Lithography registration errors induced by the attachment of soft pellicles on reticles can significantly affect wafer overlay performance for sub-90 nm lithography chip manufacturing. Intel Corporation, Mitsui Chemicals, and the University of Wisconsin Computational Mechanics Center (UW-CMC) have conducted an extensive experimental study to quantify and minimize the pellicle-induced distortions in order to meet advanced mask manufacturing requirements. A comprehensive design of experiment was elaborated to evaluate the effects of frame curvature, adhesive gasket compliance, and mounting load on pellicle-induced distortions for soft pellicle systems. A frame curvature measurement tool was custom-made at the UW-CMC, employing an MTI Instruments capacitive sensor. A TA Instruments dynamic mechanical analyzer was used to determine the elastic modulus of the adhesive gasket materials. Registration measurements were conducted by Intel on test reticles on a 21 × 21 array of grid points, before and after pellicle attachment, to obtain pellicle-induced distortion results. Results characterize the influence of attachment process, type of adhesive gasket, frame curvature, reticle guiding plate configuration, and attachment load on pellicle-induced distortions.
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