As deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography becomes more common in the manufacturing of semiconductor devices at 0.18-, 0.15-, and 0.13-μm design rules, detecting and evaluating mask defects will become increasingly crucial. With the advent of the advanced reticle enhancement techniques used for low-k_1 lithography, a defect on the reticle can have a significantly magnified impact when transferred to the wafer, a relationship expressed by the mask error factor (MEF). Consequently, finding, understanding the printability of, and quickly eliminating reticle defects will assume greater importance as lithography processes develop and design rules continue to shrink.
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