Actinic imaging of native and programmed defects on a full-field mask

I. Mochi; K. A. Goldberg; B. La Fontaine; A. Tchikoulaeva; C. Holfeld

doi:10.1117/12.846670

Translator Disclaimer

20 March 2010 Actinic imaging of native and programmed defects on a full-field mask

I. Mochi, K. A. Goldberg, B. La Fontaine, A. Tchikoulaeva, C. Holfeld

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 7636, Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Lithography; 76361A (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.846670
Event: SPIE Advanced Lithography, 2010, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

We describe the imaging and characterization of native defects on a full field extreme ultraviolet (EUV) mask, using several reticle and wafer inspection modes. Mask defect images recorded with the SEMATECH Berkeley Actinic Inspection Tool (AIT), an EUV-wavelength (13.4 nm) actinic microscope, are compared with mask and printed-wafer images collected with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and deep ultraviolet (DUV) inspection tools. We observed that defects that appear to be opaque in the SEM can be highly transparent to EUV light, and inversely, defects that are mostly transparent to the SEM can be highly opaque to EUV. The nature and composition of these defects, whether they appear on the top surface, within the multilayer coating, or on the substrate as buried bumps or pits, influences both their significance when printed, and their detectability with the available techniques. Actinic inspection quantitatively predicts the characteristics of printed defect images in ways that may not be possible with non-EUV techniques.

Citation Download Citation

I. Mochi, K. A. Goldberg, B. La Fontaine, A. Tchikoulaeva, and C. Holfeld "Actinic imaging of native and programmed defects on a full-field mask", Proc. SPIE 7636, Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Lithography, 76361A (20 March 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.846670

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE