Curvilinear masks overview: manufacturable mask shapes are more reliably manufacturable

Aki Fujimura; Yohan Choi; Abhishek Shendre

doi:10.1117/1.JMM.23.4.041502

24 August 2024 Curvilinear masks overview: manufacturable mask shapes are more reliably manufacturable

Aki Fujimura, Yohan Choi, Abhishek Shendre

Journal of Micro/Nanopatterning, Materials, and Metrology, Vol. 23, Issue 4, 041502 (August 2024). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JMM.23.4.041502

Abstract

Background

Curvilinear masks are coming. With multibeam mask writers in production, leading-edge mask shops now are able to write curvilinear masks in the same mask write times as any Manhattan masks. As Samsung and Luminescent showed long ago, curvilinear mask shapes produce the best wafer process windows.

Aim

The goal of our study is to provide an overview of the current state of the development of curvilinear masks.

Approach

We cover the technical background and motivation for curvilinear masks, and the practical application of curvilinear inverse lithography technology (ILT) masks written by both multibeam and variable-shaped beam mask writers. ILT is a form of optical proximity correction, wherein software computes target mask shapes to optimize wafer quality, both in the nominal lithographic projection conditions being as close to the target wafer shapes as possible, and to minimize the amount of variation in the shape or size due to mask and wafer manufacturing variation. We review the current state of readiness of the mask-making infrastructure for curvilinear masks, including mask rule checking, metrology, inspection, and repair. We also review studies that show that curvilinear masks bias more faithfully to the wafer, and that curvilinear masks are more reliably manufacturable.

Results

Curvilinear masks have been shown to be more manufacturable.

Conclusions

Manufacturable mask shapes are more reliably manufactured. Curvilinear masks improve both mask and wafer variability. We suggest that allowing certain curvilinear targets can make designs more manufacturable and more resilient to manufacturing variation on wafers, while decreasing power, increasing clock speeds, and making designs smaller.

Citation Download Citation

Aki Fujimura, Yohan Choi, and Abhishek Shendre "Curvilinear masks overview: manufacturable mask shapes are more reliably manufacturable," Journal of Micro/Nanopatterning, Materials, and Metrology 23(4), 041502 (24 August 2024). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JMM.23.4.041502

Received: 7 March 2024; Accepted: 28 June 2024; Published: 24 August 2024

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

Members: $24.00

Non-members: $28.00 ADD TO CART

JOURNAL ARTICLE
19 PAGES

DOWNLOAD PAPER SAVE TO MY LIBRARY

GET CITATION

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

Get copyright permission Get copyright permission on Copyright Marketplace

KEYWORDS

Photomasks

Semiconducting wafers

Chip manufacturing

Optical proximity correction

Manufacturing

Extreme ultraviolet

Vestigial sideband modulation

Background

Aim

Approach

Results

Conclusions

Show All Keywords

Keywords/Phrases

Search In:

Publication Years