PSM design for inverse lithography with partially coherent illumination

PSM design for inverse lithography with partially coherent illumination.

Phase-shifting masks (PSM) are resolution enhancement techniques (RET) used extensively in the semiconductor industry to improve the resolution and pattern fidelity of optical lithography. Recently, a set of gradient-based PSM optimization methods have been developed to solve for the inverse lithography problem under coherent illumination. Most practical lithography systems, however, use partia...

Binary mask optimization for inverse lithography with partially coherent illumination.

Recently, a set of generalized gradient-based optical proximity correction optimization methods have been developed to solve for the inverse lithography problem under coherent illumination. Most practical lithography systems, however, operate under partially coherent illumination. This paper focuses on developing gradient-based binary mask optimization methods that account for the inherent nonl...

Quantitative phase imaging with partially coherent illumination.

In this Letter, we formulate a mathematical model for predicting experimental outcomes in quantitative phase imaging (QPI) when the illumination field is partially spatially coherent. We derive formulae that apply to QPI and discuss expected results for two classes of QPI experiments: common path and traditional interferometry, under varying degrees of spatial coherence. In particular, our resu...

OPC and PSM design using inverse lithography: A non-linear optimization approach

We propose a novel method for the fast synthesis of low complexity model-based optical proximity correction (OPC) and phase shift masks (PSM) to improve the resolution and pattern fidelity of optical microlithography. We use the pixel-based mask representation, a continuous function formulation, and gradient based iterative optimization techniques to solve the above inverse problem. The continu...

Topology optimization for optical microlithography with partially coherent illumination