System and method for lithography simulation
First Claim
1. A method of inspecting a first marginal area of a design on or in a photomask, the method comprising:
- evaluating a response of a lithographic design on wafer to a change in at least one process parameter of a photolithographic process to determine the first marginal area, including;
generating a pixel-based bitmap representation of the lithographic design, wherein the pixel-based bitmap includes pixel data, and wherein the lithographic design includes at least a portion that is associated with the first marginal area of the design on or in the photomask;
generating a first simulated image of the lithographic design on wafer using (1) the pixel-based bitmap representation of the lithographic design and (2) a first relationship representing an imaging path of projection and illumination optics of the photolithographic process, wherein the photolithographic process uses photolithographic equipment;
generating a second simulated image of the lithographic design on wafer using (1) the pixel-based bitmap representation of the lithographic design and (2) a second relationship representing an imaging path of projection and illumination optics of the photolithographic process;
wherein a difference between (I) the first relationship representing the imaging path of the projection and illumination optics of the photolithographic process and (ii) the second relationship representing the imaging path of the projection and illumination optics of the photolithographic process includes the change in the at least one process parameter of the photolithographic process; and
determining the first marginal area of the lithographic design using the first simulated image and the second simulated image;
inspecting the first marginal area of the design on or in the photomask using at least one metrology or inspection tool.
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Abstract
There are many inventions described and illustrated herein. In one aspect, the present invention is directed to a technique of, and system for simulating, verifying, inspecting, characterizing, determining and/or evaluating the lithographic designs, techniques and/or systems, and/or individual functions performed thereby or components used therein. In one embodiment, the present invention is a system and method that accelerates lithography simulation, inspection, characterization and/or evaluation of the optical characteristics and/or properties, as well as the effects and/or interactions of lithographic systems and processing techniques. In this regard, in one embodiment, the present invention employs a lithography simulation system architecture, including application-specific hardware accelerators, and a processing technique to accelerate and facilitate verification, characterization and/or inspection of a mask design, for example, RET design, including detailed simulation and characterization of the entire lithography process to verify that the design achieves and/or provides the desired results on final wafer pattern. The system includes: (1) general purpose-type computing device(s) to perform the case-based logic having branches and inter-dependency in the data handling and (2) accelerator subsystems to perform a majority of the computation intensive tasks.
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Citations
52 Claims
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1. A method of inspecting a first marginal area of a design on or in a photomask, the method comprising:
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evaluating a response of a lithographic design on wafer to a change in at least one process parameter of a photolithographic process to determine the first marginal area, including; generating a pixel-based bitmap representation of the lithographic design, wherein the pixel-based bitmap includes pixel data, and wherein the lithographic design includes at least a portion that is associated with the first marginal area of the design on or in the photomask; generating a first simulated image of the lithographic design on wafer using (1) the pixel-based bitmap representation of the lithographic design and (2) a first relationship representing an imaging path of projection and illumination optics of the photolithographic process, wherein the photolithographic process uses photolithographic equipment; generating a second simulated image of the lithographic design on wafer using (1) the pixel-based bitmap representation of the lithographic design and (2) a second relationship representing an imaging path of projection and illumination optics of the photolithographic process; wherein a difference between (I) the first relationship representing the imaging path of the projection and illumination optics of the photolithographic process and (ii) the second relationship representing the imaging path of the projection and illumination optics of the photolithographic process includes the change in the at least one process parameter of the photolithographic process; and determining the first marginal area of the lithographic design using the first simulated image and the second simulated image; inspecting the first marginal area of the design on or in the photomask using at least one metrology or inspection tool. - 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)
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25. A method of inspecting a first marginal area of a design on or in a photornask, the method comprising:
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evaluating a response of a lithographic design on wafer to a change in at least one process parameter of a photolithographic process to determine the first marginal area, including; generating a pixel-based bitmap representation of the lithographic design, wherein the pixel-based bitmap includes pixel data, and wherein the lithographic design includes at least a portion that is associated with the first marginal area of the design on or in the photomask; generating a first developed resist simulated image of the lithographic design on wafer using (1) the pixel-based bitmap representation of the lithographic design, (2) a first relationship representing an imaging path of projection and illumination optics of the photolithographic process, and (3) a model of a resist, wherein the photolithographic process uses photolithographic equipment; generating a second developed resist simulated image of the lithographic design on wafer using (1) the pixel-based bitmap representation of the lithographic design, (2) a second relationship representing a imaging path of projection and illumination optics of the photolithographic process, and (3) the model of the resist; wherein a difference between (i) the first relationship representing the imaging path of the projection and illumination optics of the photolithographic process and (ii) the second relationship representing the imaging path of the projection and illumination optics of the photolithographic process includes the change in the at least one process parameter of the photolithographic process; and determining the first marginal area of the lithographic design using the first developed resist simulated image and the second developed resist simulated image; and inspecting the first marginal area of the design on or in the photomask using at least one metrology or inspection tool. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. A method of inspecting a first marginal area of a design on or in a photomask, the method comprising:
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evaluating a response of a lithographic design on wafer to a change in at least one process parameter of a photolithographic process to determine the first marginal area, including; generating a pixel-based bitmap representation of the lithographic design, wherein the pixel-based bitmap includes pixel data, and wherein the lithographic design includes at least a portion that is associated with the first marginal area of the design on or in the photomeak; generating a first etch simulated image of the lithographic design on wafer using (1) the pixel-based bitmap representation of the lithographic design, (2) a first relationship representing an imaging path of the projection and illumination optics of the photolithographic process, (3) a model of the a resist, and (4) an etching process model, wherein the photolithographic process uses photolithographic equipment; generating a second etch simulated image of the lithographic design on wafer using (1) the pixel-based bitmap representation of the lithographic design, (2) a second relationship representing an imaging path of the projection and illumination optics of the photolithographic process, (3) the model of the resist, and (4) the etching process model; wherein a difference between (i) the first relationship representing the imaging path of the projection and illumination optics of the photolithographic process and (ii) the second relationship representing the imaging path of the projection and illumination optics of the photolithographic process includes the change in the at least one process parameter of the photolithographic process; and determining the first marginal area of the lithographic design using the first etch simulated image and the second etch simulated image; and inspecting the first marginal area of the design on or in the photomask using at least one metrology or inspection tool. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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Specification