Coma measurement of projection optics in lithographic tools based on relative image displacements at multiple illumination settings

In this paper, we propose a novel method for measuring the coma aberrations of lithographic projection optics based on relative image displacements at multiple illumination settings. The measurement accuracy of coma can be improved because the phase-shifting gratings are more sensitive to the aberrations than the binary gratings used in the TAMIS technique, and the impact of distortion on displacements of aerial image can be eliminated when the relative image displacements are measured. The PROLITH simulation results show that, the measurement accuracy of coma increases by more than 25% under conventional illumination, and the measurement accuracy of primary coma increases by more than 20% under annular illumination, compared with the TAMIS technique. (c) 2007 Optical Society of America.