Lithographic apparatus and method for optimizing an illumination source using photolithographic simulations
First Claim
1. A method for optimizing the conditions of illumination of a lithographic apparatus by computer simulation, the lithographic apparatus comprising an illuminator and a projection system, the method comprising:
- defining a lithographic pattern to be printed on a substrate;
selecting a simulation model;
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 simulation model; and
adjusting an illumination arrangement of the illuminator based on analysis of accumulated results of the separate calculations.
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Abstract
A method for optimizing the illumination conditions of a lithographic apparatus by computer simulation, the lithographic apparatus including an illuminator and a projection system, includes defining a lithographic pattern to be printed on the substrate, selecting a simulation model, 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 simulation model, and adjusting an illumination arrangement based on analysis of accumulated results of the separate calculations.
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Citations
59 Claims
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1. A method for optimizing the conditions of illumination of a lithographic apparatus by computer simulation, the lithographic apparatus comprising an illuminator and a projection system, the method comprising:
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defining a lithographic pattern to be printed on a substrate;
selecting a simulation model;
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 simulation model; and
adjusting an illumination arrangement of the illuminator 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, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 57, 58, 59)
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53. A lithographic projection apparatus comprising:
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an illumination system to provide a projection beam of radiation a support structure to support a patterning structure which can be used to pattern the projection beam according to a desired pattern;
a substrate table to hold a substrate;
a projection system to project the patterned beam onto a target portion of the substrate;
a processor to define a lithographic pattern to be printed on the substrate, select a grid of source points in a pupil plane of the illumination system, calculate separate responses for individual source points, each of the responses representing a result of a single or series of simulations using a simulation model, and calculate an optimized illumination arrangement based on analysis of the accumulated results of the separate calculations; and
a selectably variable beam controller that is adapted to modify a cross-sectional intensity distribution in the projection beam exiting the illumination system in accordance with the optimized illumination arrangement calculated by the processor. - View Dependent Claims (54)
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55. A machine readable medium encoded with machine executable instructions for optimizing an illumination arrangement of an illuminator according to a method comprising:
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defining a lithographic pattern to be printed on a substrate;
selecting a simulation model;
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 simulation model; and
adjusting the illumination arrangement based on analysis of accumulated results of the separate calculations.
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56. A device manufacturing method, comprising:
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projecting a patterned beam of radiation onto a target portion of a layer of radiation-sensitive material on a substrate, wherein, prior to impinging the mask, a cross-sectional intensity distribution in the projection beam is optimized using a method comprising;
defining a lithographic pattern to be printed on the substrate;
selecting a simulation model;
selecting a grid of source points in a pupil plane of an illuminator;
calculating separate responses for individual source points, each of the responses representing a result of a single or series of simulations using the simulation model; and
adjusting an illumination arrangement of the illuminator based on analysis of accumulated results of the separate calculations.
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Specification