Integrating Real-Time CD Corrections into a Laser Pattern Generator

摘要

Controlling the critical dimension is central in mask manufacturing, and with the ever-shrinking design rule ― and hence the increasing requirements on the mask fidelity ― new and visionary ways of pushing the envelope of the critical dimension (CD), becomes essential. Research tools and off-line solutions for sizing, proximity correction and other CD compensations have been pursued for some time, but making efficient use of such technologies have been limited by ease-of-use, fracturing and computational time and data volumes associated. Here, we present techniques to deal with these challenges by taking the approach to integrate the solutions into a modern, real-time pattern generator datapath. The solution is based on hierarchical treatment of the patterns in the real-time data path of the pattern generator. By placing it in the real-time domain, we avoid the problem with exploding stream data volumes, and can exploit the parallel architecture and raw computational power of the data path engine.