Use of rigorous three-dimensional electromagnetic simulation to evaluate the effectiveness of optical proximity correction for nonplanar lithography

摘要

A rigorous three-dimensional lithography simulator based on a recently developed single integral equation formulation for electromagnetic scattering is used in a simulation study of the effectiveness of using pre-distortions of mask patterns to compensate for linewidth variations in the resist patterns on nonplanar substrate topography. An efficient simulation methodology is used to reduce the number of required scattering calculations. Simulation results for different mask shapes and defocus conditions are presented.