Tool to provide integrated circuit masks with accurate dimensional compensation of patterns
First Claim
1. A tool configured to process input data, comprising:
- an input to receive input data representing integrated circuit shapes within separate mask regions of a semiconductor fabrication mask for use in optical lithography; and
an output to provide output data representing a mask in which dimensions of mask shapes are compensated on the basis of image content in the vicinity of each mask shape when the mask is projected during optical lithography;
the tool being configured to match a partially coherent lithographic image by superposing a sum of images from a set of coherent systems and a sum of images from a set of loxicoherent systems, where the loxicoherent systems include a compound system comprised of a paired coherent system and an incoherent system that act in sequence, with an output of the coherent system being input as a self-luminous quantity to the incoherent system of the pair, and with the output of the incoherent system being an output of the loxicoherent system.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed are mask definition tools, apparatus, methods, systems and computer program products configured to process data representing a semiconductor fabrication mask. A non-limiting example of a method includes performing a decomposition process on a full Transmission Cross Coefficient (TCC) using coherent optimal coherent systems (OCS) kernels; isolating a residual TCC that remains after some number of coherent kernels are extracted from the full TCC; and performing at least one decomposition process on the residual TCC using at least one loxicoherent system. The loxicoherent system uses a plurality of distinct non-coherent kernel functions and is a compound system containing a paired coherent system and an incoherent system that act in sequence. An output of the coherent system is input as a self-luminous quantity to the incoherent system, and the output of the incoherent system is an output of the loxicoherent system.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A tool configured to process input data, comprising:
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an input to receive input data representing integrated circuit shapes within separate mask regions of a semiconductor fabrication mask for use in optical lithography; and an output to provide output data representing a mask in which dimensions of mask shapes are compensated on the basis of image content in the vicinity of each mask shape when the mask is projected during optical lithography; the tool being configured to match a partially coherent lithographic image by superposing a sum of images from a set of coherent systems and a sum of images from a set of loxicoherent systems, where the loxicoherent systems include a compound system comprised of a paired coherent system and an incoherent system that act in sequence, with an output of the coherent system being input as a self-luminous quantity to the incoherent system of the pair, and with the output of the incoherent system being an output of the loxicoherent system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method to process data representing a semiconductor fabrication mask, comprising:
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performing a decomposition process on a full Transmission Cross Coefficient (TCC) using optimal coherent system (OCS) kernels; isolating a residual Transmission Cross Coefficient (TCC) that remains after a chosen number of coherent kernels are extracted from the full Transmission Cross Coefficient (TCC); and performing at least one decomposition process on the residual Transmission Cross Coefficient (TCC) using at least one loxicoherent system, where the method comprising matching a partially coherent lithographic image by superposing a sum of images from a set of coherent systems and a sum of images from the at least one loxicoherent system, where the at least one loxicoherent system includes a compound system comprised of a paired coherent system and an incoherent system that act in sequence, with an output of the coherent system being input as a self-luminous quantity to the incoherent system of the pair, and with the output of the incoherent system being an output of the at least one loxicoherent system. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 16)
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12. A method to process data representing a semiconductor fabrication mask, comprising:
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performing a decomposition process on a full Transmission Cross Coefficient (TCC) using optimal coherent system (OCS) kernels; isolating a residual Transmission Cross Coefficient (TCC) that remains after a chosen number of coherent kernels are extracted from the full Transmission Cross Coefficient (TCC); and performing at least one decomposition process on the residual Transmission Cross Coefficient (TCC) using at least one loxicoherent system, where a region wherein the intensity frequency is about zero results in a presence of a fin structure in the processed mask data that is approximated as a product of two functions and {tilde over (T)}, where yields a mask filter in a loxicoherent term after further decomposition and {tilde over (T)} yields an intensity filter in the loxicoherent term.
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13. A method to process data representing a semiconductor fabrication mask, comprising:
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performing a decomposition process on a full Transmission Cross Coefficient (TCC) using optimal coherent system (OCS) kernels; isolating a residual Transmission Cross Coefficient (TCC) that remains after a chosen number of coherent kernels are extracted from the full Transmission Cross Coefficient (TCC); and performing at least one decomposition process on the residual Transmission Cross Coefficient (TCC) using at least one loxicoherent system, where a Transmission Cross Coefficient residual (TCC(r)) exists after the OCS coherent kernels are subtracted and results in a presence of a fin structure in the processed mask data, and where the at least one loxicoherent system is used to mitigate the presence of the fin structure.
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14. A method to process data representing a semiconductor fabrication mask, comprising:
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performing a decomposition process on a full Transmission Cross Coefficient (TCC) using optimal coherent system (OCS) kernels; isolating a residual Transmission Cross Coefficient (TCC) that remains after a chosen number of coherent kernels are extracted from the full Transmission Cross Coefficient (TCC); and performing at least one decomposition process on the residual Transmission Cross Coefficient (TCC) using at least one loxicoherent system, where a Transmission Cross Coefficient residual (TCC(r)) exists after the OCS coherent kernels are subtracted and results in the presence of a fin structure in the processed mask data, further comprising; expressing TCC(r)in terms of a mean mask frequency given by f≡
(f1+f2)/2 and an intensity frequency given by Δ
f≡
f1-f2;expanding TCC(r)as a separated series in rotated coordinates f and Δ
f;
expanding into separated terms to enable {tilde over (T)} to be revised as an adjusted function T″
; andobtaining functions T′
as the mask filter and T″
as the intensity filter to comprise the loxicoherent system.
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15. A method to process data representing a semiconductor fabrication mask, comprising:
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performing a decomposition process on a full Transmission Cross Coefficient (TCC) using optimal coherent system (OCS) kernels; isolating a residual Transmission Cross Coefficient (TCC) that remains after a chosen number of coherent kernels are extracted from the full Transmission Cross Coefficient (TCC); and performing at least one decomposition process on the residual Transmission Cross Coefficient (TCC) using at least one loxicoherent system, where the loxicoherent system operates based on intensity and mitigates a DC-like impact on a wafer image when two interfering frequencies are equal or about equal resulting in a slope discontinuity in the TCC.
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17. An article of manufacture comprising a tangible computer readable medium having information stored therein or thereon, the information being configured to convert and transform a first object, embodied as a starting mask, into a second object, embodied as a final mask, configured to be used during fabrication of semiconductor circuits and structures, where the information is configured to perform a decomposition process on a full Transmission Cross Coefficient (TCC) using optimal coherent systems (OCS) kernels;
- isolate a residual Transmission Cross Coefficient (TCC) that remains after a chosen number of coherent kernels are extracted from the full Transmission Cross Coefficient (TCC); and
perform at least one decomposition process on the residual Transmission Cross Coefficient (TCC) using at least one loxicoherent system, and matching a partially coherent lithographic image by superposing a sum of images from a set of coherent systems and a sum of images from the at least one loxicoherent system, where the at least one loxicoherent system include a compound system comprised of a paired coherent system and an incoherent system that act in sequence, with an output of the coherent system being input as a self-luminous quantity to the incoherent system of the pair, and with the output of the incoherent system being an output of the at least one loxicoherent system.
- isolate a residual Transmission Cross Coefficient (TCC) that remains after a chosen number of coherent kernels are extracted from the full Transmission Cross Coefficient (TCC); and
Specification