KR100900241B1 - Method for evaluating function of semiconductor exposing equipment using multi-ring mask - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses a method for evaluating the performance of semiconductor exposure equipment using a multiple ring mask, and the method for evaluating the performance of semiconductor exposure equipment using the multiple ring mask according to the present invention is characterized in that the multiple rings are arranged in the exposure area in the horizontal and vertical directions. Providing a ring mask; Installing the multiple ring mask in an exposure apparatus; Inserting a photosensitive agent coated wafer into an exposure apparatus provided with the multi-ring mask, and then exposing the photosensitive agent under exposure conditions that differ in energy and focus; Measuring the shape of the formed photoresist pattern after the development process is performed on the exposed photoresist; Ranking the measured photoresist pattern shape according to the bridge angle of the aberration; Extracting a correction amount corresponding to each aberration effect and adjusting a lens in the exposure apparatus; And extracting performance improvement data of the exposure apparatus after the lens correction. According to the present invention, as a mask specially designed to diagnose the limit resolution and the effective exposure area of a semiconductor exposure apparatus, it is possible to quickly and accurately diagnose the possibility of the process of a microcircuit.

Description

Method for evaluating function of semiconductor exposing equipment using multi-ring mask

1 is a layout diagram of a line and a space pattern according to the prior art,

2 is a view showing a phase electric field and light intensity irradiated onto a wafer at the time of light irradiation to a mask on which a chromium film is formed according to the prior art;

3 is a view showing a phase electric field and intensity irradiated onto a wafer during light irradiation with a chromium film formed mask according to the prior art;

4A and 4B illustrate a multiple ring mask for evaluating the performance of semiconductor exposure equipment according to the present invention. FIG. 4A illustrates a single ring ring pattern, and FIG. 4B illustrates multiple ring space patterns.

5 is a view showing the grade according to the bridge pattern angle in the multi-ring mask for evaluating the performance of semiconductor exposure equipment according to the present invention,

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of a multiple ring and a single ring having a line / space size of 0.16 μm in the multiple ring mask for evaluating performance of semiconductor exposure equipment according to the present invention; FIG.

[Description of Drawing Reference]

1, 11: transparent substrate 3, 13: chrome film pattern                 

5, 15: Lens 10: Line / Space Pattern

50: single ring pattern 100: multiple ring pattern

D: Ring inside diameter W: Ring line pattern width

w: line / space pattern width

The present invention relates to a method for evaluating a semiconductor exposure apparatus using a multi-ring mask, and more particularly, a mask specifically designed to diagnose the limit resolution and effective exposure area of a semiconductor exposure apparatus. The present invention relates to a method for evaluating the performance of semiconductor exposure equipment using a multi-ring mask that can accurately diagnose.

1 is a layout diagram of a line and a space pattern according to the prior art, and shows a line and space pattern 10 of a predetermined width w spaced apart by a predetermined interval.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a phase electric field and light intensity irradiated onto a wafer upon light irradiation to a mask on which a chromium film is formed according to the prior art. As shown in FIG. 2, light is a transparent substrate on which a light blocking film 3 is formed. ± 1st-order diffraction light and 0th-order diffraction light are made incident on the lens 5 while passing through (1). In this way, on the wafer (not shown), as shown in FIG.

On the other hand, Figure 3 is a view showing the phase electric field and the light intensity irradiated to the wafer during the incident light irradiation on the mask on which the chromium film is formed according to the prior art, as shown in FIG. 100% light and 0% light are incident on the lens 15 while passing through the formed transparent substrate 11. In this way, on the wafer (not shown), as shown in FIG. 3, the phase electric field and the light intensity appear.

As described above, conventionally, a mask shape composed mainly of a simple line, a space, a rectangle, and the like, such as a line / space pattern or a rectangle, is performed through on-wafer resist patterning experiments, thereby resolving power, effective exposure area, and auto-exposure according to illumination of an exposure apparatus. Used for focusing and aberration evaluation.

In addition, the evaluation of the horizontal / vertical direction is limited to the evaluation of any direction.

In order to precisely diagnose the characteristics of each equipment, there is a disadvantage in that excessive time, manpower, and expense are required.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the problems of the prior art, using a multi-ring mask that can significantly reduce the evaluation time and cost of the effective exposure area of the exposure equipment, exposure equipment defects, limit resolution, etc. Its purpose is to provide a method for evaluating the performance of semiconductor exposure equipment.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for evaluating performance of a semiconductor exposure apparatus using a multiple ring mask, the method including: providing a multiple ring mask in which multiple rings are disposed in an exposure area in a horizontal and vertical direction; Installing the multiple ring mask in an exposure apparatus; Inserting a photosensitive agent coated wafer into an exposure apparatus provided with the multi-ring mask, and then exposing the photosensitive agent under exposure conditions that differ in energy and focus; Measuring the shape of the formed photoresist pattern after the development process is performed on the exposed photoresist; Ranking the measured photoresist pattern shape according to the bridge angle of the aberration; Extracting a correction amount corresponding to each aberration effect and adjusting a lens in the exposure apparatus; And extracting performance improvement data of the exposure apparatus after the lens correction.

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(Example)

Hereinafter, a method for evaluating performance of semiconductor exposure equipment using a multiple ring mask according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

4A and 4B illustrate multiple ring masks for evaluating the performance of semiconductor exposure equipment according to the present invention. FIG. 4A illustrates a single ring ring pattern, and FIG. 4B illustrates multiple ring space patterns.

5 is a view showing the grade according to the bridge pattern angle in the semiconductor exposure equipment performance evaluation method using a multiple ring mask according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view illustrating multiple rings and single rings having a line / space size of 0.16 μm in the method for evaluating performance of semiconductor exposure equipment using a multiple ring mask according to the present invention.

In the method for evaluating the performance of semiconductor exposure equipment using a multiple ring mask according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 4B, the space pattern of the multi ring mask 100 is based on a wavelength of 248 nm. The center diameter D is about 0.5 μm (2 * λ: exposure wavelength), and the ring sizes W are 0.10, 0.11, 0.12, 0.13, 0.14, 0.16, 0.17, 0.18, 0.20, 0.25 μm, and the like. Here, the center diameter is 0.5 μm, which is well formed even under various lighting conditions in consideration of the resolution (R = k1λ / NA). Meanwhile, the present invention is applicable to evaluation of ArF (193 nm), F2 (157 nm), and other exposure equipment in addition to KrF (248 nm) exposure equipment.

Next, although not shown in the figure, the multiple ring mask 100 in which the multiple rings are arranged in the exposure area in the horizontal and vertical directions is provided in the exposure apparatus (not shown).

Subsequently, although not shown in the drawings, a photosensitive agent is applied to the wafer, and then the photosensitive agent is loaded into an exposure apparatus provided with the multi-ring mask 100, and then the photosensitive agent is exposed to different exposure conditions with energy. Expose

Next, after the development process is performed on the exposed photoresist, the shape of the formed photoresist pattern is measured by a CD (criticalal dimension) scanning electron microscope (SEM).

Here, the measurement of the shape of the formed photoresist pattern may be impossible to measure a portion of the pattern distortion is severe, so select the ring suitable for extracting aberration information (after observing the shape of the first, second, third, etc.) to measure can do.

At this time, the measured aberration for the photoresist pattern shape is graded according to the degree of bridge angle of the multi-ring. In the case of a multi-ring space pattern, as shown in Fig. 5, the grade A no-bridge (very good), the grade B less than 30 degrees (excellent), and the grade C 35 degrees Less than 45 degrees, less than 90 degrees (usually) at 45 degrees or more of class D, less than 180 degrees (bad) at more than 90 degrees of class E, and less than 360 degrees (very bad) at more than 180 degrees of class F.

In addition, in the case of an iso ring, as shown in Fig. 5, a class A no-bridge (very good), a class B less than 45 degrees (excellent), a class C It is less than 90 degrees (normal) at 45 degrees or more, less than 180 degrees (bad) at more than 90 degrees of class D, less than 360 degrees (very bad) at more than 180 degrees of class E, and all bridges of class F (bad).

Then, the correction amount corresponding to each aberration influence is extracted and lens adjustment in the exposure apparatus is performed.

Subsequently, data on the performance improvement data of the exposure apparatus after the lens correction, for example, the lens aberration improvement, the marginal resolution improvement, the process margin improvement, and the like are extracted.

6 is an enlarged view of a single ring and a multiple ring having a size of 0.16 μm line / space in a mask for evaluating performance of a semiconductor exposure apparatus according to the present invention, the equipment for a product drawn by 0.16 μm line or space design method It shows the performance and effective exposure area of the system.

On the other hand, as another embodiment of the present invention, by using the multi-ring mask to evaluate the lens by modifying the deformed light, normal light, coherence, or in addition, the multi-ring mask in the chrome mask, attenuated phase inversion mask, It can be applied to a strong phase inversion mask to determine the effective field size of the exposure equipment. The multi-ring mask includes at least one ring.

In addition, a method of judging the direction and degree of lens aberration (for example, spherical surface, boiling point, coma, etc.) by the pattern bridge angle as shown in FIG. 5 may be used.

As described above, according to the multi-ring mask according to the present invention and the method for evaluating the performance of semiconductor exposure equipment using the same, when evaluating using the horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines composed of conventional line and space patterns, The evaluation was to be performed, but since the multi-ring mask according to the present invention has spatial and frequency characteristics of lines and spaces, the information on spherical aberration, coma, astigmatism, image distortion, etc., is determined once in the exposure area or focal position. Precise diagnosis and evaluation of the misalignment can be performed.

In addition, when used for periodic diagnosis of the exposure equipment, it is possible to quickly diagnose the failure or defect of the exposure equipment.

On the other hand, the present invention is not limited to the above-described specific preferred embodiments, and various changes can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the gist of the invention claimed in the claims. will be.

Claims (12)

Providing a multiple ring mask in which the multiple rings are disposed in the exposure area in the horizontal and vertical directions; Installing the multiple ring mask in an exposure apparatus; Inserting a photosensitive agent coated wafer into an exposure apparatus provided with the multi-ring mask, and then exposing the photosensitive agent under exposure conditions that differ in energy and focus; Measuring the shape of the formed photoresist pattern after the development process is performed on the exposed photoresist; Ranking the measured photoresist pattern shape according to the bridge angle of the aberration; Extracting a correction amount corresponding to each aberration effect and adjusting a lens in the exposure apparatus; And Extracting performance improvement data of the exposure apparatus after the lens correction; Performance evaluation method of semiconductor exposure equipment using a multi-ring mask comprising a. The multi-ring mask of claim 1, wherein the multi-ring mask has an internal diameter of 0.5 μm (2 * λ: exposure wavelength), and the link groups are 0.10, 0.11, 0.12, 0.13, 0.14, 0.15, 0.16, 0.17, 0.18, 0.20, A performance evaluation method for semiconductor exposure equipment using a multiple ring mask, characterized in that it comprises a multiple ring of 0.25 μm. According to claim 1, The grade according to the bridge angle of the aberration, Class A no-bridge (very good), Class B less than 30 degrees (excellent), Class C 35 degrees or more less than 45 degrees , Multiple ring, characterized in that less than 90 degrees (usually) at 45 degrees or more of class D, less than 180 degrees (bad) at more than 90 degrees of class E, less than 360 degrees (very bad) at more than 180 degrees of class F Performance Evaluation Method of Semiconductor Exposure Equipment Using Mask. The performance evaluation of semiconductor exposure equipment using a multiple ring mask according to claim 1, wherein the exposure equipment performance improvement data includes at least one of lens aberration improvement, marginal resolution improvement, and process margin improvement. Way. The method according to claim 1, further comprising a method of evaluating a lens by adjusting deformation light, normal light, and coherence using the multi-ring mask. 2. The semiconductor according to claim 1, wherein the multiple ring mask is applied to a chroma mask, an atenuated phase inversion mask, and a strong phase inversion mask to determine an effective area of an exposure apparatus. Method of evaluating exposure equipment performance. The method of claim 1, wherein the multiple ring mask comprises at least one ring. The method of claim 1, wherein the lens aberration direction or degree is determined by dividing the pattern aberration angle into a pattern bridge angle. The semiconductor exposure apparatus of claim 1, wherein the multiple ring mask is applied to an exposure device of KrF (248 nm), an exposure device of ArF (193 nm), and an exposure device of F2 (157 nm). How to evaluate equipment performance. delete delete delete

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