METHOD FOR OPTIMIZING AN ILLUMINATION SOURCE USING FULL RESIST SIMULATION AND PROCESS WINDOW RESPONSE METRIC
First Claim
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.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
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. This method includes defining a lithographic problem, which may include a lithographic pattern to be printed on a wafer; choosing a resist model of a resist process to be used to print a 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.
49 Citations
13 Claims
-
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. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
Specification