Detection and impact of mask manufacturing constraints on OPC efficacy

摘要

Much has been said of the impact that advanced RET and OPC are having on the mask manufacturing process [1,2]. However, increasingly, the limitations of mask manufacturing are impacting the quality and effectiveness of advanced RET and OPC, and they do this often in unpredictable ways. Detection of when these constraints limit the success of RET/OPC before the mask is made is critical to achieving cost and schedule control. An understanding of the conditions under which sub-optimal solutions result is also a key aspect of early RET/OPC recipe development, since this is the time when more options exist for satisfactory resolution. It is therefore a requirement in both production and development to analyze, in both a qualitative and quantitative manner, the effectiveness of the RET/OPC procedures using the actual layout, where it has been applied. The paper will present a methodology for accomplishing this analysis at the full chip level, and demonstrate the results.