JPH04225352A - Manufacture of reticle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable inspection of data after manufacture by describing the sizes and forms of historical marks whether exposure data formed at the time of manufacture of the reticles faithfully and correctly to designed data and pattern formation is executed in fidelity to the designed data, or not. CONSTITUTION:Whether patterns are formed in accordance with each data set in each step, or not, each time each data pattern-forming step D1-Dn has been completed, and prescribed marks M1-Mn showing methods for depicting pattern-forming parameters and the like are depicted on an original reticle plate by electron beams, thus permitting information on the hysteresis and effects of the data processing to be clearly recorded on the reticle as a kind of mark.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a reticle for exposing a circuit pattern onto a semiconductor substrate.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art In the manufacture of semiconductor circuit devices such as ICs and LSIs, a photomask with a full-sized circuit pattern drawn on it is placed on a semiconductor substrate coated with a photoreceptor, and the circuit pattern is exposed to light such as ultraviolet rays. Based on this, a circuit is formed through various processes. In order to create this full-size photomask, first, a reticle mask (hereinafter simply referred to as a reticle) is created based on layout coordinate information stored in a storage medium. A reticle is an enlarged size mask on which a circuit pattern is drawn at a size approximately 5 to 10 times the original size. A full-size mask is made by reducing and transferring the pattern of this reticle by the number of chips.

[0003] In the conventional reticle manufacturing method, first, design pattern data is created, the data is verified, then converted to exposure data, and then the data is processed again and drawn on the reticle original plate. This process was followed. In recent years, as design patterns have become finer and more complex, and the amount of data has increased, high reliability is required when creating pattern data. For this reason, methods such as hierarchizing the data creation process into multiple stages as shown in Figure 3, or separating data into main circuit data and peripheral circuit data, and composing them have been adopted. .

0004

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, as the number of steps for setting data during data creation has increased, mistakes and errors in data are more likely to occur. Furthermore, the stratification of datasets led to an increase in data verification time. Furthermore, if a mistake occurs in data processing, the mistake itself can be confirmed on the actual reticle, but there is no information in the data to show the history of the mistake and in which data set stage it occurred. . Therefore, it takes a long time to verify at which data setting stage the error occurred, causing problems such as the need to remanufacture from the beginning.

An object of the present invention is to provide a reticle in which the exposure data for each stage created during reticle manufacturing is faithfully and accurately created to the design data, and it is possible to verify after the fact whether or not the pattern drawing is in accordance with the data. The purpose is to provide a manufacturing method.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is constructed as shown in FIG. FIG. 1 is a diagram explaining the principle of the present invention. FIG. 1(A) shows the configuration of a reticle manufacturing method 1 of the present invention, and FIG. 1(B) shows a reticle 4 manufactured by this reticle manufacturing method 1.

In FIG. 1, this reticle manufacturing method 1 includes a pattern data generation step 2 of synthesizing a plurality of hierarchized data sets in predetermined steps to generate pattern data for reticle manufacturing; A reticle manufacturing method comprising a reticle pattern drawing step 3 of drawing a reticle pattern P with an electron beam on a reticle original plate R coated with a resist based on manufacturing pattern data,
The reticle pattern drawing step 3 includes data set drawing steps D1 to Dn in which electron beam drawing is performed based on the data of each data set among a plurality of data sets, and each data set drawing step D1 to Dn is completed. The data set history notation step H1 to Hn is configured to draw predetermined data history indicators M1 to Mn on the reticle original plate R with an electron beam, indicating whether or not the data set is drawn and the drawing method.

[0008]

[Operation] According to the present invention, data drawing step D1 ~
Each time Dn is completed, predetermined history marks M1 to Mn are written on the reticle original plate R by an electron beam, indicating whether or not each data set of each stage has been written, and the drawing method such as drawing parameters. Therefore, information about the data processing history and results can be clearly recorded on the reticle as a kind of mark, making subsequent data verification very easy.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 shows an example of a data history indicator according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2A shows the form of a data history indicator when each data set is faithfully processed and drawn on a reticle according to the design pattern data. Here, M11 is a mark representing the result of processing the data set 1 of the main cell pattern. M21 is a mark representing the result of processing data set 2 of the decoder pattern. M31 is a mark representing the result of processing the peripheral pattern data set 3. These historical markers will appear if the data set processing or reticle drawing is done correctly.
It is drawn with the shape and dimensions as shown in FIG. 2(A).

However, if a mistake occurs during data set processing or reticle drawing, the history indicator is
It is drawn as shown in . That is, in FIG. 2(B), the mark indicating the processing result of dataset 1 is drawn as M12, and compared to M11, the dimension x1 becomes x2, the dimension B1 becomes B2, and the dimension W1 becomes W2.
is changing.

These x, B, and W dimensions indicate whether or not processing parameters such as design and process shifts, proximity correction during exposure, and thermal correction have been performed accurately. This change indicates that a problem has occurred in one of these parameters. Further, since the mark 21 indicating the processing result of the data set 2 has changed to M22, this indicates that some kind of failure has occurred in the data set 2 as well. Further, the mark M31 indicating the processing result of data set 3 is missing (M32) in FIG. 2(B), which indicates that the mark M31 was not drawn due to some reason such as an input error. These history indicators are set so that all parameters used in the dataset affect their shape and dimensions.

The method for representing data errors in the above embodiments is not limited to the one described above, but may also include overlapping patterns or thin slit-like patterns. Further, the shape of the mark may be concentric circles, triangles, etc. in addition to the shape shown in FIG. 2. The area/position where a mark is drawn is not limited to one location, but may be at any location on the reticle original plate as long as it is outside the reticle pan. Furthermore, a plurality of marks may be written in parallel.

[0013]

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention,
Since the exposure data for each stage created during reticle manufacturing is faithfully and accurately created to the design data, and whether the pattern is drawn or not and the drawing method are indicated by the shape and dimensions of the history marker, post-verification of the data is possible. becomes easier,
This has the advantage of contributing to speeding up data modification.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram explaining the principle of the present invention; FIG. 1(A) shows the configuration of a reticle manufacturing method of the present invention, and FIG. 1(B) shows a reticle manufactured by this reticle manufacturing method.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data history indicator according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating conventional data processing for reticle manufacturing.

[Explanation of symbols]

1... Reticle manufacturing method 2... Pattern data generation step 3... Reticle pattern drawing step 4... Reticle D1 to Dn... Data set drawing step H1 to H
n...Data set history notation step M1 to Mn...
History indicator P...Reticle pattern R...Reticle original plate x, B, W...Dimensions

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: A pattern data generation step (2) of generating pattern data for reticle manufacturing by synthesizing a plurality (n) of hierarchical data sets through predetermined steps.
Then, a reticle pattern (P
) reticle pattern drawing process (3) with electron beam drawing
), wherein the reticle pattern drawing step (3) includes a data set drawing step (D1 to Dn) in which electron beam drawing is performed based on data of each data set among the plurality of data sets.
) and the data set drawing step (D1 to Dn
) is completed, a predetermined data history indicator (M1 to Mn
) on the reticle original plate (R) with an electron beam; a data set history notation step (H1 to Hn);
A reticle manufacturing method comprising: