OPC Verification Accounts For Mask 3D Effects

Sept. 25, 2006
Below the 65-nm node, mask-making reticles have features which are smaller than the wavelength of the light used to expose the masks. These features can cause significant scattering and polarization of the exposure light, and must be accounted for to achi

Below the 65-nm node, mask-making reticles have features which are smaller than the wavelength of the light used to expose the masks. These features can cause significant scattering and polarization of the exposure light, and must be accounted for to achieve accurate, high-numerical aperture lithography.

To address this requirement, Brion's Tachyon M3D (Mask 3D) product enables more accurate optical-proximity correction (OPC) and OPC verification by accounting for these mask 3D imaging effects.

Tachyon M3D constructs image-based photomask imaging models using electromagnetic-field simulation of the light passing through the 3D mask feature topography on the advanced 4X reticles used in leading-edge IC designs. The tool replaces the thin-mask approximation with its image-based mask 3D models, and then computes and combines wafer-image intensities from different source polarizations, before resist and etch computations.

The tool's capabilities are particularly critical when applied to through-focus lithography modeling. Significant mask 3D effects can occur across the full range of focus variation during the manufacturing process. With focus variation being an inevitability, and with its effects becoming more severe as lithography process windows continue to shrink, OPC and verification of OPC results become more critical.

Tachyon M3D is available now; contact Brion directly for pricing information.

Related Links Brion Technologies
www.brion.com

About the Author

David Maliniak | MWRF Executive Editor

In his long career in the B2B electronics-industry media, David Maliniak has held editorial roles as both generalist and specialist. As Components Editor and, later, as Editor in Chief of EE Product News, David gained breadth of experience in covering the industry at large. In serving as EDA/Test and Measurement Technology Editor at Electronic Design, he developed deep insight into those complex areas of technology. Most recently, David worked in technical marketing communications at Teledyne LeCroy. David earned a B.A. in journalism at New York University.

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