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Mask inspection

About: Mask inspection is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1072 publications have been published within this topic receiving 8696 citations.


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Patent
Holger Seitz1
28 Sep 2011
TL;DR: In this paper, a mask inspection microscope is provided for characterizing a mask having a feature, which is configured to generate an aerial image of at least one segment of the feature of the mask, acquire a spatially resolved intensity distribution of the aerial image, and determine a total intensity from the intensities of a region of the image.
Abstract: A mask inspection microscope is provided for characterizing a mask having a feature. The mask inspection microscope is configured to generate an aerial image of at least one segment of the feature of the mask, acquire a spatially resolved intensity distribution of the aerial image, and determine a total intensity from the intensities of at least one region of the aerial image.

13 citations

Proceedings ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors evaluate the printability of programmed phase defects and absorber defects exposed by full-field scanner EUV1 and demonstrate that defect detection sensitivities of ABI (actinic blank inspection) and PI (patterned mask inspection) are higher than that of WI (wafer inspection) in HP32nm.
Abstract: The key challenge before EUVL is to make defect-free masks, for which it is important to identify the root cause of defects, and it is also necessary to establish suitable critical mask defect size for the production of ULSI devices. Selete has been developing EUV mask infrastructures such as a full-field actinic blank inspection tool and 199nm wavelength patterned mask inspection tool in order to support blank/mask supplier in reducing blank/mask defects which impact on wafer printing. In this paper, by evaluating the printability of programmed phase defects and absorber defects exposed by full-field scanner EUV1, we demonstrate that defect detection sensitivities of ABI (actinic blank inspection) and PI (patterned mask inspection) are higher than that of WI (wafer inspection) in HP32nm. The evaluations were done by comparing the detection sensitivities of full-field actinic blank inspection tool, 199nm wavelength patterned mask inspection tool, and wafer EB inspection tool. And then, based on the native defect analysis of blank/mask, we ascertained that actinic blank inspection and patterned mask inspection developed at Selete, are effective in detecting killer defects both at the main pattern and at light-shield border area.

13 citations

Proceedings ArticleDOI
29 Sep 2010
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors evaluate the printability of multilayer defects and of absorber defects exposed by a full-field scanner and a 199nm wavelength patterned mask inspection tool.
Abstract: The key challenge before EUVL is to make defect-free masks hence it is important to identify the root cause of defects, and it is also necessary to establish suitable critical mask defect size for the production of ULSI devices. Selete has been developing EUV mask infrastructures such as a full-field actinic blank inspection tool and 199nm wavelength patterned mask inspection tool in order to support blank/mask supplier in reducing blank/mask defects which impact on wafer printing. In this paper, we evaluate the printability of multilayer defects and of absorber defects exposed by a full-field scanner EUV1, using full-field actinic/non-actinic blank inspection tool and 199nm wavelength patterned mask inspection tool. And based on the results of native defect analysis of blank/mask, we ascertain that blank inspection with actinic is necessary for mask fabrication in order to reduce the risk of missing phase defects, which hardly can be detected by patterned mask inspection tool.

13 citations

Patent
Yasunobu Kawauchi1
15 Sep 1983
TL;DR: In this article, a mask inspection arrangement is described, including a magnetic disc memory for storing pattern data which has been used for operating a mask drawing apparatus, a data producing device for optically scanning a mask drawn by the mask drawing device and producing measured data indicative thereof, and a data converter for converting the pattern data from memory into a reference data in the form of dot pattern data for blanking an electron beam.
Abstract: A mask inspection arrangement is disclosed including a magnetic disc memory for storing pattern data which has been used for operating a mask drawing apparatus, a data producing device for optically scanning a mask drawn by the mask drawing apparatus and producing measured data indicative thereof, a data converter for converting the pattern data from memory into a reference data in the form of dot pattern data for blanking an electron beam in the mask drawing apparatus, and a comparator for comparing the measured data with the reference data and determining a correlation therebetween.

12 citations

Proceedings ArticleDOI
23 Jul 1985
TL;DR: The Model 8405 as mentioned in this paper is an automated photo-mask inspection system based on an optical information processing technique, which is designed for turn-key operation in IC manufacturing facilities and it can be used for defect inspection of photomasks.
Abstract: The need for automatic defect inspection of photomasks has been well recognized by the semiconductor manufacturing industry. Indeed, commercial equipment for this purpose has been available for many years. The method used in the commercial equipment is based on the point-by-point comparison of one die with an adjacent die or with the data base, in a serial fashion. As the minimum features of the production integrated circuit (IC) pattern approach micrometer and submicrometer dimensions and the pattern area increases to about 150 mm in diameter, the inspection time per photomask by this method becomes formidably long, sometimes hours. To reduce the inspection time, radically different inspection methods are clearly needed. One such method is based on an optical information processing technique.1'2 This method has an inherent advantage: the IC pattern and the defect information over the entire photomask are processed simultaneously, or in parallel. However, several difficulties in the past have prevented this method from being practical. Under the sponsorship of Insystems, scientists at the University of Daytsn Research Institute were able to circumvent these difficulties by means of holography.'. Based on the successful results achieved there, Insystems undertook the task of developing an automated photo-mask inspection system, the Model 8405. This system is designed for turn-key operation in IC manufacturing facilities. Major performance specifications of the system are listed below. . Acceptable photomask sizes: standard sizes or others up to 178 mm x 178 mm (7" x 7") . Acceptable photomask thicknesses: standard thicknesses or others up to 6.4 mm (0.25") with or without pellicle . Detectable defect sizes: 0.5 um or larger with or without pellicle . Automatic inspection time: 7 minutes or less for 100 mm x 100 mm photomasks . Hologram or filter production time: approximately 6 minutes . Defect report formats: include computer printout of defect map (indicating defect types, sizes and locations), video terminal displays of holographic defect image and corresponding microscope image The purpose of this paper is to describe this system and present some preliminary results.

12 citations

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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
202110
202016
201924
201819
201727
201632