Practical defect-sizing issues for UV inspection of 248-nm embedded attenuated PSM contact layer

James A. Reynolds

doi:10.1117/12.410694

22 January 2001 Practical defect-sizing issues for UV inspection of 248-nm embedded attenuated PSM contact layer

James A. Reynolds

Proceedings Volume 4186, 20th Annual BACUS Symposium on Photomask Technology; (2001) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.410694
Event: Photomask Technology, 2000, Monterey, CA, United States

Abstract

IC production is dependent on the ability of semiconductor manufacturers to secure reticles which are free of printable defects. In current reticle commerce, this means that reticles must be free of defects greater than a given size which has been agreed upon by reticle vendor and user. A reticle inspection system, therefore should have high sensitivity to find as many defects as possible and an accurate, repeatable means of determining defect size. In this study, a 248nm embedded attenuated phase shift mask (EAPSM) test reticle was manufactured containing programmed contact defects based on SEMI Standard P23-0200. 150nm and 200nm design rules were invoked with defects sized from 30nm to 600nm and 40nm to 800nm respectively. The reticle was inspected on the Applied Materials ARISi, the Lasertec 9MD84SRi and the KLA-Tencor 365UVHR inspection systems. A defect sizing “standard” was provided by the KLA-Tencor 8100 CD SEM. Die to die and die to database inspection was done. The systems were assigned letters to conceal their identity. Wide variations in detection sensitivity were noted between the three systems but systems B and D had the highest sensitivity. Automatic sizing as provided by all three systems was completely ineffective. Manual sizing for systems B and D tracked the measured CD SEM values. For all but the isolated defects, measured values were larger than the CD SEM value, suggesting that these on system utilities might be used effectively for a safe and quick accept/reject decision.

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James A. Reynolds "Practical defect-sizing issues for UV inspection of 248-nm embedded attenuated PSM contact layer", Proc. SPIE 4186, 20th Annual BACUS Symposium on Photomask Technology, (22 January 2001); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.410694

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KEYWORDS

Inspection

Reticles

Databases

Scanning electron microscopy

Defect detection

Manufacturing

Metrology

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