193-nm EAPSM inspection comparison: commercial versus alternative absorber material

Darren Taylor; Matthew Lassiter; Michael J. Cangemi

doi:10.1117/12.518069

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17 December 2003 193-nm EAPSM inspection comparison: commercial versus alternative absorber material

Darren Taylor, Matthew Lassiter, Michael J. Cangemi

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Proceedings Volume 5256, 23rd Annual BACUS Symposium on Photomask Technology; (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.518069
Event: Photomask Technology, 2003, Monterey, California, United States

Abstract

Current commercially available 193nm Embedded Attenuated Phase Shift Mask (EAPSM) blanks are MoSiON-based. In order to obtain the appropriate optical properties of 6% transmission and 180-degree phase shift at 193nm wavelength, these films are built very thin and subsequently have very high transmission at longer wavelengths. Current inspection tools use 364nm as the inspection wavelength; therefore the high transmission of the commercial blanks (>50% at 365nm) causes sensitivity problems in current high-end inspection tools. This problem is only fixed by costly upgrades to the current inspection tools, resulting in much higher mask costs. Photronics, Inc. has developed an alternative film stack that obtains the appropriate optical properties at 193nm (6%T and 180-degree phase shift). This film stack has a relatively low transmission (<15%) at the inspection tool wavelength in comparison to the commercial blanks enabling improved inspection performance with the current tool set. This paper outlines the development of new 193nm EAPSM blanks, the processing of these masks, and the resulting inspection performance in comparison to the commercial EAPSM blanks.

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Darren Taylor, Matthew Lassiter, and Michael J. Cangemi "193-nm EAPSM inspection comparison: commercial versus alternative absorber material", Proc. SPIE 5256, 23rd Annual BACUS Symposium on Photomask Technology, (17 December 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.518069

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