigated by comparing a projection electron microscope (PEM) and a scanning electron microscope (SEM) inspection system. The detectability with EB does not coincide with the printability data because the contrasts of the EUV aerial image and EB image for EUV mask are reversed. The 16-nm-sized defect on a half-pitch 64-nm line and space (L/S) pattern is detected even when the line edge roughness is taken into account in both PEM and SEM inspections by applying a special algorithm for image processing. The required and robust inspection conditions, such as the number of electrons per pixel and pixel size (resolution), were examined for an SEM inspection system. The throughput of the PEM inspection system corresponds to that of the multibeam SEM one with 200 to 1850 beams.

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Susumu Iida, Ryoichi Hirano, Tsuyoshi Amano, and Hidehiro Watanabe "Investigation of defect detectability for extreme ultraviolet patterned mask using two types of high-throughput electron-beam inspection systems," Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS 15(1), 013510 (22 March 2016). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JMM.15.1.013510

Published: 22 March 2016

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