Aerial image measurements on a commercial stepper

Charles H. Fields; William N. Partlo; William G. Oldham

doi:10.1117/12.175453

17 May 1994 Aerial image measurements on a commercial stepper

Charles H. Fields, William N. Partlo, William G. Oldham

Proceedings Volume 2197, Optical/Laser Microlithography VII; (1994) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.175453
Event: SPIE's 1994 Symposium on Microlithography, 1994, San Jose, CA, United States

Abstract

A new method of testing high numerical aperture microlithographic lenses involves measuring the aerial image produced by the lens rather than using developed resist profiles. Direct measurement of the aerial image eliminates any process variations associated with the resist processing and also removes the subjective nature of evaluating resist profiles. The means of characterizing the aerial image is to measure the image intensity from grating patterns positioned at the image plane. Our image monitor used an artifact mask cover with 2-D scanning pinholes placed over a photodetector. This pinhole cover was fabricated in an 800 angstrom thick layer of amorphous silicon. The size of the pinholes is 0.2 micrometers and the pitch of the pinholes is 6.0 micrometers . This system of Aerial Image Measurement (AIM) has been successfully implemented on a 0.53 NA, deep-UV (DUV) microlithography stepper. In this paper we present the results of various direct aerial images such as elbows, contacts and isolated lines and space patterns measured with this technique. These images are produced from conventional chrome DUV masks.

Citation Download Citation

Charles H. Fields, William N. Partlo, and William G. Oldham "Aerial image measurements on a commercial stepper", Proc. SPIE 2197, Optical/Laser Microlithography VII, (17 May 1994); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.175453

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available