Method of manufacturing reliability checking and verification for lithography process using a calibrated eigen decomposition model
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for modeling a photolithography process comprising the steps of:
- generating a calibrated model of said photolithography process, said calibrated model capable of estimating an image to be produced by said photolithography process when utilized to image a mask pattern containing a plurality features; and
determining an operational window of said calibrated model, said operational window defining if said calibrated model can accurately estimate the image to be produced by a given feature in said mask pattern.
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Abstract
A method for modeling a photolithography process which includes the steps of generating a calibrated model of the photolithography process capable of estimating an image to be produced by the photolithography process when utilized to image a mask pattern containing a plurality features; and determining an operational window of the calibrated model, which defines whether or not the calibrated model can accurately estimate the image to be produced by a given feature in the mask pattern.
44 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A method for modeling a photolithography process comprising the steps of:
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generating a calibrated model of said photolithography process, said calibrated model capable of estimating an image to be produced by said photolithography process when utilized to image a mask pattern containing a plurality features; and
determining an operational window of said calibrated model, said operational window defining if said calibrated model can accurately estimate the image to be produced by a given feature in said mask pattern. - View Dependent Claims (3)
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2. The method of claim I, wherein said step of generating a calibrated model comprises the steps of:
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defining an imaging system and processing conditions to be utilized in said photolithography process;
generating an initial model of said system and processing conditions of said photolithography process;
defining a plurality of test structures;
imaging the test structures utilizing said imaging system and processing conditions of said photolithography process to obtain actual imaging results;
generating simulated imaging results by subjecting said test structures to said model;
comparing said simulated imaging results to said actual imaging results; and
adjusting said initial model such that the difference between said simulated imaging results and said actual imaging results is less than a predefined criteria, wherein said adjusted initial model corresponds to said calibrated model. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5)
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6. A computer program product, comprising executable code transportable by at least one machine readable medium, wherein execution of the code by at least one programmable computer causes the at least one programmable computer to perform a sequence of steps for modeling a photolithography process, said sequence of steps comprising:
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generating a calibrated model of said photolithography process, said calibrated model capable of estimating an image to be produced by said photolithography process when utilized to image a mask pattern containing a plurality features; and
determining an operational window of said calibrated model, said operational window defining if said calibrated model can accurately estimate the image to be produced by a given feature in said mask pattern. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An apparatus for modeling a photolithography process, said apparatus comprising:
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means for generating a calibrated model of said photolithography process, said calibrated model capable of estimating an image to be produced by said photolithography process when utilized to image a mask pattern containing a plurality features; and
means for determining an operational window of said calibrated model, said operational window defining if said calibrated model can accurately estimate the image to be produced by a given feature in said mask pattern. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification