26 February 2021 Design and optimization of top-Gaussian illumination field in photolithography
Xiaozhe Ma, Fang Zhang, Zhiyuan Niu, Huijie Huang
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

Top-Gaussian illumination generation technology has considerable application prospects in photolithography. We propose a detailed design and optimization method for the optical component that generates the top-Gaussian illumination field. This method can generate a field with a specific profile in the scan direction and a rectangular distribution in the nonscan direction. The energy density is reduced by jointly designing the first and second microlens arrays (MLAs). Thus, design freedom becomes more extensive. The requirements of the illumination field are met by the designed top-Gaussian illumination field, whose dimensions in the scan and nonscan directions are insensitive to illumination mode. Furthermore, the influences of the rectangular distribution dimension and the Gaussian distribution σ errors on the dimension of the top-Gaussian distribution are studied. The design results show that the maximum energy density in the second MLA can be reduced to 17.43% of that in the general design method. The analysis results indicate that the full-width-at-half-maximum error of the rectangular illumination field in the scan direction should be restricted within ±0.3  mm, and the σ error of the Gaussian distribution should be restricted within ±0.05  deg. The proposed method should increase the service life of the key component of the photolithography machine, and the cost of the manufacture and maintenance may be decreased.

© 2021 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) 0091-3286/2021/$28.00 © 2021 SPIE
Xiaozhe Ma, Fang Zhang, Zhiyuan Niu, and Huijie Huang "Design and optimization of top-Gaussian illumination field in photolithography," Optical Engineering 60(2), 025106 (26 February 2021). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.OE.60.2.025106
Received: 21 October 2020; Accepted: 28 January 2021; Published: 26 February 2021
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KEYWORDS
Optical lithography

Diffusers

Optical engineering

Error analysis

Manufacturing

Microlens

Optical design

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