METHOD OF MODELING A MASK HAVING PATTERNS WITH ARBITRARY ANGLES

• US 20180149967A1
• Filed: 08/02/2017
• Published: 05/31/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited
• Inventors: Lai, Chien-Jen, Zhou, Xin, Peng, Danping
• Granted Patent: US 10,466,586 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 1/36 Masks having proximity correction features; Preparation thereof, e.g. optical proximity correction [OPC] design processes
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 1/70 Adapting basic layout or design of masks to lithographic process requirements, e.g., second iteration correction of mask patterns for imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70283 Mask effects on the imaging process
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70441 Optical proximity correction [OPC]
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/705 Modelling or simulating from physical phenomena up to complete wafer processes or whole workflow in wafer productions

Abstract

A mask layout containing a non-Manhattan pattern is received. The received mask layout is processed. An edge of the non-Manhattan pattern is identified. A plurality of two-dimensional kernels is generated based on a set of processed pre-selected mask layout samples. The two-dimensional kernels each have a respective rotational symmetry. The two-dimensional kernels are applied to the edge of the non-Manhattan pattern to obtain a correction field for the non-Manhattan pattern. A thin mask model is applied to the non-Manhattan pattern. The thin mask model contains a binary modeling of the non-Manhattan pattern. A near field of the non-Manhattan pattern is determined by applying the correction field to the non-Manhattan pattern having the thin mask model applied thereon. An optical model is applied to the near field to obtain an aerial image on a wafer. A resist model is applied to the aerial image to obtain a final resist image on the wafer.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a mask layout;

generating a set of two-dimensional kernels based on a set of pre-selected mask layout samples;

applying the set of two-dimensional kernels to the received mask layout to obtain a correction field; and

determining a near field of the received mask layout based at least in part on the correction field.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the received mask layout contains a non-Manhattan pattern, and wherein the generating, the applying, and the determining are performed using the non-Manhattan pattern.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating comprises decomposing each of the two-dimensional kernels.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the two-dimensional kernels are described using polar coordinates.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the applying comprises identifying an edge of a pattern of the received mask layout and the orientation of the edge by taking the gradient of the received mask layout.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the applying is performed such that at least some of the two-dimensional kernels are rotated according to the gradient direction, and each of the rotated two-dimensional kernels has its own rotation angle.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

processing the received mask layout, wherein the two-dimensional kernels are applied to the processed received mask layout.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the processing the received mask layout comprises performing rasterization or anti-aliasing filtering to the received mask layout.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

applying a thin mask model to the received mask layout, and wherein the near field is determined as a function of the correction field of the received mask layout having the thin mask model applied thereon.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the thin mask model contains binary modeling of patterns on the received mask layout.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

applying an optical model to the near field to obtain an aerial image on a wafer; and

applying a resist model to the aerial image to obtain a final resist image on the wafer.

12. A method, comprising:

receiving a mask layout, the mask layout containing a non-Manhattan pattern;

processing the received mask layout;

generating a plurality of two-dimensional kernels based on a set of processed pre-selected mask layout samples, wherein the two-dimensional kernels each have a respective rotational symmetry;

applying the two-dimensional kernels to all edges of the non-Manhattan pattern to obtain a correction field for the non-Manhattan pattern; and

determining a near field of the non-Manhattan pattern based at least in part on the correction field.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the generating comprises decomposing each of the two-dimensional kernels into a plurality of components.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the applying comprises identifying an edge of the non-Manhattan pattern and the orientation of the edge by taking a gradient of the received mask layout.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the processing the received mask layout comprises performing rasterization or anti-aliasing filtering to the received mask layout.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

applying a thin mask model to the received mask layout, the thin mask model containing a binary modeling of the non-Manhattan pattern, wherein the near field is determined by combining the correction field and the received mask layout having the thin mask model applied thereon.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

applying an optical model to the near field to obtain an aerial image on a wafer; and

applying a resist model to the aerial image to obtain a final resist image on the wafer.

18. A method, comprising:

receiving a mask layout, the mask layout containing a non-Manhattan pattern;

processing the received mask layout;

generating a plurality of two-dimensional kernels based on a set of processed pre-selected mask layout samples, wherein the two-dimensional kernels each have a respective rotational symmetry;

identifying all edges of the non-Manhattan pattern;

applying the two-dimensional kernels to all edges of the non-Manhattan pattern to obtain a correction field for the non-Manhattan pattern;

applying a thin mask model to the non-Manhattan pattern, the thin mask model containing a binary modeling of the non-Manhattan pattern;

determining a near field of the non-Manhattan pattern by applying the correction field to the non-Manhattan pattern having the thin mask model applied thereon;

applying an optical model to the near field to obtain an aerial image on a wafer; and

applying a resist model to the aerial image to obtain a final resist image on the wafer.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the generating comprises decomposing each of the two-dimensional kernels into a plurality of components.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the processing the received mask layout comprises performing rasterization or anti-aliasing filtering to the received mask layout.