Extreme ultraviolet mask defect observation using an extreme ultraviolet microscope

Tsuyoshi Amano; Tsuneo Terasawa; Hidehiro Watanabe; Mitsunori Toyoda; Tetsuo Harada; Takeo Watanabe; Hiroo Kinoshita

doi:10.1117/12.2030819

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20 September 2013 Extreme ultraviolet mask defect observation using an extreme ultraviolet microscope

Tsuyoshi Amano, Tsuneo Terasawa, Hidehiro Watanabe, Mitsunori Toyoda, Tetsuo Harada, Takeo Watanabe, Hiroo Kinoshita

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Proceedings Volume 8880, Photomask Technology 2013; 88802I (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2030819
Event: SPIE Photomask Technology, 2013, Monterey, California, United States

Abstract

To predict the effect of a phase defect position relative to the absorber pattern on a wafer printed image, a programmed phase defect mask was fabricated, and was observed using an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) microscope employing EUV light from a beam line BL3 of the New SUBARU at the University of Hyogo. The mask prepared for this work contains programmed phase defects along with half-pitch (hp) 64 nm lines-and-spaces (L/S) absorber patterns. The phase defects were located at different locations in reference to the absorber lines. A lithography simulator predicted that when the distance between the line center and defect center range from 26 to 102 nm, the prepared 1.8 nm-high and 57.4 nm-wide phase defects would cause errors of more than 10 % in wafer printed critical dimension (CD). The EUV microscope could identify these phase defects with the EUV light intensity losses of more than 17 % in comparison to the space pattern image intensity in the absence of the phase defect. The EUV microscope can predict the existence of the phase defect, and its impact on a wafer printed CD even where the EUV microscope does not completely emulate the image of the EUV scanner.

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Tsuyoshi Amano, Tsuneo Terasawa, Hidehiro Watanabe, Mitsunori Toyoda, Tetsuo Harada, Takeo Watanabe, and Hiroo Kinoshita "Extreme ultraviolet mask defect observation using an extreme ultraviolet microscope", Proc. SPIE 8880, Photomask Technology 2013, 88802I (20 September 2013); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2030819

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