Micron Confidential

Lithography

Part II:
Resolution in a projection
lithography system and resolution
Enhancement Techniques
Gianfranco Capetti
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Projection Lithography System

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Why do we have a resolution limit in projection

lithography ?
• Mask features dimension is comparable to light source wavelength
• A diffraction pattern will be formed at lens plane
• The lens system collects (a portion) of the diffraction pattern and reconstruct the image at the
wafer plane
– The diffraction pattern extend to the infinity, the higher frequency information are carried by peaks further away from the
center

Intensity at mask Intensity at lens plane Intensity at wafer plane

Source

Mask Lens Wafer

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Why do we have a resolution limit in projection

lithography ?
• As mask pitch decreases (i.e. features are closer together):
• Diffraction peaks are dispersed at wider angles (they are further apart)
• Only few peaks enter the lens
• Image resolution worsen

Intensity at mask Intensity at lens plane Intensity at wafer plane

Source

Mask Lens Wafer

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Why do we have a resolution limit in projection

lithography ?
If the pitch is small enough:
• Only the central diffraction peak will enter the lens
• No intensity modulation at wafer level

Intensity at mask Intensity at lens plane Intensity at wafer plane

Source

Mask Lens Wafer

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Why do we have a resolution limit in projection

lithography ?
• Shorter wavelength  smaller diffraction angle  improved resolution

Intensity at mask Intensity at lens plane Intensity at wafer plane

Source

Mask Lens Wafer

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Pitch is fundamental for lithography

• Under the same λ, when feature pitch gets smaller (higher spatial frequency), the
diffraction angle becomes larger.

Large Small
Pitch Pitch

 source wavelength
 angle of the diffracted ray 
p structures periodicity (pitch)
sin   n
p
n integer number
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Optical Parameters
Mask Entrance Pupil
Numerical Aperture (NA): NA = n·sina
It determines the maximum number
a
of diffraction orders that can be a : semi angle
captured by projection lens and of the cone
thus the quality of the reconstructed
image n : refraction
index of medium
Air = 1

Illumination Entrance Pupil

Partial Coherence (0< σ < 1):

a0 sin a0
It defines the illumination of the mask a
s=
It depends from source extension NA

Mask
s = 0 : coherent illumination
s = 1 : incoherent illumination
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Numerical Aperture effect on

image quality

NA

Increasing Numerical Aperture of the Optical System, more Pattern

Fidelity can be obtained
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Mask Spectrum
Mask p/2 p Quartz
Chrome

1 O(x,y)
Transmission Function 0

• Applying diffraction scalar theory, Electrical field after the mask can be calculated
with Huygens-Fresnel principle in the Fraunhofer approximation.

  x' y'
~ f  g
  dxdy  O( x, y)  e
 2i ( fx  gy )
O( f , g )  z z
  
• Spatial frequencies of the
~
O ( f , g )  F{O( x, y )} Mask Spectrum
diffraction pattern
• z = distance from the mask to
the diffraction plane
• This is the Fourier transform of the mask • x’ y’ coordinates in the
transmission function diffraction plane
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Objective Lens
(coherent imaging σ = 0)

• The function of the objective lens is to reconstruct the diffraction pattern and to
focus it on the wafer. Since Mask Spectrum is the Fourier Transform of the mask
pattern, the objective lens needs to perform an inverse Fourier Transform. This is
what spherical lenses do.
 ~
i 2  fx  gy 
Electric Field at
E ( x, y )  

P ( f , g ) O ( f , g ) e dfdg
Wafer level ~
1
E ( x, y )  F {P( f , g )O ( f , g )}

NA
Lens Pupil 1 f 2  g 2    c
Function
P( f , g )    Critical Cut off
0 otherwise Frequency
For Circularly symmetric
optical systems

• The lens can perform inverse transform only in the portion of the diffracted
light that enters the lens. Diffraction limited system (low frequency pass
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Aerial Image Formation for Projection Printing

• Substitution of circular Pupil function in the previous equation gives:

~
i 2  fx  gy 
Electric Field at
Wafer level
E ( x, y )   O ( f , g ) e dfdg
  NA 

I ( x, y )  E ( x, y )
Aerial Image Intensity 2
at wafer level

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Resolution Limit of Coherent Imaging (1)

• It’s convenient to rewrite equations using normalized coordinates and considering
just one direction
 ˆ NA
x  xˆ f  f
NA 

1 2
~
ˆI ( xˆ )  Oˆ ( fˆ )e  2ifˆxˆ dfˆ

1

• The image is thus formed from normalized spatial frequencies ranging from -1 (f =
-NA/λ) to +1 (f = NA/λ).
• Components of the spectrum passing through the low pass pupil filter are
synthesized to form the image.

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Resolution Limit of Coherent Imaging (2)

Repeating Pattern
ˆ  
p d d p  pˆ
NA NA
d
dˆ
ˆ 1 if xˆ  npˆ  , n  Z
Mask Transmission O( xˆ )   2
0 otherwise

~ dˆ sin(fˆdˆ ) n   n
Mask Spectrum ˆ ˆ
O( f )      f  
ˆ
(Fourier Transform) pˆ fˆdˆ n    pˆ 
Dirac Deltas

• Mask Spectrum is discrete rather than continuous. The frequencies are spaced
with a 1/p separation.
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Resolution Limit of Coherent Imaging (3)

~ dˆ sin( fˆdˆ ) n  n
Mask Spectrum ˆ ˆ
O( f )      f  
ˆ
pˆ fˆdˆ n    pˆ 

0.4

Sinc Envelope
O(f,d/p=1.25/3.2)

0.2

2 1.5 1 0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2

f(NA/lamba)
Dirac Functions
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Aerial Image Formation

E0(x) E0(x)
|Em(x)|

x
x
Em(x) = E0(x)O(x)
Mask f(x) x

O(x) Fourier
Transform
Mask Spectrum |O(fx)| , P(fx),
x 1
Transmission Om(fx) = F(Em(x))
function
P(fx) Ol(fx) = Om(fx)P(fx) fx
P(fx)
fx 0
fx P(fx)
|Ew(x)|
Pupil
Function
X
Wafer Ew(X) = F -1(Ol(fx))
X
Eletrical Field at wafer Level
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Resolution Limit of Coherent Imaging (4)

• Inserting the mask spectrum within the formula of intensity at wafer level we obtain:
2 2
 dˆ  m0  mdˆ   2mxˆ 
Iˆ( xˆ )    1   2sinc  sin 
   m0  pˆ  m0  1
 pˆ  m 1  pˆ   pˆ 

• The image is formed from the interaction

Case 1: pˆ  1, pˆ  2.5, m0  2
of 5 diffraction orders (-2, -1, 0, +1, +2).

h = 456 nm (h' = 1.25)

Intensity at wafer level
Mask Lens Wafer 1.4

1.2

Intensita' relativa
1

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1
x (µm)
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Resolution Limit of Coherent Imaging (5)

• Inserting the mask spectrum within the formula of intensity at wafer level we obtain:
2 2
 dˆ  m0  mdˆ   2mxˆ 
Iˆ( xˆ )    1   2sinc  sin 
   m0  pˆ  m0  1
 pˆ  m 1  pˆ   pˆ 
2
 dˆ 
Case 2: pˆ  1, m0  0 Iˆ( xˆ )    No Modulation
 pˆ 
Intensity at wafer level
1.4
Mask Lens Wafer
1.2

Intensita' relativa
1

0.8
0th order
0.6

0.4

0.2

0
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1
X (um)

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Resolution Limit of Coherent Imaging (6)

• The image is formed from the interaction
Case 3: pˆ  1, m0  1
of 3 diffraction orders (-1, 0, +1).

1
Intensity
h = 180at
nm wafer
(h' = 0.5) level
Mask Lens Wafer 0.9
0.8
0.7

Intensita' relativa
0.6
0.5
0th order 0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
-0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6
x (nm)

• The Theoretical Resolution limit is dependent only on the period p and not on the
opening width d.
 1 
pˆ min  1, pmin  R  pmin , R
NA 2 2 NA
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Pitch is fundamental for lithography

• Under the same λ, when feature pitch gets smaller (higher spatial frequency), the
diffraction angle becomes larger.
ppp

Lens Entrance Pupil

E(f
E(fxx)x))
E(f

-2/p
-3/p -3/p -1/p
-2/p -2/p -1/p
-1/p-1/p
-3/p -2/p 1/p 1/p
1/p1/p 2/p 2/p
3/p 2/p
3/p 2/p

 source wavelength
 angle of the diffracted ray 
p structures periodicity (pitch)
sin   n
p
n integer number
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Partially Coherent Imaging

• Mask is illuminated from light traveling in various directions. The image can be
calculated by adding the images arising from all these incident light sources

a0 sina0
Partial Coherence (0< σ < 1):
a
s=
NA
Mask Page 21
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Off Axis Illumination

• Off Axis illumination effect is to shift mask spectrum on pupil plane and then
increase effective resolution
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Resolution Limit of Partially Coherent Imaging

Coherent Illumination Partially Coherent Illumination


p Quartz p Quartz
Chrome Chrome

E(fx) E(fx)

-3/p -2/p -1/p 1/p 2/p 3/p -1/p 0 1/p

Entrance pupil of Entrance pupil of
projection optics
-c=NA/ c=NA/ -c=NA/
projection optics
c=NA/
sin/= sNA/ = sc

1  1  1 
R= R = 2 NA(1  s )
Rσ=1 =
2 NA 4 NA
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Quantification of Image Quality:

Modulation Transfer Function
• The MTF is used to determine the theoretical resolution limit of optical imaging. It’s
useful for calculating the fraction of energy transmitted by the optical system at a
particular frequency.

• For coherent imaging (σ = 0), the system can capture frequencies up to NA/λ
• For Partially coherent imaging (σ ≤ 1) the system is able to resolve up to (1+ σ)NA/λ
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Quantification of Image Quality:

Image Contrast
Aerial Intensity
h = 456 nm at
(h' =wafer
1.25) Level

1.4 Imax
1.2
Intensita' relativa

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2
Imin
0
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1
x (µm)

I max  I min
Contrast  100%
I max  I min
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Quantification of Image Quality:

Depth of Focus
Depth of Focus (DoF) is the maximum amount of focus change z that can
be tolerated before the printed pattern size falls outside the specifications.
At Focus Defocus
wafer wafer

z
Exit Pupil Exit Pupil

• 65nm Lines and

Spaces imaged
at 193nm

Negative Defocus At Focus Positive Defocus

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Quantification of Image Quality:

Depth of Focus: The Rayleigh criterion
Consider the image formation by two rays, one from the center of the pupil and the
other form the edge of the aperture. Suppose they interfere to form a sharp image at
the focus level z0. The relative phase change between two rays at a focal plane a
distance z is:
OPD  z  z cos 
Rayleigh states that the depth of focus is the distance z= R.U. such that the optical path
difference (OPD) between the two rays is a quarter of the wavelength

 1  1  1  1
DoF    
4 1  cos  4 2 sin 2 ( / 2) 4 2( / 2) 2 4  NA  2
2 
 2 
 Small Angles
  
cos   cos 2  sin 2  1  2 sin 2
2 2 2


z0

R.U. z DoF  2
R.U. cos 2NA
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The Rayleigh criteria

Ideal Optics only Real Systems +

Resist Response

1  
Resolution R R  k1
2 NA(1  s ) NA

1  
Depth of Focus DoF  2 NA2 DoF  k 2
NA2
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Optical Imaging Systems

 • The best lithographic process
R  k1 has the highest resolution and
NA the biggest DoF

 R DoF
DoF  k 2
NA2
λ Source Wavelength
NA Numerical Aperture
k1 The measure of “lithography aggressiveness”. Process coefficient
dependent on resist, lens, exposure tool. Theoretical limit is 0.25
k2 Process coefficient dependent on feature shape and configuration,
coherence, aberrations.
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Numerical Aperture and Wavelength Evolution

1970s 1984 1989 1999 2014?
g-line Hg i-line Hg KrF Laser ArF Laser EUVL
(λ=436nm) (λ=365nm) (λ=248nm) (λ=193nm) (λ=13.4nm)


R  k1
NA

1980s 1995 2001

 2004 2006
NA NA  k2
DoFNA 2NA NA > 1
0.50 0.63 0.75 NA0.93 Immersion
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RET: Resolution Enhancement Techniques

Resolution 
(minimum printed feature) R  k1
NA
Decreasing k1 factor is a way
to increase resolution

DoF  k 2 2
• Applying a variety of manipulations to the NA
wavefront optical
(RET), additional contrast in the high spatial frequency
components has been today obtained, with a significant
enhancement of the practical resolution.

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RET correspond to the control of

wavefront three major components

• Off Axis Illumination (OAI)

for the Wavefront Direction

• Phase Shift Mask (PSM)

for the Wavefront Phase

• Optical Proximity Corrections (OPC)

for the Wavefront Amplitude

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Off Axis Illumination (OAI):

Pattern Customization
•Filtering the spatial frequencies useful to re-construct image at wafer level assures
maximum contrast (DC Background light is minimized)

Annular Cross-Pole Dipole

Different illumination Schemes for critical Lithographic Measured Intensity Distribution

layers (a.u) of Dipole Illumination

• Illumination Shape must be Customized depending on critical features to be printed

and on specific application (MPU, Flash, DRAM…).
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Attenuated Phase Shift Masks (Att-PSM)

Destructive interference between the light traveling in the quartz and in the “shifter”
material is used to enhance aerial image contrast with respect to conventional binary
mask (chrome on glass)

Conventional Binary Mask “Attenuated” Phase Shift Mask

Quartz Quartz

p
Shifter semi-transparent
Chrome 180 0 with 6% transmission

1 1
Transmission
function f(x)
0
 T t
Current T = 6%

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Att-PSM Mask Spectrum

Conventional Binary Mask “Attenuated” Phase Shift Mask

~  dˆ n 
 n  ~  dˆ n 
 n 
Oˆ x ( fˆ )    sinc( fd )    fˆ  
ˆ ˆ Oˆ x ( fˆ )  1  t   sinc( fˆdˆ )    fˆ    t ( fˆ )
binary  pˆ n    pˆ  att  pˆ n    pˆ 

• All non zero orders increase by a

factor of (1+t)

dˆ  dˆ
 pˆ  dˆ 
• 0th Order from to   t
pˆ  pˆ pˆ 

0
-1 1
0
-1 1

Õx(f)
-1/p 0 1/p -1/p 0 1/p
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Attenuated Phase Shift Masks (Att-PSM)

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OPC: Optical Proximity Corrections

Rounded corners and shorter lines
(left) are typical of the distorting
effects in the exposed pattern due to
current wavelengths and feature
sizes. Optical Proximity Corrections
make sub resolution changes in the
shape of the pattern on the mask to
counter the effects (right): corners
are squarer and lines longer.

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OPC Examples on Reticle

Top-Down SEM Picture of a
Lithographic reticle with OPC
Correction to compensate
optical proximity near the
resolution liimit

Without OPC With OPC

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Immersion Lithography
• Old Idea (Immersion microscope by G. Amici) has been
applied to the most advanced scanner systems
G. B. Amici (1786-1868)

Resolution Advantage
Effective
Wavelength
NA  n sin 
  /n
R  k1  k1  k1
NA n sin  sin 

• n is the refractive index of the medium (liquid, gas, vacuum) of the focal region. n is
generally larger in liquid (water 1.34) than the air or gas, NA can be higher than that
of conventional (dry system) with the same incidence angle θ.
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Immersion Lithography

Depth of Focus Advantage

nlens sin  lens  nmedium sin  medium

nlens
sin  medium  sin  lens
nmedium
nmedium  1 for air 1.34 for water
nlens  1.57 for quartz

•For a given diffraction order (and thus a given angle of the light inside the
resist), the angle of the light inside an immersion fluid will be less than if air is
used. Smaller angles means smaller optical path difference and so smaller
degradation of the image for a given amount of defocus.

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Immersion Lithography
DoF Enhancement

Top Down SEM Picture through focus of 55nm Lines and Spaces, with Dry and
Wet Tool.
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