METHOD FOR OPTIMIZING SOURCE AND MASK TO CONTROL LINE WIDTH ROUGHNESS AND IMAGE LOG SLOPE
First Claim
1. A method for illuminating a mask with a source to project a desired image pattern through a lithographic system onto a photoactive material, the method comprising:
- defining a representation of the mask;
obtaining a fractional resist shot noise (FRSN) parameter;
determining a first relationship between a first set of optical intensity values and an edge roughness metric based on the FRSN parameter;
determining a second relationship between a second set of optical intensity values and a lithographic performance metric;
imposing a set of metric constraints in accordance with one of the first and second relationships;
setting up an objective function of optimization in accordance with the remaining of the first and second relationships;
determining optimum constrained values of the representation of the mask in accordance with the set of metric constraints and the objective function of optimization; and
outputting the optimum constrained values of the representation of the mask.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method for illuminating a mask with a source to project a desired image pattern through a lithographic system onto a photoactive material including: defining a representation of the mask; obtaining a fractional resist shot noise (FRSN) parameter; determining a first relationship between a first set of optical intensity values and an edge roughness metric based on the FRSN parameter; determining a second relationship between a second set of optical intensity values and a lithographic performance metric; imposing a set of metric constraints based on one of the first and second relationships; setting up an objective function of optimization based on the remaining of the two relationships; determining optimum constrained values of the representation of the mask based on the set of metric constraints and the objective function; and outputting these values.
23 Citations
48 Claims
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1. A method for illuminating a mask with a source to project a desired image pattern through a lithographic system onto a photoactive material, the method comprising:
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defining a representation of the mask; obtaining a fractional resist shot noise (FRSN) parameter; determining a first relationship between a first set of optical intensity values and an edge roughness metric based on the FRSN parameter; determining a second relationship between a second set of optical intensity values and a lithographic performance metric; imposing a set of metric constraints in accordance with one of the first and second relationships; setting up an objective function of optimization in accordance with the remaining of the first and second relationships; determining optimum constrained values of the representation of the mask in accordance with the set of metric constraints and the objective function of optimization; and outputting the optimum constrained values of the representation of the mask. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method for illuminating a mask with a source to project a desired image pattern through a lithographic system onto a photoactive material, the method comprising:
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defining a representation of the mask; obtaining a fractional resist shot noise (FRSN) parameter; determining a first relationship between a first set of optical intensity values and an edge roughness metric based on the FRSN parameter; determining a second relationship between a second set of optical intensity values and a lithographic performance metric; determining a third relationship between a set of polygons in the mask and a mask-writing difficulty metric; imposing a set of metric constraints in accordance with the first, second, and third relationships; setting up an objective function of optimization in accordance with one of the first, second, and third relationships; determining optimum constrained values of the representation of the mask in accordance with the set of metric constraints and the objective function of optimization; and outputting the optimum constrained values of the representation of the mask. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
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14. A method for illuminating a mask with a source to project a desired image pattern through a lithographic system onto a photoactive material, the method comprising:
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defining a representation of the mask and a representation of a projection process; obtaining a fractional resist shot noise (FRSN) parameter; determining a first relationship between a first set of optical intensity values and an edge roughness metric based on the FRSN parameter; determining a second relationship between a second set of optical intensity values and a lithographic performance metric; imposing a set of metric constraints in accordance with one of the first and second relationships; setting up an objective function of optimization in accordance with the remaining of the first and second relationships; determining optimum constrained values of the representations of the mask and the projection process in accordance with the set of metric constraints and the objective function of optimization; and outputting the optimum constrained values of the representations of the mask and the projection process. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A method for illuminating a mask with a source to project a desired image pattern through a lithographic system onto a photoactive material, the method comprising:
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defining a representation of the mask and a representation of a projection process; obtaining a fractional resist shot noise (FRSN) parameter; determining a first relationship between a first set of optical intensity values and an edge roughness metric based on the FRSN parameter; determining a second relationship between a second set of optical intensity values and a lithographic performance metric; determining a third relationship between a set of polygons in the mask and a mask-writing difficulty metric; imposing a set of metric constraints in accordance with the first, second, and third relationships; setting up an objective function of optimization in accordance with one of the first, second, and third relationships; determining optimum constrained values of the representations of the mask and the projection process in accordance with the set of metric constraints and the objective function of optimization; and outputting the optimum constrained values of the representations of the mask and the projection process. - View Dependent Claims (27)
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28. A machine readable storage medium having one or more machine readable program codes stored thereon for causing the machine to perform a method for illuminating a mask with a source to project a desired image pattern through a lithographic system onto a photoactive material, the method comprising:
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defining a representation of the mask; obtaining a fractional resist shot noise (FRSN) parameter; determining a first relationship between a first set of optical intensity values and an edge roughness metric based on the FRSN parameter; determining a second relationship between a second set of optical intensity values and a lithographic performance metric; imposing a set of metric constraints in accordance with one of the first and second relationships; setting up an objective function of optimization in accordance with the remaining of the first and second relationships; determining optimum constrained values of the representation of the mask in accordance with the set of metric constraints and the objective function of optimization; and outputting the optimum constrained values of the representation of the mask. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 45, 46, 47)
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36. A machine readable storage medium having one or more machine readable program codes stored thereon for causing the machine to perform a method for illuminating a mask with a source to project a desired image pattern through a lithographic system onto a photoactive material, the method comprising:
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defining a representation of the mask; obtaining a fractional resist shot noise (FRSN) parameter; determining a first relationship between a first set of optical intensity values and an edge roughness metric based on the FRSN parameter; determining a second relationship between a second set of optical intensity values and a lithographic performance metric; determining a third relationship between a set of polygons in the mask and a mask-writing difficulty metric; imposing a set of metric constraints in accordance with the first, second, and third relationships; setting up an objective function of optimization in accordance with one of the first, second, and third relationships; determining optimum constrained values of the representation of the mask in accordance with the set of metric constraints and the objective function of optimization; and outputting the optimum constrained values of the representation of the mask.
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37. A machine readable storage medium having one or more machine readable program codes stored thereon for causing the machine to perform a method for illuminating a mask with a source to project a desired image pattern through a lithographic system onto a photoactive material, the method comprising:
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defining a representation of the mask and a representation of a projection process; obtaining a fractional resist shot noise (FRSN) parameter; determining a first relationship between a first set of optical intensity values and an edge roughness metric based on the FRSN parameter; determining a second relationship between a second set of optical intensity values and a lithographic performance metric; imposing a set of metric constraints in accordance with one of the first and second relationships; setting up an objective function of optimization in accordance with the remaining of the first and second relationships; determining optimum constrained values of the representations of the mask and the projection process in accordance with the set of metric constraints and the objective function of optimization; and outputting the optimum constrained values of the representations of the mask and the projection process. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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48. A machine readable storage medium having one or more machine readable program codes stored thereon for causing the machine to perform a method for illuminating a mask with a source to project a desired image pattern through a lithographic system onto a photoactive material, the method comprising:
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defining a representation of the mask and a representation of a projection process; obtaining a fractional resist shot noise (FRSN) parameter; determining a first relationship between a first set of optical intensity values and an edge roughness metric based on the FRSN parameter; determining a second relationship between a second set of optical intensity values and a lithographic performance metric; determining a third relationship between a set of polygons in the mask and a mask-writing difficulty metric; imposing a set of metric constraints in accordance with the first, second, and third relationships; setting up an objective function of optimization in accordance with one of the first, second, and third relationships; determining optimum constrained values of the representations of the mask and the projection process in accordance with the set of metric constraints and the objective function of optimization; and outputting the optimum constrained values of the representations of the mask and the projection process.
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Specification