Method for measuring photomasks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11899358-B2
Application number	US-202117177411-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 17, 2021
Priority date	Feb 18, 2020
Publication date	Feb 13, 2024
Grant date	Feb 13, 2024

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for measuring a photomask for semiconductor lithography, including the following steps:recording an aerial image of at least one region of the photomask,defining at least one region of interest,ascertaining structure edges in at least one region of interest,providing desired structures to be produced by the photomask,adapting the ascertained structure edges to the desired structures, anddisplacing the adapted structure edges by means of the results of a separate registration measurement.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for measuring a photomask for semiconductor lithography, comprising the following steps:
recording an aerial image of at least one region of the photomask to generate a recorded aerial image of the at least one region of the photomask,
defining at least one region of interest of the photomask,
ascertaining structure edges in the at least one region of interest of the photomask based on the recorded aerial image to generate ascertained structure edges of the photomask,
providing desired structures to be produced by the photomask,
adapting the ascertained structure edges in the at least one region of interest of the photomask to the desired structures to be produced by the photomask to generate adapted structure edges of the photomask, in which the ascertained structure edges of the photomask are fitted to the desired structures to be produced by the photomask, and
displacing the adapted structure edges of the photomask by use of the results of a separate registration measurement.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein, following the recording of the aerial image, there is a computational correction of image aberrations of the system used to record the aerial image.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein an aerial image simulated on the basis of the mask design is used in the step of adapting the ascertained structure edges.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the simulated aerial image is generated for a registration measurement system and/or for a mask inspection system.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ascertained structure edges are used to create correction strategies for the mask or for a scanner exposure process.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein one correction strategy for a mask is targeted physical stretching of the mask.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein matched correction strategies for at least two masks are created.

8. The method of claim 2 , wherein an aerial image simulated on the basis of the mask design is used in the step of adapting the ascertained structure edges.

9. The method of claim 2 , wherein the ascertained structure edges are used to create correction strategies for the mask or for a scanner exposure process.

10. The method of claim 3 , wherein the ascertained structure edges are used to create correction strategies for the mask or for a scanner exposure process.

11. The method of claim 4 , wherein the ascertained structure edges are used to create correction strategies for the mask or for a scanner exposure process.

12. The method of claim 6 , wherein matched correction strategies for at least two masks are created.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein a best possible superposition of the ascertained structure edges of the photomask in relation to the desired structures to be produced by the photomask is obtained from the fitting process.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein ascertaining structure edges in the at least one region of interest of the photomask comprises extracting a contour of the structure edges in the at least one region of interest from the aerial image of the at least one region of interest based on an intensity threshold value, and
wherein the fitting process comprises varying a relative position of the ascertained structure edges of the photomask in relation to the desired structures to be produced by the photomask, and varying an effect of the intensity threshold value on the position of the ascertained structure edges until a specified optimization criterion has been satisfied.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein displacing the adapted structure edges of the photomask by use of the results of a separate registration measurement comprises displacing a realistic representation of the contour of the structure edges in the at least one region of interest of the photomask to be expected on the wafer by use of the results of the separate registration measurement.

16. A method of generating structures on a wafer using a double exposure by a first photomask and a second photomask, the method comprising:
recording an aerial image of at least one region of the first photomask to generate a recorded aerial image of the at least one region of the first photomask;
defining at least one region of interest of the first photomask;
ascertaining structure edges in the at least one region of interest of the first photomask based on the recorded aerial image to generate ascertained structure edges of the first photomask;
providing desired structures to be produced by the first photomask;
adapting the ascertained structure edges in the at least one region of interest of the first photomask to the desired structures to be produced by the first photomask to generate adapted structure edges of the first photomask, wherein the ascertained structure edges of the first photomask are fitted to the desired structures to be produced by the first photomask;
displacing the adapted structure edges of the first photomask by use of the results of a separate registration measurement of the first photomask;
recording a second aerial image of at least one region of a second photomask;
defining at least one region of interest of the second photomask;
ascertaining structure edges in the at least one region of interest of the second photomask to generate ascertained structure edges of the second photomask;
providing desired structures to be produced by the second photomask;
adapting the ascertained structure edges of the second photomask to the desired structures to be produced by the second photomask to generate adapted structure edges of the second photomask, wherein the ascertained structure edges of the second photomask are fitted to the desired structures to be produced by the second photomask; and
displacing the adapted structure edges of the second photomask by use of the results of a separate registration measurement of the second photomask.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the registration measurements are made by a registration measurement system.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the registration measurements are made by a coordinate measurement system.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the registration measurement is made by a registration measurement system.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the registration measurement is made by a coordinate measurement system.

Assignees

• Zeiss Carl Smt Gmbh

Inventors

• Simakov Dmitry
• Thaler Thomas
• Steinert Steffen
• Beyer Dirk
• Buttgereit Ute

Classifications

• G03F1/72 Primary

  Repair or correction of mask defects · CPC title

• G03F1/84 Primary

  Inspecting · CPC title

• G01M11/00 Primary

  Testing of optical apparatus; Testing structures by optical methods not otherwise provided for · CPC title

• G01B11/24

  for measuring contours or curvatures · CPC title

• G03F7/70516

  Calibration of components of the microlithographic apparatus, e.g. light sources, addressable masks or detectors · CPC title