Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090011371 | REFLECTIVE FILM INTERFACE TO RESTORE TRANSVERSE MAGNETIC WAVE CONTRAST IN LITHOGRAPHIC PROCESSING - A method and system for exposing a resist layer with regions of photosensitivity to an image in a lithographic process using a high numerical aperture imaging tool. There is employed a substrate having thereover a layer reflective to the imaging tool radiation and a resist layer having a region of photosensitivity over the reflective layer, with the resist layer having a thickness. The imaging tool is adapted to project radiation containing an aerial image onto the resist layer, with a portion of the radiation containing the aerial image passing through the resist layer and reflecting back to the resist layer. The reflected radiation forms an interference pattern in the resist layer of the projected aerial image through the resist layer thickness. The thickness and location of the resist layer region of photosensitivity with respect to the reflective layer are selected to include from within the interference pattern higher contrast portions of the interference pattern in the direction of the resist thickness, and to exclude lower contrast portions of the interference pattern in the resist thickness direction from said resist layer region of photosensitivity, to improve contrast of the aerial image in said resist layer region of photosensitivity. | 01-08-2009 |
20090040486 | REFLECTIVE FILM INTERFACE TO RESTORE TRANSVERSE MAGNETIC WAVE CONTRAST IN LITHOGRAPHIC PROCESSING - A method and system for exposing a resist layer with regions of photosensitivity to an image in a lithographic process using a high numerical aperture imaging tool. There is employed a substrate having thereover a layer reflective to the imaging tool radiation and a resist layer having a region of photosensitivity over the reflective layer, with the resist layer having a thickness. The imaging tool is adapted to project radiation containing an aerial image onto the resist layer, with a portion of the radiation containing the aerial image passing through the resist layer and reflecting back to the resist layer. The reflected radiation forms an interference pattern in the resist layer of the projected aerial image through the resist layer thickness. The thickness and location of the resist layer region of photosensitivity with respect to the reflective layer are selected to include from within the interference pattern higher contrast portions of the interference pattern in the direction of the resist thickness, and to exclude lower contrast portions of the interference pattern in the resist thickness direction from said resist layer region of photosensitivity, to improve contrast of the aerial image in said resist layer region of photosensitivity. | 02-12-2009 |
20090185740 | CALCULATING IMAGE INTENSITY OF MASK BY DECOMPOSING MANHATTAN POLYGON BASED ON PARALLEL EDGE - A method, system, computer program product and table lookup system for calculating image intensity for a mask used in integrated circuit processing are disclosed. A method may comprise: decomposing a Manhattan polygon of the mask into decomposed areas based on parallel edges of the Manhattan polygon along only one dimension; determining a convolution of each decomposed area based on a table lookup; determining a sum of coherent systems contribution of the Manhattan polygon based on the convolutions of the decomposed areas; and outputting the determined sum of coherent system contribution for analyzing the mask. | 07-23-2009 |
20090208865 | PHOTOLITHOGRAPHY FOCUS IMPROVEMENT BY REDUCTION OF AUTOFOCUS RADIATION TRANSMISSION INTO SUBSTRATE - An anti-reflective coating material, a microelectronic structure that includes an anti-reflective coating layer formed from the anti-reflective coating material and a related method for exposing a resist layer located over a substrate while using the anti-reflective coating layer provide for attenuation of secondary reflected vertical alignment beam radiation when aligning the substrate including the resist layer located thereover. Such enhanced vertical alignment provides for improved dimensional integrity of a patterned resist layer formed from the resist layer, as well as additional target layers that may be fabricated while using the resist layer as a mask. | 08-20-2009 |
20090243738 | MULTIPLE STATUS E-FUSE BASED NON-VOLATILE VOLTAGE CONTROL OSCILLATOR CONFIGURED FOR PROCESS VARIATION COMPENSATION, AN ASSOCIATED METHOD AND AN ASSOCIATED DESIGN STRUCTURE - Disclosed are embodiments of a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) capable of non-volatile self-correction to compensate for process variations and to ensure that the center frequency of the oscillator is maintained within a predetermined frequency range. This VCO incorporates a pair of varactors connected in parallel to an inductor-capacitor (LC) tank circuit for outputting a periodic signal having a frequency that is proportional to an input voltage. A control loop uses a programmable variable resistance e-fuse to set a compensation voltage to be applied to the pair of varactors. By adjusting the compensation voltage, the capacitance of the pair of varactors can be adjusted in order to selectively increase or decrease the frequency of the periodic signal in response to a set input voltage and, thereby to bring the frequency of that periodic signal into the predetermined frequency range. Also disclosed are embodiments of an associated design structure for such a VCO and an associated method for operating such a VCO. | 10-01-2009 |
20090243739 | MULTIPLE STATUS E-FUSE BASED NON-VOLATILE VOLTAGE CONTROL OSCILLATOR CONFIGURED FOR PROCESS VARIATION COMPENSATION, AN ASSOCIATED METHOD AND AN ASSOCIATED DESIGN STRUCTURE - Disclosed are embodiments of a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) capable of non-volatile self-correction to compensate for process variations and to ensure that the center frequency of the oscillator is maintained within a predetermined frequency range. This VCO incorporates a pair of varactors connected in parallel to an inductor-capacitor (LC) tank circuit for outputting a periodic signal having a frequency that is proportional to an input voltage. A control loop uses a programmable variable resistance e-fuse to set a compensation voltage to be applied to the pair of varactors. By adjusting the compensation voltage, the capacitance of the pair of varactors can be adjusted in order to selectively increase or decrease the frequency of the periodic signal in response to a set input voltage and, thereby to bring the frequency of that periodic signal into the predetermined frequency range. Also disclosed are embodiments of an associated design structure for such a VCO and an associated method for operating such a VCO. | 10-01-2009 |
20100175043 | FAST AND ACCURATE METHOD TO SIMULATE INTERMEDIATE RANGE FLARE EFFECTS - A method is provided for modeling lithographic processes in the design of photomasks for the manufacture of semiconductor integrated circuits, and more particularly for simulating intermediate range flare effects. For a region of influence (ROI) from first ROI1 of about 5λ/NA to distance ROI2 when the point spread function has a slope that is slowly varying according to a predetermined criterion, then mask shapes at least within the distance range from ROI1 to ROI2 are smoothed prior to computing the SOCS convolutions. The method provides a fast method for simulating intermediate range flare effects with sufficient accuracy. | 07-08-2010 |
20110209106 | METHOD FOR DESIGNING OPTICAL LITHOGRAPHY MASKS FOR DIRECTED SELF-ASSEMBLY - A method and a computer system for designing an optical photomask for forming a prepattern opening in a photoresist layer on a substrate wherein the photoresist layer and the prepattern opening are coated with a self-assembly material that undergoes directed self-assembly to form a directed self-assembly pattern. The methods includes: generating a mask design shape from a target design shape; generating a sub-resolution assist feature design shape based on the mask design shape; using a computer to generate a prepattern shape based on the sub-resolution assist feature design shape; and using a computer to evaluate if a directed self-assembly pattern of the self-assembly material based on the prepattern shape is within specified ranges of dimensional and positional targets of the target design shape on the substrate. | 08-25-2011 |
20110256486 | PHOTOLITHOGRAPHY FOCUS IMPROVEMENT BY REDUCTION OF AUTOFOCUS RADIATION TRANSMISSION INTO SUBSTRATE - An anti-reflective coating material, a microelectronic structure that includes an anti-reflective coating layer formed from the anti-reflective coating material and a related method for exposing a resist layer located over a substrate while using the anti-reflective coating layer provide for attenuation of secondary reflected vertical alignment beam radiation when aligning the substrate including the resist layer located thereover. Such enhanced vertical alignment provides for improved dimensional integrity of a patterned resist layer formed from the resist layer, as well as additional target layers that may be fabricated while using the resist layer as a mask. | 10-20-2011 |
20120008134 | METHOD TO MATCH EXPOSURE TOOLS USING A PROGRAMMABLE ILLUMINATOR - Programmable illuminators in exposure tools are employed to increase the degree of freedom in tool matching. A tool matching methodology is provided that utilizes the fine adjustment of the individual source pixel intensity based on a linear programming (LP) problem subjected to user-specific constraints to minimize the difference of the lithographic wafer data between two tools. The lithographic data can be critical dimension differences from multiple targets and multiple process conditions. This LP problem can be modified to include a binary variable for matching sources using multi-scan exposure. The method can be applied to scenarios that the reference tool is a physical tool or a virtual ideal tool. In addition, this method can match different lithography systems, each including a tool and a mask. | 01-12-2012 |
20120077130 | METHOD FOR GENERATING A PLURALITY OF OPTIMIZED WAVEFRONTS FOR A MULTIPLE EXPOSURE LITHOGRAPHIC PROCESS - A simplified version of a multiexpose mask optimization problem is solved in order to find a compressed space in which to search for the solution to the full problem formulation. The simplification is to reduce the full problem to an unconstrained formulation. The full problem of minimizing dark region intensity while maintaining intensity above threshold at each bright point can be converted to the unconstrained problem of minimizing average dark region intensity per unit of average intensity in the bright regions. The extrema solutions to the simplified problem can be obtained for each source. This set of extrema solutions is then assessed to determine which features are predominantly printed by which source. A minimal set of extrema solutions serves as a space of reduced dimensionality within which to maximize the primary objective under constraints. The space typically has reduced dimensionality through selection of highest quality extrema solutions. | 03-29-2012 |
20120092633 | REFLECTIVE FILM INTERFACE TO RESTORE TRANSVERSE MAGNETIC WAVE CONTRAST IN LITHOGRAPHIC PROCESSING - A system for exposing a resist layer to an image that includes a layer reflective to imaging tool radiation and a resist layer having a region of photosensitivity over the reflective layer. An imaging tool projects radiation containing an aerial image onto the resist layer, with a portion of the radiation containing the aerial image passing through the resist and reflecting back to the resist to form an interference pattern of the projected aerial image through the resist layer thickness. The thickness and location of the resist layer region of photosensitivity are selected to include from within the interference pattern higher contrast portions of the interference pattern in the direction of the resist thickness, and to exclude lower contrast portions of the interference pattern in the resist thickness direction from said resist layer region of photosensitivity, to improve contrast of the aerial image in said resist layer region of photosensitivity. | 04-19-2012 |
20120331428 | METHOD FOR DESIGNING OPTICAL LITHOGRAPHY MASKS FOR DIRECTED SELF-ASSEMBLY - A method and a computer system for designing an optical photomask for forming a prepattern opening in a photoresist layer on a substrate wherein the photoresist layer and the prepattern opening are coated with a self-assembly material that undergoes directed self-assembly to form a directed self-assembly pattern. The methods includes: generating a mask design shape from a target design shape; generating a sub-resolution assist feature design shape based on the mask design shape; using a computer to generate a prepattern shape based on the sub-resolution assist feature design shape; and using a computer to evaluate if a directed self-assembly pattern of the self-assembly material based on the prepattern shape is within specified ranges of dimensional and positional targets of the target design shape on the substrate. | 12-27-2012 |
20130185045 | ANALYZING A PATTERNING PROCESS USING A MODEL OF YIELD - Techniques are presented that include accessing results of forward simulations of circuit yield, the results including at least circuit yield results including simulated device shapes. Using the circuit yield results, high-level traits of at least the simulated device shapes are determined. Based on the determined high-level traits and using the circuit yield results, a compact model for predicted yield is constructed, the compact model including a plurality of adjustable parameters, and the constructing the compact model for predicted yield including adjusting the adjustable parameters until at least one first predetermined criterion is met. An optimization problem is constructed including at least the compact model for yield, an objective, and a plurality of constraints. Using the optimization problem, the objective is modified subject to the plurality of constraints until at least one second predetermined criterion is met. | 07-18-2013 |
20130185046 | Analyzing A Patterning Process Using A Model Of Yield - Techniques are presented that include accessing results of forward simulations of circuit yield, the results including at least circuit yield results including simulated device shapes. Using the circuit yield results, high-level traits of at least the simulated device shapes are determined. Based on the determined high-level traits and using the circuit yield results, a compact model for predicted yield is constructed, the compact model including a plurality of adjustable parameters, and the constructing the compact model for predicted yield including adjusting the adjustable parameters until at least one first predetermined criterion is met. An optimization problem is constructed including at least the compact model for yield, an objective, and a plurality of constraints. Using the optimization problem, the objective is modified subject to the plurality of constraints until at least one second predetermined criterion is met. | 07-18-2013 |