Dr. Nick I. Pellens Profile

Dr. Nick I. Pellens

at imec

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Author

Publications (8)

SPIE Journal Paper | 30 January 2025

Stitching insights towards high numerical aperture extreme ultraviolet lithography: an experimental study

Vincent Wiaux, Natalia Davydova, Lieve van Look, Nick Pellens, Ataklti Weldeslassie, Guillaume Libeert, Tatiana Kovalevich, Joost Bekaert, Frank Timmermans, Cyrus Tabery, Laura Huddleston

JM3, Vol. 24, Issue 01, 011012, (January 2025) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.10.1117/1.JMM.24.1.011012

KEYWORDS: Optical proximity correction, Critical dimension metrology, Reflectivity, Extreme ultraviolet, Design, Light sources and illumination, Semiconducting wafers, Extreme ultraviolet lithography, Scanners, Reflection

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Proceedings Article | 13 November 2024 Presentation

High-NA stitching: how to evaluate performance?

Natalia Davydova, Airat Galiullin, Cyrus Tabery, Bram Slachter, Adam Lyons, Jeremy Chen, Nick Pellens, Vincent Wiaux, Tatiana Kovalevich, Lieve van Look, Ataklti Weldeslassie, Joost Bekaert

Proceedings Volume PC13215, PC132150A (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3038962

KEYWORDS: Scanners, Semiconducting wafers, Scanning electron microscopy, Photomasks, Overlay metrology, Optical proximity correction, Metrology, Image processing, Extreme ultraviolet lithography, EUV optics

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Proceedings Article | 12 November 2024 Presentation + Paper

Increasing throughput in EUV logic applications with thinner low-n masks and wavefront optimization

Nick Pellens, Vicky Philipsen, Joern-Holger Franke, Kurt Ronse, Eric Hendrickx

Proceedings Volume 13215, 1321505 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3033432

KEYWORDS: Photomasks, Wavefronts, Logic, Source mask optimization, Extreme ultraviolet, Optical lithography, Light sources and illumination, Diffraction, Scanners

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Proceedings Article | 18 September 2024 Paper

High-NA EUV single patterning of advanced metal logic nodes: inverse lithography techniques in combination with alternative mask absorbers

Ana-Maria Armeanu, Nick Pellens, Vicky Philipsen, Evgeny Malankin, Dongbo Xu, Keisuke Mizuuchi, Gabriel Curvacho, Chih-I Wei, Neal Lafferty, Germain Fenger

Proceedings Volume 13273, 132731M (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3031718

KEYWORDS: Source mask optimization, Metals, Printing, Nanoimprint lithography, Logic, Lithography, Extreme ultraviolet lithography, 3D mask effects, Extreme ultraviolet, Scanners

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The standard tantalum mask gives strong 3D electromagnetic effects, hence, its utilization in foundries to enable further downscaling to the A14 node might reach its limits even with the help of high NA EUV scanners (with 0.55 numerical aperture “NA”). The use of alternative mask absorber materials together with inverse lithography techniques (ILT), such as source mask optimization (SMO), can improve printing of metal logic layers with a target pitch of 20 and 24nm. This is possible due to thinner mask absorber thickness (around 40nm instead of 60nm for Ta-based mask) and due to different EUV optical properties of the mask material causing a different behavior of the light that is reflected by the masks. To better mitigate the light behavior during and after reflection from the mask, materials covering a good portion of the n-k graph (EUV refractive index, n, by EUV extinction coefficient, k) were chosen. The study proposes a comparison between baseline (Ta-based mask) and five new mask absorber candidates, ranging from three materials with lower refractive index and varied extinction coefficient (“low-n” with low-, mid-, and high-k), and two candidates with higher extinction coefficients (“highk” with mid- and high-n).
This paper contains simulation results with the Siemens EDA Calibre tool and demonstrates theoretical proof that alternative mask materials bring significant gain when compared to the tantalum-based mask absorber. Firstly, we optimized the source and aerial image intensity threshold on a set of predefined clips (with SMO techniques). Secondly, we applied ILT techniques to correct for the full chip mask based on a horizontal layout of a metal logic layer on imec’s roadmap. We then compare the tantalum-based mask with the alternative masks using imaging criteria, such as DoF (depth of focus), NILS (Normalized Image log slope), EPE (edge placement error), pattern shifts through focus, process variation band, source telecentricity errors, and MEEF (mask error enhancement factor) on a variety of features in the metal logic clip to maximize the overall process window.

Proceedings Article | 26 August 2024 Paper

Imaging evaluation of low reflectivity low-n EUV mask for LS at 0.33NA

Tatiana Kovalevich, Nick Pellens, Guillaume Libeert, Lieve Van Look, Vicky Philipsen

Proceedings Volume 13177, 131770O (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3032310

KEYWORDS: Lithography, Extreme ultraviolet, 3D mask effects, Simulations, Semiconducting wafers

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Proceedings Article | 26 August 2024 Paper

High NA EUV stitching: mask performance is a key

Natalia Davydova, Vincent Wiaux, Nick Pellens, Tatiana Kovalevich, Laura Huddleston, Frank Timmermans, Cyrus Tabery, Joost Bekaert, Lieve van Look, Alberto Colina, Bram Slachter, Nitesh Pandey, Stefan Hunsche, Ataklti Weldeslassie, Guillaume Libeert

Proceedings Volume 13177, 131770F (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3034393

KEYWORDS: Reflectivity, Optical proximity correction, Critical dimension metrology, Reflection, Light sources and illumination, Semiconducting wafers, Tantalum, Design, 3D mask effects, Scanners

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Proceedings Article | 10 April 2024 Presentation + Paper

An experimental stitching study on the eve of high-NA EUV

Vincent Wiaux, Natalia Davydova, Lieve Van Look, Nick Pellens, Ataklti Weldeslassie, Guillaume Libeert, Tatiana Kovalevich, Frank Timmermans, Laura Huddleston

Proceedings Volume 12953, 129530J (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3010895

KEYWORDS: Critical dimension metrology, Reflectivity, Optical proximity correction, Light sources and illumination, Extreme ultraviolet, Design, Simulations, Scanners, Image processing, Modulation

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Proceedings Article | 21 November 2023 Presentation + Paper

Stitching for high-NA: zooming in on CDU budget

Natalia Davydova, Lieve van Look, Ataklti Weldeslassie, Vincent Wiaux, Laura Huddleston, Bram Slachter, Nick Pellens, Frank Timmermans, Friso Wittebrood, Eelco van Setten, Daniel Wilson

Proceedings Volume 12750, 1275002 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2687703

KEYWORDS: Critical dimension metrology, Zoom lenses, Reticles, Metrology, Image quality, Extreme ultraviolet, Stochastic processes, Statistical analysis, Semiconducting wafers, Overlay metrology

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Showing 5 of 8 publications

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