Simulation study of CD variation caused by field edge effects and out-of-band radiation in EUVL

Weimin Gao; Ardavan Niroomand; Gian F. Lorusso; Robert Boone; Kevin Lucas; Wolfgang Demmerle

doi:10.1117/12.2027880

1 October 2013 Simulation study of CD variation caused by field edge effects and out-of-band radiation in EUVL

Weimin Gao, Ardavan Niroomand, Gian F. Lorusso, Robert Boone, Kevin Lucas, Wolfgang Demmerle

Proceedings Volume 8880, Photomask Technology 2013; 88800H (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2027880
Event: SPIE Photomask Technology, 2013, Monterey, California, United States

Abstract

Although extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) remains a promising candidate for semiconductor device manufacturing of the 1x nm half pitch node and beyond, many technological burdens have to be overcome. The “field edge effect” in EUVL is one of them. The image border region of an EUV mask,also known as the “black border” (BB), reflects a few percent of the incident EUV light, resulting in a leakage of light into neighboring exposure fields, especially at the corner of the field where three adjacent exposures take place. This effect significantly impacts on CD uniformity (CDU) across the exposure field. To avoid this phenomenon, a light-shielding border is introduced by etching away the entire absorber and multi-layer (ML)at the image border region of the EUV mask. In this paper, we present a method of modeling the field edge effect (also called the BB effect) by using rigorous lithography simulation with a calibrated resist model. An additional “flare level” at the field edge is introduced on top of the exposure tool flare map to account for the BB effect. The parameters in this model include the reflectivity and the width of the BB, which are mainly determining the leakage of EUV light and its influence range, respectively. Another parameter is the transition width which represents the half shadow effect of the reticle masking blades. By setting the corresponding parameters, the simulation results match well the experimental results obtained at the imec’s NXE:3100 EUV exposure tool. Moreover, these results indicate that the out-of-band (OoB) radiation also contributes to the CDU. Using simulation we can also determine the OoB effect rigorouslyusing the methodology of an “effective mask blank”. The study in this paper demonstrates that the impact of BB and OoB effects on CDU can be well predicted by simulations.

Citation Download Citation

Weimin Gao, Ardavan Niroomand, Gian F. Lorusso, Robert Boone, Kevin Lucas, and Wolfgang Demmerle "Simulation study of CD variation caused by field edge effects and out-of-band radiation in EUVL", Proc. SPIE 8880, Photomask Technology 2013, 88800H (1 October 2013); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2027880

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