Determination method, storage medium and information processing apparatus

• US 9,551,926 B2
• Filed: 06/27/2012
• Issued: 01/24/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/05/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Gyoda, Yuichi, Mikami, Koji, Tsujita, Kouichirou
• Primary Examiner(s): Persaud, Deoram
• Application Number:
  US13/534,059
• Publication Number:
  US 20130010272A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,672 Days
• Field of Search: 355/52, 355/55
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 1/50 Mask blanks not covered by G03F1/20 - G03F1/34; Preparation thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/705 Modelling or simulating from physical phenomena up to complete wafer processes or whole workflow in wafer productions

Abstract

The present invention provides a determination method of determining exposure conditions of an exposure apparatus including an illumination optical system which illuminates a mask, and a projection optical system which projects a pattern of the mask onto a substrate, the method including a step of setting an illumination parameter for a light intensity distribution formed on a pupil plane of the illumination optical system, and an aberration parameter for an aberration of the projection optical system, and a step of determining a value of the illumination parameter and a value of the aberration parameter so that an image performance of an optical image of the pattern of the mask satisfies an evaluation criterion set for a target pattern to be formed on an image plane of the projection optical system.

Claims

1. A determination method of determining exposure conditions used for an exposure method using an exposure apparatus including an illumination optical system which illuminates a mask, and a projection optical system which projects a pattern of the mask onto a substrate, to be set in the exposure apparatus for illuminating the mask and projecting the pattern of the mask onto the substrate, the method comprising:

a first step of setting an unoptimized illumination parameter for a light intensity distribution formed on a pupil plane of the illumination optical system, and an unoptimized aberration parameter for an aberration of the projection optical system;

a second step of calculating an image performance of an optical image of the pattern of the mask, which is formed in an image plane of the projection optical system in correspondence with the pattern of the mask to be placed on an object plane of the projection optical system, using the unoptimized illumination parameter and the unoptimized aberration parameter;

a third step of repeating the calculating the image performance of the second step while changing both of a value of the unoptimized illumination parameter and a value of the unoptimized aberration parameter; and

a fourth step of determining a value of the illumination parameter and a value of the aberration parameter, based on the results of the image performance calculated while changing both of the value of the unoptimized illumination parameter and the value of the unoptimized aberration parameter, thereby determining, as the exposure conditions, the light intensity distribution formed on the pupil plane of the illumination optical system and the aberration of the projection optical system, which are defined by the determined value of the illumination parameter and the determined value of the aberration parameter, respectively,

wherein the exposure method comprises a step of illuminating the mask and exposing the substrate under the determined exposure conditions.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein

in the first step, a mask parameter is set for the pattern of the mask to be placed on the object plane of the projection optical system,

in the second step, the image performance is calculated using the mask parameter;

in the third step, the second step is repeated while changing a value of the mask parameter; and

in the fourth step, a value of the mask parameter, a value of the illumination parameter, and a value of the aberration parameter are determined, thereby determining, as the exposure conditions, the pattern of the mask, the light intensity distribution formed on the pupil plane of the illumination optical system, and the aberration of the projection optical system, which are defined by the determined value of the mask parameter, the determined value of the illumination parameter, and the determined value of the aberration parameter, respectively.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein in the first step, a parameter representing an amount of aberration to be set in the projection optical system is set as the aberration parameter.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein in the first step, a parameter representing an amount of aberration to be adjusted from an initial amount of aberration set in the projection optical system is set as the aberration parameter.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the parameter representing the amount of aberration to be adjusted is expressed as a function of a distance from an optical axis of the projection optical system.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein in the first step, a parameter representing an amount of driving of an optical element which forms the projection optical system is set as the aberration parameter.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the image performance includes at least one of a depth of focus on the image plane of the projection optical system, a difference between a dimension of the target pattern and a dimension of the optical image of the pattern of the mask, which is formed on the image plane of the projection optical system, and an exposure margin of the optical image of the pattern of the mask, which is formed on the image plane of the projection optical system.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of setting an evaluation position in the image plane of the projection optical system to evaluate the optical image of the pattern of the mask, which is formed on the image plane of the projection optical system,

wherein, in the fourth step, the image performance of the optical image of the pattern of the mask, which is formed at the evaluation position in correspondence with the pattern of the mask, is calculated.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in the fourth step, the value of the illumination parameter and the value of the aberration parameter are determined so that the image performance satisfies an evaluation criterion set for a target pattern to be formed on the image plane of the projection optical system.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute a determination method of determining exposure conditions used for an exposure method using an exposure apparatus including an illumination optical system which illuminates a mask, and a projection optical system which projects a pattern of the mask onto a substrate, to be set in the exposure apparatus for illuminating the mask and projecting the pattern of the mask onto the substrate, the program causing the computer to execute:

a first step of setting an unoptimized illumination parameter for a light intensity distribution formed on a pupil plane of the illumination optical system, and an unoptimized aberration parameter for an aberration of the projection optical system;

a second step of calculating an image performance of an optical image of the pattern of the mask, which is formed in an image plane of the projection optical system in correspondence with the pattern of the mask to be placed on an object plane of the projection optical system, using the unoptimized illumination parameter and the unoptimized aberration parameter;

a third step of repeating the calculating the image performance of the second step while changing both of a value of the unoptimized illumination parameter and a value of the unoptimized aberration parameter; and

a fourth step of determining a value of the illumination parameter and a value of the aberration parameter, based on the results of the image performance calculated while changing both of the value of the unoptimized illumination parameter and the value of the unoptimized aberration parameter, thereby determining, as the exposure conditions, the light intensity distribution formed on the pupil plane of the illumination optical system and the aberration of the projection optical system, which are defined by the determined value of the illumination parameter and the determined value of the aberration parameter, respectively,

wherein the exposure method comprises a step of illuminating the mask and exposing the substrate under the determined exposure conditions.

11. An information processing apparatus configured to determine exposure conditions used for an exposure method using an exposure apparatus including an illumination optical system which illuminates a mask, and a projection optical system which projects a pattern of the mask onto a substrate, to be set in the exposure apparatus for illuminating the mask and projecting the pattern of the mask onto the substrate, the information processing apparatus comprising:

a storage device; and

a processor configured to execute computer executable instructions recorded on the storage device, the computer executable instructions including instructions, that when executed by the processor, cause the information processing apparatus to;

set an unoptimized illumination parameter for a light intensity distribution formed on a pupil plane of the illumination optical system, and an unoptimized aberration parameter for an aberration of the projection optical system;

calculate an image performance of an optical image of the pattern of the mask, which is formed in an image plane of the projection optical system in correspondence with the pattern of the mask to be placed on an object plane of the projection optical system, using the unoptimized illumination parameter and the unoptimized aberration parameter;

repeat the calculate the image performance of the optical image of the pattern of the mask while changing both of a value of the unoptimized illumination parameter and a value of the unoptimized aberration parameter; and

determine a value of the illumination parameter and a value of the aberration parameter, based on the results of the image performance calculated while changing both of the value of the unoptimized illumination parameter and the value of the unoptimized aberration parameter, thereby determining, as the exposure conditions, the light intensity distribution formed on the pupil plane of the illumination optical system and the aberration of the projection optical system, which are defined by the determined value of the illumination parameter and the determined value of the aberration parameter, respectively,

wherein the exposure method comprises a step of illuminating the mask and exposing the substrate under the determined exposure conditions.