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METHOD FOR OPTIMIZING AN ILLUMINATION SOURCE USING FULL RESIST SIMULATION AND PROCESS WINDOW RESPONSE METRIC

  • US 20040156029A1
  • Filed: 02/11/2003
  • Published: 08/12/2004
  • Est. Priority Date: 02/11/2003
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A method for optimizing the illumination conditions of a lithographic apparatus by computer simulation using full resist calculation, the lithographic apparatus comprising an illuminator, a projection system, and a mask having a pattern to be printed in a layer of photoresist material formed on a substrate, the method comprising:

  • defining a lithographic pattern to be printed on a wafer;

    choosing a resist model of a resist process to be used to print the pattern in the layer of photoresist material;

    selecting a grid of source points in a pupil plane of the illuminator;

    calculating separate responses for individual source points, each of the responses representing a result of a single or series of simulations using the resist model; and

    adjusting an illumination arrangement based on analysis of accumulated results of the separate calculations.

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