A reticle for a semiconductor lithography process includes a glass plate having regions with a reduced optical transmission factor. The regions may include arrays of elements comprising defects such as cracks or voids which are formed by laser pulses. The regions may be adjacent to openings in an opaque material at the bottom of the reticle to shield the openings from a portion of the light which illuminates the reticle from the top. As a result, the light which exits the reticle and is used to pattern a substrate has an asymmetric intensity. This allows the substrate to be patterned with an inspection mark which indicates whether a defocus condition exists, and whether there is a positive or negative defocus condition. Related methods use a reticle to form a pattern on a substrate and for adjusting a focus condition using a reticle.

A reticle for a semiconductor lithography process includes a glass plate having regions with a reduced optical transmission factor. The regions may include arrays of elements comprising defects such as cracks or voids which are formed by laser pulses. The regions may be adjacent to openings in an opaque material at the bottom of the reticle to shield the openings from a portion of the light which illuminates the reticle from the top. As a result, the light which exits the reticle and is used to pattern a substrate has an asymmetric intensity. This allows the substrate to be patterned with an inspection mark which indicates whether a defocus condition exists, and whether there is a positive or negative defocus condition. Related methods use a reticle to form a pattern on a substrate and for adjusting a focus condition using a reticle.

A method of characterizing a lithographic mask type uses a mask having thereon test pattern units of linear features at different orientations. The mask is exposed, rotated by angle, exposed again, rotated by a further angle, exposed, etc. The printed features are measured to determine one or more characteristics of the mask. The method can be used to model shadowing effects of a EUV mask with a thick absorber illuminated at an angle.

A method of characterizing a lithographic mask type uses a mask having thereon test pattern units of linear features at different orientations. The mask is exposed, rotated by angle, exposed again, rotated by a further angle, exposed, etc. The printed features are measured to determine one or more characteristics of the mask. The method can be used to model shadowing effects of a EUV mask with a thick absorber illuminated at an angle.

Reticle and methods for forming a device or reticle are presented. A reticle is provided with a device pattern and a first monitoring pattern. The first monitoring pattern includes a plurality of first test cells having a first test cell area and a first test pattern. The first test cells have different first pitch ratios to an anchor pitch and the first test pattern fills the first test cell area of a first test cell. A wafer with a resist layer is exposed with a lithographic system using the reticle. The resist is developed to form a patterned resist layer on the wafer and the wafer is processed using the patterned resist layer.

Reticle and methods for forming a device or reticle are presented. A reticle is provided with a device pattern and a first monitoring pattern. The first monitoring pattern includes a plurality of first test cells having a first test cell area and a first test pattern. The first test cells have different first pitch ratios to an anchor pitch and the first test pattern fills the first test cell area of a first test cell. A wafer with a resist layer is exposed with a lithographic system using the reticle. The resist is developed to form a patterned resist layer on the wafer and the wafer is processed using the patterned resist layer.

For the purposes of measuring structures of a microlithographic mask, a method for capturing absolute positions of structures on the mask and a method for determining structure-dependent and/or illumination-dependent contributions to the position of an image of the structures to be imaged, or of the edges defining this structure, are combined with one another. As a result of this, establishing an edge placement error that is relevant to the exposure of a wafer and, hence, a characterization of the mask can be substantially improved.

For the purposes of measuring structures of a microlithographic mask, a method for capturing absolute positions of structures on the mask and a method for determining structure-dependent and/or illumination-dependent contributions to the position of an image of the structures to be imaged, or of the edges defining this structure, are combined with one another. As a result of this, establishing an edge placement error that is relevant to the exposure of a wafer and, hence, a characterization of the mask can be substantially improved.

Systems and methods to detect, quantify, and control process-induced asymmetric signatures using patterned wafer geometry measurements are disclosed. The system may include a geometry measurement tool configured to obtain a first set of wafer geometry measurements of the wafer prior to the wafer undergoing a fabrication process and to obtain a second set of wafer geometry measurements of the wafer after the fabrication process. The system may also include a processor in communication with the geometry measurement tool. The processor may be configured to: calculate a geometry-change map based on the first set of wafer geometry measurements and the second set of wafer geometry measurements; analyze the geometry-change map to detect an asymmetric component induced to wafer geometry by the fabrication process; and estimate an asymmetric overlay error induced by the fabrication process based on the asymmetric component detected in wafer geometry.

A method embodiment includes providing a reticle design data that specify a plurality of printable features that are formed on the wafer using the reticle and a plurality of nonprintable features that are not formed on the wafer using such reticle, wherein the reticle design data is usable to fabricate the reticle. A reduced design database is generated from the reticle design data and this reduced design database includes a description or map of the nonprintable features of the reticle, a description or map of a plurality of cell-to-cell regions of the reticle, and a grayscale reticle image that is rasterized from the reticle design data. The reduced design database, along with the reticle, is transferred to a fabrication facility so that the reduced design database is usable to periodically inspect the reticle in the fabrication facility.