Process window tracker

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10866523-B2
Application number	US-201615579938-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 27, 2016
Priority date	Jun 16, 2015
Publication date	Dec 15, 2020
Grant date	Dec 15, 2020

Abstract

A method for adjusting a lithography process, wherein processing parameters of the lithography process include a first group of processing parameters and a second group of processing parameters, the method including: obtaining a change of the second group of processing parameters; determining a change of a sub-process window (sub-PW) as a result of the change of the second group of processing parameters, wherein the sub-PW is spanned by only the first group of processing parameters; and adjusting the first group of processing parameters based on the change of the sub-PW.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of adjusting a lithography process involving a particular exposure device, wherein processing parameters of the lithography process comprise a first group of processing parameters and a second group of one or more processing parameters different from the first group of processing parameters, the method comprising:
obtaining a measured or simulated change of the second group of one or more processing parameters;
determining, by a hardware computer system, a change of a sub-process window (sub-PW) as a result of the change of the second group of one or more processing parameters, wherein the sub-PW is spanned by only the first group of processing parameters; and
adjusting, based on the change of the sub-PW, one or more values of the first group of processing parameters associated with the sub-PW as those values existed prior to the change of the sub-PW to one or more adjusted values of the first group of processing parameters associated with the change of the sub-PW.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first group of processing parameters comprises focus and dose.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first group of processing parameters consists of processing parameters adjustable in the lithography process.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second group of one or more processing parameters comprises a characteristic of deformation of projection optics of a lithography apparatus used in the lithography process.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the deformation is caused by a temperature change of the projection optics of the lithography apparatus.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second group of one or more processing parameters comprises a characteristic of a temporal variation of a parameter of the lithography process.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the parameter of the lithography process comprises laser bandwidth, laser wavelength or stage movement.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second group of one or more processing parameters comprises a characteristic of post-exposure bake, development, etching, doping, deposition or packaging.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the adjusting moves a point, to which the adjusted values of the first group of processing parameters correspond, farther away from a boundary of the sub-PW, and/or wherein the adjusting moves a point, to which the adjusted values of the first group of processing parameters correspond, to at or near a center of the sub-PW.

10. A method to enlarge a sub-process window (sub-PW) during a lithography process, wherein processing parameters of the lithography process comprises a first group of processing parameters and a second group of one or more processing parameters different from the first group of processing parameters, the sub-PW spanned by only the first group of processing parameters and a full process window (full PW) spanned by the processing parameters of the first and second groups, the method comprising:
determining the full PW;
determining, by a hardware computer system, the sub-PW from the full PW; and
enlarging the sub-PW by adjusting the second group of one or more processing parameters.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first group of processing parameters comprises focus and dose.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first group of processing parameters consists of processing parameters adjustable in the lithography process.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the second group of one or more processing parameters comprises a characteristic of deformation of projection optics of a lithography apparatus used in the lithography process.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein adjusting the second group of one or more processing parameters comprises using an optimization method using a cost function penalized by a size of the sub-PW, wherein the cost function is a function of the second group of one or more processing parameters.

15. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions therein, the instructions, upon execution by a computer system, configured to cause the computer system to at least:
obtain a measured or simulated change of a first group of one or more processing parameters of a lithography process involving a particular exposure device;
determine a change of a sub-process window (sub-PW) as a result of the change of the first group of one or more processing parameters, wherein the sub-PW is spanned by only a second group of processing parameters of the lithography process different from the first group of one or more processing parameters; and
adjust, based on the change of the sub-PW, one or more values of the second group of processing parameters associated with the sub-PW as those values existed prior to the change of the sub-PW to one or more adjusted values of the second group of processing parameters associated with the change of the sub-PW.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the second group of processing parameters comprises focus and dose.

17. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the second group of processing parameters consists of processing parameters adjustable in the lithography process.

18. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the first group of one or more processing parameters comprises a characteristic of deformation of projection optics of a lithography apparatus used in the lithography process.

19. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the first group of one or more processing parameters comprises a characteristic of a temporal variation of a parameter of the lithography process.

20. The computer program product of claim 19 , wherein the parameter of the lithography process comprises laser bandwidth, laser wavelength or stage movement.

21. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions therein, the instructions, upon execution by a computer system, configured to cause the computer system to at least:
determine a full process window (full PW) of a lithography process, the full PW spanned by a first group of processing parameters of the lithography process and a second group of one or more processing parameters of the lithography process different from the first group of processing parameters;
determine a sub-process window (sub-PW) spanned by only the first group of processing parameters, from the full PW; and
enlarge the sub-PW by adjusting the second group of one or more processing parameters.

Assignees

• Asml Netherlands Bv

Inventors

• Tel Wim Tjibbo
• Staals Frank
• Maslow Mark John

Classifications

• H10P76/2041

  Photolithographic processes · CPC title

• G03F7/70525 Primary

  Controlling normal operating mode, e.g. matching different apparatus, remote control or prediction of failure · CPC title

• G03F7/70533 Primary

  Controlling abnormal operating mode, e.g. taking account of waiting time, decision to rework or rework flow · CPC title

• G03F7/70891

  Temperature · CPC title

• H01L21/0274

  Electricity · mapped topic