3334 · 86 , Wednesday Poster Session A Three - Dimensional Photolithography Simulator

Progress in today 's semiconductor industry has been mainly achieved by decreasing the minimal feature size and increasing the complexity and thus the nonplanarity of the devices. Therefore lithography tools have to provide high resolution with a reasonable large depth of focus. A well-established method to achieve both requirements are off-axis illumination techniques. As topography effects such as nonplanar electromagnetic scattering and notching are critical for line-width control, a rigorous three-dimensional exposure simulation considering both nonplanar surfaces as well as off-axis illumination is of utmost interest. We will demonstrate a method that meets the two challenges of nonplanar substrates and off-axis illumination .