Aberration measurement of projection optics in lithographic tools based on two-beam interference theory

The degradation of image quality caused by aberrations of projection optics in lithographic tools is a serious problem in optical lithography. We propose what we believe to be a novel technique for measuring aberrations of projection optics based on two-beam interference theory. By utilizing the partial coherent imaging theory, a novel model that accurately characterizes the relative image displacement of a fine grating pattern to a large pattern induced by aberrations is derived. Both even and odd aberrations are extracted independently from the relative image displacements of the printed patterns by two-beam interference imaging of the zeroth and positive first orders. The simulation results show that by using this technique we can measure the aberrations present in the lithographic tool with higher accuracy. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.

A novel method for measuring the coma of a lithographic projection system by use of mirror-symmetry marks

A novel method for measuring the coma of a lithographic projection system is proposed and the principle of the method is described. By utilizing mirror-symmetry marks, the adverse effects of axial aberrations on the coma measurement are avoided. Experimental results demonstrated that the method has high accuracy. Compared with TAMIS, the conventional technique used for coma measurement, the method is more reliable because the influences of the process factors on the lateral displacements have been considered. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A novel method to determine the FOCAL energy range

Determination of the energy range is an important precondition of focus calibration using alignment procedure (FOCAL) test. A new method to determine the energy range of FOCAL off-lined is presented in this paper. Independent of the lithographic tool, the method is time-saving and effective. The influences of some process factors, e.g. resist thickness, post exposure bake (PEB) temperature, PEB time and development time, on the energy range of FOCAL are analyzed.

一种新的光刻机像质参数热漂移检测技术

提出了一种新的光刻机像质参数热漂移原位检测技术（TDFM）。详细分析了该技术利用镜像测试标记检测投影物镜最佳焦面热漂移与放大倍率热漂移的基本原理。实验结果表明TDFM技术可同时实现最佳焦面热漂移（FFT）与放大倍率热漂移（MFT）的精确测量。与现有的放大倍率热漂移检测技术相比，该技术有效地解决了放大倍率热漂移技术中放大倍率热漂移受最佳焦面热漂移影响的问题，简化了光刻机像质参数前馈校正的测试过程，测试成本与耗时均减少50％。

一种步进扫描投影光刻机承片台不平度检测新技术

提出一种步进扫描投影光刻机承片台不平度检测新技术。在晶圆与承片台存在不同偏移量时,利用线性差分传感器在线测量晶圆上不同点的局部高度;通过建立临时边界条件,以递推法消除晶圆面形影响,并逐行计算出承片台的相对不平度;通过逐行计算的结果递推相邻行之间的高度差,并将该高度差叠加到每一行,以消除临时边界条件的限制,得到处于同一高度上的承片台不平度;将计算的结果作为初始值,根据最小二乘原理,以邻近的四个测量点作为参考,逐步逼近得到承片台的真实不平度。计算机仿真结果验证了该检测方法的正确性,计算结果逐步收敛并逼近真实值

一种测量光刻机工件台方镜不平度的新方法

提出一种新的步进扫描投影光刻机工件台方镜不平度测量方法。以方镜平移补偿量与旋转补偿量为测量目标,使用两个双频激光干涉仪分别测量工件台在x和y方向的位置和旋转量；将方镜不平度的测量按照一定的偏移量分成若干个序列,每一个序列包括对方镜有效区域的若干次往返测量；根据所有序列的测量结果计算出方镜的旋转补偿量；为每一个序列建立临时边界条件,并据此计算出每一序列所测得的方镜粗略平移补偿量；采用三次样条插值与最小二乘法建立每一个序列间的关系,以平滑连接所有测量序列得到精确的方镜平移补偿量。结果表明,该方法用于测量方镜平

一种检测光刻机激光干涉仪测量系统非正交性的新方法

提出一种精确检测光刻机激光干涉仪测量系统非正交性的新方法。将对准标记曝光到硅片表面并进行显影;利用光学对准系统测量曝光到硅片上的对准标记理论曝光位置与实际读取位置的偏差;由推导的位置偏差与非正交因子、坐标轴尺度比例、过程引入误差的线性模型,根据最小二乘原理计算出干涉仪测量系统的非正交性。实验结果表明,利用该方法使用同一硅片在不同旋转角下进行测量,干涉仪测量系统非正交因子的测量重复精度优于0.01 μrad,坐标轴尺度比例的测量重复精度优于0.7×10-6。使用不同的硅片进行测量,非正交因子的测量再现性优于

In situ surface topography measurement method of granite base in scanning wafer stage with laser interferometer

Topography of a granite surface has an effect on the vertical positioning of a wafer stage in a lithographic tool, when the wafer stage moves on the granite. The inaccurate measurement of the topography results in a bad leveling and focusing performance. In this paper, an in situ method to measure the topography of a granite surface with high accuracy is present. In this method, a high-order polynomial is set up to express the topography of the granite surface. Two double-frequency laser interferometers are used to measure the tilts of the wafer stage in the X- and Y-directions. From the sampling tilts information, the coefficients of the high-order polynomial can be obtained by a special algorithm. Experiment results shows that the measurement reproducibility of the method is better than 10 nm. (c) 2006 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Impact of polarized illumination on high NA imaging in ArF immersion lithography at 45 nm node

Immersion lithography has been considered as the mainstream technology to extend the feasibility of optical lithography to further technology nodes. Using proper polarized illumination in an immersion lithographic tool is a powerful means to enhance the image quality and process capability for high numerical aperture (NA) imaging. In this paper, the impact of polarized illumination on high NA imaging in ArF immersion lithography for 45 nm dense lines and semi-dense lines is studied by PROLITH simulation. The normalized image log slope (NILS) and exposure defocus (ED) window are simulated under various polarized illumination modes, and the impact of polarized illumination on image quality and process latitude is analyzed. (C) 2007 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.