EUV Mask Defect Management for Precision Semiconductor Fabrication
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Summary
Problems
The challenge in fabricating EUV exposure masks lies in effectively managing defects on the multilayer substrate, as phase defects can lead to positional deviations and pattern irregularities during the exposure process, and existing methods fail to sufficiently prevent defect transfer during the printing operation.
Innovation solutions
A method that involves measuring and storing defect position data for EUV exposure mask blanks, shifting the pattern layout to ensure that defects are within the light shielding region, and using charged particle beams to write the pattern on a selected mask blank with minimal defects in the light shielding area.
TRIZ Analysis
Specific contradictions:
General conflict description:
Principle concept:
If strict inspection and selection of substrates are performed to eliminate defects, then manufacturing precision is improved, but productivity deteriorates due to increased inspection time and substrate rejection
Why choose this principle:
The patent applies preliminary action by measuring and storing defect position data for multiple mask blanks before the actual pattern writing process. This allows the system to pre-identify suitable substrates and plan pattern placement strategies in advance, rather than performing inspections during or after manufacturing, thereby reducing overall inspection time while maintaining high precision
Principle concept:
If strict inspection and selection of substrates are performed to eliminate defects, then manufacturing precision is improved, but productivity deteriorates due to increased inspection time and substrate rejection
Why choose this principle:
The patent changes the parameter of defect management from binary (defect present/absent) to spatial (defect position and pattern placement relationship). By storing defect position data and using it to determine optimal pattern arrangements, the system transforms the inspection process into a data-driven optimization problem that reduces reinspection needs and improves throughput
Application Domain
Data Source
AI summary:
A method that involves measuring and storing defect position data for EUV exposure mask blanks, shifting the pattern layout to ensure that defects are within the light shielding region, and using charged particle beams to write the pattern on a selected mask blank with minimal defects in the light shielding area.
Abstract
An exposure mask fabrication method includes measuring and storing defect position data, for each EUV exposure mask blank, that indicates the position of at least one defect in each of plural EUV exposure mask blanks, inputting pattern data defining a figure pattern to be written, searching, when the figure pattern is written, in plural EUV exposure mask blanks, an EUV exposure mask blank where the figure pattern can be arranged such that the number of defects not located in a light shielding region is less than or equal to a threshold value, based on the arrangement position of the figure pattern in the pattern data, using the defect position data for each EUV exposure mask blank, and writing the figure pattern on a searched EUV exposure mask blank such that the number of defects not located in the light shielding region is less than or equal to the threshold value.