Method and apparatus for design of a metrology target

• US 9,804,504 B2
• Filed: 05/13/2016
• Issued: 10/31/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ASML Netherlands BV (ASML Holding NV)
• Original Assignee: ASML Netherlands BV (ASML Holding NV)
• Inventors: Chen, Guangqing, Kent, Eric Richard, Wang, Jen-Shiang, Adam, Omer Abubaker Omer
• Primary Examiner(s): Dinh, Paul
• Application Number:
  US15/154,456
• Publication Number:
  US 20160252820A1
• Time in Patent Office: 536 Days
• Field of Search: 716 54
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/706 Aberration measurement
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70625 Dimensions, e.g. line width, critical dimension [CD], profile, sidewall angle or edge roughness
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70633 Overlay, i.e. relative alignment between patterns printed by separate exposures in different layers, or in the same layer in multiple exposures or stitching
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70641 Focus
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70683 Mark designs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2119/18 Manufacturability analysis or optimisation for manufacturability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/20 Design optimisation, verification or simulation optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/333 Design for testability [DFT], e.g. scan chain or built-in self-test [BIST]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/39 Circuit design at the physical level physical level design for reconfigurable circuits G06F30/347

Abstract

A method of metrology target design is described. The method includes determining a sensitivity of a parameter for a metrology target design to an optical aberration, determining the parameter for a product design exposed using an optical system of a lithographic apparatus, and determining an impact on the parameter of the metrology target design based on the parameter for the product design and the product of the sensitivity and one or more of the respective aberrations of the optical system.

Claims

1. A system of metrology target structure design, the system comprising:

a hardware processing unit;

a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions executable by the hardware processing unit to;

determine a value of a sensitivity of a parameter of a design of a metrology target structure to each respective aberration of a plurality of aberrations, wherein the metrology target structure is used for metrology in the manufacture of physical devices; and

determine an impact of the metrology target structure design on the parameter based on a sum of values that are equivalent to the values of the sensitivities multiplied by values of respective aberrations of an optical system of a lithographic apparatus used to expose the metrology target structure.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the aberrations respectively comprise a Zernike polynomial.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensitivities are considered to be linear within a design range of the optical system aberration variations.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions executable by the hardware processing unit to determine the values of the sensitivity are configured to determine the values of the sensitivity by simulation using a lithographic model.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising instructions executable by the hardware processing unit to simulate the parameter of a device product design exposed using the optical system.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions executable by the hardware processing unit to determine the impact are configured to determine the impact by summation, for a plurality of positions of an exposure slit of the lithographic apparatus, of values that are equivalent to the values of the sensitivities multiplied by values of respective optical aberrations of the optical system.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a connection to a network for communicating with a remote system.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the remote system is configured to provide the parameter for the metrology target structure design to the system.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the system is configured to use the connection to the remote system to transmit the impact on the parameter of the metrology target design back to the remote system.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions executable by the hardware processing unit are further configured to select the metrology target structure design based on the impact and measure the metrology structure of the selected metrology target design in the manufacture of physical devices.

11. A method of metrology target structure design, the method comprising:

determining a value of a sensitivity of a parameter pertaining to a design of a metrology target structure to each respective aberration of a plurality of aberrations, wherein the metrology target structure is used for metrology in the manufacture of physical devices; and

determining, by a hardware computer system, an impact of the metrology target structure design on the parameter based on a sum of values that are equivalent to the values of the sensitivities multiplied by values of respective aberrations of an optical system of a lithographic apparatus used to expose the metrology target structure.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the aberrations respectively comprise a Zernike polynomial.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the sensitivities are considered to be linear within a design range of the optical system aberration variations.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the values of the sensitivity is performed by simulation using a lithographic model.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising obtaining by simulation a value of the parameter for a device product design exposed using the optical system.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the impact comprises summation, for a plurality of positions of an exposure slit of the lithographic apparatus, of values that are equivalent to the values of the sensitivities multiplied by values of respective optical aberrations of the optical system.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising selecting the metrology target structure design based on the impact and measuring the metrology structure of the selected metrology target design in the manufacture of physical devices.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions executable by a hardware computer to:

determine a value of a sensitivity of a parameter pertaining to a design of a metrology target structure to each respective aberration of a plurality of aberrations, wherein the metrology target structure is used for metrology in the manufacture of physical devices; and

determine an impact of the metrology target structure design on the parameter based on a sum of values that are equivalent to the values of the sensitivities multiplied by values of respective aberrations of an optical system of a lithographic apparatus used to expose the metrology target structure.

19. The medium of claim 18, wherein the sensitivities are considered to be linear within a design range of the optical system aberration variations.

20. The medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions executable by the hardware computer to determine the values of the sensitivity are configured to determine the values of the sensitivity by simulation using a lithographic model.