• ETRI Journal
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.188-194
• /
• 2005

We report on the improvement of critical dimension (CD) linearity on a photomask by applying the concept of process proximity correction to a laser lithographic process used for the fabrication of photomasks. Rule-based laser process proximity correction (LPC) was performed using an automated optical proximity correction tool and we obtained dramatic improvement of CD linearity on a photomask. A study on model-based LPC was executed using a two-Gaussian kernel function and we extracted model parameters for the laser lithographic process by fitting the model-predicted CD linearity data with measured ones. Model-predicted bias values of isolated space (I/S), arrayed contact (A/C) and isolated contact (I/C) were in good agreement with those obtained by the nonlinear curve-fitting method used for the rule-based LPC.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
• /
• v.6 no.4
• /
• pp.180-184
• /
• 2002

In this study, we investigated mask errors, photo errors with attenuated phase shift mask and off-axis illumination, and etch errors in dry etch conditions. We propose that total process proximity correction (TPPC), a concept merging every process step error correction, is essential in a lithography process when minimum critical dimension (CD) is smaller than the wavelength of radiation. A correction rule table was experimentally obtained applying TPPC concept. Process capability of controlling gate CD in DRAM fabrication should be improved by this method.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.100-105
• /
• 2004

The influencing factors on the OPC (optical proximity correction) results are quantitatively analyzed using OPCed L/S patterns. ${\sigma}$ values of proximity variations are measured to be 9.3 nm and 15.2 nm for PR-A and PR-B, respectively. The effect of post exposure bake condition is assessed. 16.2 nm and 13.8 nm of variations are observed. Proximity variations of 11.6 nm and 15.2 nm are measured by changing the illumination condition. In order not to seriously deteriorate the OPC, these factors should be fixed after the OPC rules are extracted. Proximity variations of 11.4, 13.9, and 15.2 nm are observed for the mask mean-to-targets of 0, 2 and 4 nm, respectively. The decrease the OPC grid size from 1 nm to 0.5 nm enhances the correction resolution and the OCV is reduced from 14.6 nm to 11.4 nm. The enhancement amount of proximity variations are 9.2 nm corresponding to 39% improvement. The critical dimension (CD) uniformity improvement for adopting the small grid size is confirmed by measuring the CD uniformity on real SRAM pattern. CD uniformities are measured 9.9 nm and 8.7 nm for grid size of 1 nm and 0.5 nm, respectively. 22% improvement of the CD uniformity is achieved. The decrease of OPC grid size is shown to improve not only the proximity correction, but also the uniformity.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.22-26
• /
• 2003

Overlap Errors and side-lobes have been simultaneously solved by the rule-based correction using the rules extracted from test patterns. Lithography process parameters affecting attPSM lithography process have been determined by the fitting method to the real process data. The correction using scattering bars has been compared to the Cr shield method. The optimal insertion rule of the scattering bal's has made it possible to suppress the side-lobes and to enhance DOF at the same time. Therefore, in this paper, the solution to both side-lobe and overlap Error has been proposed using rule-based confection. Compared to the existing Cr shield method, the proposed rule-based correction with scattering bars can reduce the process complexity and time for mask production.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics D
• /
• v.35D no.10
• /
• pp.76-82
• /
• 1998

As the minimum feature size of a semiconductor chip gets smaller, the inevitable distortion of patterned image by optical lithography becomes the limiting factor in the mass production of VLSI. The optical proximity correction (OPC), which corrects pattern distortion that originates from the resolution limit of optical lithography, is becoming indispensable technology. In this paper, we describe a program that corrects optical proximity effect and thus finds the optimum mask pattern with a Monte-Carlo method. The program was applied to real memory cell patterns to produce mask patterns that generate image patterns closer to object images than original mask patterns, and increase of process margin is expected, as well.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.13 no.11
• /
• pp.901-907
• /
• 2000

As the minimum feature size for making ULSI approaches the wavelength of light source in optical lithography, the aerial image is so hardly distorted because of the optical proximity effect that the accurate mask image reconstruction on wafer surface is almost impossible. We applied the Optical Proximity Correction(OPC) on isolated patterns assuming Attenuated Phase Shift Mask(APSM) as well as binary mask, to correct the widening of isolated patterns. In this study, we found that applying OPC to APSM shows much better improvement not only in enhancing the resolution and fidelity of t도 images but also in enhancing the process margin than applying OPC to the binary mask. Also, we propose the OPC method of APSM for isolated patterns, the size of which is less than the wavelength of the ArF excimer laser. Finally, we predicted the resolution limit of optical lithography through the aerial image simulation.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.6-11
• /
• 2001

We studied the feasibility of optical lithography for the critical layers of 0.12${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ DRAM assuming ArF excimer laser as a light source. To enhance the fidelity of aerial image and process margin, Phase shift mask (PSM) patterns as well as binary mask patterns are corrected with in-house developed Optical Proximity Correction (OPC) software. As the result, w found that the aerial image of critical layers of DRAM cell with 0.12${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ design rule could not be reproduced with binary masks. But if we use PSM or optical proximity corrected PSM, the fidelity of aerial image ,resolution and process margin are so much enhanced that they could be processed with optical lithography.

• Proceedings of the KAIS Fall Conference
• /
• 2002.05a
• /
• pp.106-108
• /
• 2002

반도체 physical layout design rule이 작아짐에 따라 Proximity effect와 overlay가 Pattern 구현에 크게 영향을 미치고 있다. Metal layer와 contact의 부족한 overlay margin으로 overlay 불량이 발생하고, 감소한 space margin으로 인해 bridge와 같은 문제가 나타난다. 따라서, resolution을 향상시키고, 최소한의 overlay margin을 확보함으로써 미세 pattern의 구현을 가능하게 한다. 이를 위해 OPC와 attPSM 같은 분해능향상기술이 사용된다. 그러나 attPSM의 사용은 원하지 않는 pattern이 생성되는 sidelobe와 같은 문제가 발생한다. 따라서 serial image simulation올 통해 추출한 rule을 rule-based correction에 적용하여 sidelobe현상을 방지한다. 그리고 overlay margin 부족으로 나타나는 문제는 metal layer와 contact overlap되는 영역의 line edge를 확장하고, rule checking을 통해 최소한의 space margin을 확보하여 해결한다 따라서 overlay error를 rule-based correction을 사용하여 효과적으로 방지한다.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.1-5
• /
• 2015

In photolithography process, resolution enhancement techniques such as optical proximity correction (OPC) and phase shift mask (PSM) have been applied to improve resolution. Especially, sub-resolution assist feature (SRAF) is one of the most important OPC to enhance image quality including depth of focus (DOF). However, imaging performance of the mask could be varied with the diffraction order amplitude changed by inserting SRAF. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the imaging properties and process margin of attenuated PSM with SRAF. Reflectivities of attenuated PSMs at 13.5 nm were 3, 6, 9% and simulation was performed by $PROLITH^{TM}$. As a result, aerial image properties and DOF as well as diffraction efficiency were improved by increasing the reflectivity of attenuated PSM. Additionally, printed critical dimension variations depending on SRAF width and space error were also reduced for attenuated PSM with high reflectivity. However, SRAF could be printed when reflectivity of attenuated PSM is high enough. In conclusion, optimization of reflectivity of attenuated PSM and SRAF to prevent side-lobe from being printed is needed to be considered.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
• /
• 2008.10a
• /
• pp.11-13
• /
• 2008

This study proposes the method to use existing digital maps as one of the technologies to exclude individual differences that occur in the process of manually determining GCP for the geometric correction of KOMPSAT images and applying it to the images and to automate the generation of ortho-images. It is known that, in case high-resolution satellite images are corrected geometrically by using RPC, first order polynomials are generally applied as the correction formula in order to obtain good results. In this study, we matched the corresponding objects between 1:25,000 digital map and a KOMPSAT image to obtain the coefficients of the zero order polynomial and showed the differences in the pixel locations obtained through the matching. We performed proximity corrections using the Boolean operation between the point data of the surface linear objects and the point data of the edge objects of the image. The surface linear objects are road, water, building from topographic map.