METHOD OF PERFORMING DOSE MODULATION, IN PARTICULAR FOR ELECTRON BEAM LITHOGRAPHY

Abstract

A method for transferring a pattern onto a substrate by direct writing by means of a particle or photon beam comprises: a step of producing a dose map, associating a dose to elementary shapes of the pattern; and a step of exposing the substrate according to the pattern with a spatially-dependent emitted dose depending on the dose map; wherein the step of producing a dose map includes: computing at least first and second metrics of the pattern for each of the elementary shapes, the first metric representative of features of the pattern within a first range from the elementary shape and the second metric representative of features of the pattern within a second range, larger than the first range, from the elementary shape; and determining the emitted dose associated to each of the elementary shapes of the pattern as a function of the metrics. A computer program product is provided for carrying out such a method or at least the step of producing a dose map.

Claims

1. A method for transferring a pattern onto a substrate by direct writing by means of a particle or photon beam, the method comprising: a step of producing a dose map, associating a dose to each of a plurality of elementary shapes of said pattern; and a step of exposing the substrate according to the pattern with a spatially-dependent emitted dose depending on said dose map; wherein said step of producing a dose map includes: computing at least a first and a second metrics of the pattern for each of said elementary shapes, the first metric being representative of features of the pattern within a first range from the elementary shape and the second metric being representative of features of the pattern within a second range, larger than the first range, from the elementary shape; and determining the emitted dose associated to each of said elementary shapes of the pattern as a function of said metrics.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein said first metric is a critical dimension of the pattern and said second metric is a pattern density.

3. The method according to claim 2 comprising computing the critical dimension from an overlap factor between the pattern and a disk centered on geometrical center of the elementary shape, the diameter of the disk being such that it partially extends beyond an edge of the pattern.

4. The method according to claim 3 wherein the disk is the smallest of a predetermined finite set of disks centered on the geometrical center of the elementary shape to partially extend beyond said edge of the pattern.

5. The method according to claim 2 comprising computing the density value of each elementary shape by convolving the pattern with a point spread function of the particle or photon beam.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein the first metric is a density value computed by convolving the pattern with a point spread function of the particle or photon beam characterized by a first radius and the second metric is a density value computed by convolving the pattern with a point spread function of the particle or photon beam characterized by a second radius, larger than the first radius.

7. The method according to claim 1 wherein said step of exposing the substrate is performed by projecting shaped particle or photon shots onto said substrate, each shot corresponding to an elementary shape of the pattern, and wherein said dose map associates a dose to each of said shots.

8. The method according to claim 1 wherein said step of determining the emitted dose associated to each of said elementary shapes of the pattern as a function of said metrics is carried out by using a pre-computed look-up table.

9. The method according to claim 8 wherein said step of producing a dose map includes directly reading the dose associated to each of said elementary shapes from the look-up table.

10. The method according to claim 8 wherein said step of producing a dose map includes obtaining the dose associated to each of said elementary shapes by interpolating between two values read from the look-up table.

11. The method according to claim 1 further comprising a preliminary calibration step of determining a relation between said metrics and an emitted dose by using numerical simulations or experimental tests to find optimal doses for a plurality of reference patterns, each being representative of a different set of values of said metrics, according to a predetermined optimality criterion.

12. The method according to claim 11 wherein at least some of said reference patterns include a one- or two-dimensional grating.

13. The method according to claim 11 wherein said optimal criterion consists in maximizing similarity between the reference pattern and the corresponding pattern transferred onto the substrate.

14. The method according to claim 1 wherein said beam is an electron beam.

15. The method according to claim 1 further comprising: before said exposing the substrate, a step of depositing a resist layer on it; and after said exposing the substrate, a step of developing the resist layer.

16. A computer program product comprising computer-executable code for causing a computer to produce a dose map, associating an emitted dose to each of a plurality of elementary shapes of a pattern to be transferred onto a substrate by direct writing by means of a particle or photon beam, by computing at least two metrics for each of said elementary shapes of the pattern, and determining the emitted dose associated to each of said elementary shapes of the pattern as a function of said metrics.

17. The computer program product according to claim 16, further comprising computer-executable code for causing a computer to determine a relation between said metrics and an emitted dose by using numerical simulations or experimental tests to find optimal doses for a plurality of reference patterns, each being representative of a different set of values of said metrics, according to a predetermined optimality criterion.

18. A computer program product comprising computer-executable code for causing a computer to produce a dose map, associating an emitted dose to each of a plurality of elementary shapes of a pattern to be transferred onto a substrate by direct writing by means of a particle or photon beam, by computing at least two metrics for each of said elementary shapes of the pattern, and determining the emitted dose associated to each of said elementary shapes of the pattern as a function of said metrics, further comprising computer-executable code for carrying out a method according to claim 1 by causing a computer to drive a source of said particle or photon beam in order to expose said substrate according to said pattern with a spatially-dependent dose depending on said dose map.

Description

[0037] Additional elementary shapes and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

[0038] FIG. 1, described above, is a schematic illustration of an electron-beam lithography method and apparatus known from prior art;

[0039] FIG. 2, also described above, illustrates the influence of the dose distribution on the size of the elementary shapes of the pattern transferred onto the substrate;

[0040] FIG. 3 shows a reference pattern characterized by a critical dimension and a density value, used for computing a dose look-up table;

[0041] FIG. 4 illustrate the determination of the density of an elementary shape of a pattern to be transferred to a substrate

[0042] FIG. 5 illustrates the determination of the critical dimension of an elementary shape of a pattern to be transferred to a substrate; and

[0043] FIGS. 6A-6C are three plots illustrating the technical effect of the invention.

[0044] The invention will be described with reference to shaped-beam EBL (including variable-shaped beams), but it is not limited to this case. Generalization to vector or raster scan lithography or to other micro- or nano-manufacturing techniques involving particles (not necessarily electrons) or photon beams is straightforward. In the case of scanning beam lithography, the elementary shapes of the pattern for which the emitted dose has to be calculated are the projections on the substrate of the narrow particle or photon beam.

[0045] The present inventors have realized that the conventional (e.g. Abe's) approach to emitted Dose Modulation is not entirely satisfactory, especially for narrow patterns, because the emitted dose is only computed as a function of the density, and therefore only depends on a long range metric, without taking into account local or semi-local features of the pattern. The present invention overcomes this limitation by determining the dose as a function of both the density and the critical dimension of each shape. The idea at the basis of the invention is the following: an optimal dose is computed for each of a plurality of reference patterns, each characterized by at least two pattern metrics, one depending on very local (short range) features of the pattern and the other one depending in longer-range features. For instance, the metrics may be density and a critical dimension, or a long-range density and a short-range density. The reference patterns are chosen so that they sample the parameter plane (or, more generally, hyperplane) defined by these metrics. This way, a look-up table can be obtained relating (first metrics, second metrics) pairs to the corresponding optimal exposure doses. The look-up table is then used to determine the dose associated to each specific EBL shot, by direct reading or interpolation.

[0046] Contrarily to the methods of US 2014/077103 and US 2007/228293, according to the invention the optimal dose associated to a geometrical shape (or shot) of the pattern does not only depend on the shape itself, but on local features of the pattern situated in its proximity. The calibration process is much simpler than in the case of JP 2012/212792, as the dose is directly calculated from the PSFs.

[0047] FIG. 3 shows an exemplary reference pattern RP formed by a one-dimensional grating of lines L having a same width and spacing. The critical dimension CD corresponds to the width of said lines and the pattern density is calculated using equation 3 above. The optimal emitted dose is the one which maximizes the similarity between the reference pattern and the corresponding pattern transferred onto the substrate by EBL. Similarity may be evaluated by comparing the dimensions and/or the contours of the reference and transferred patterns. This optimal emitted dose is determined by trial-and-error, using either detailed physical simulations or actual experiments.

[0048] As illustrated on FIG. 4, the density for a pointcalled point of interest, POIis determined by computing the convolution of the pattern PT to be transferred onto the substrate with the point spread function of the electron beam, or only its long-range contribution, and by taking the value of said convolution at the POI. It is generally assumed that the point spread function goes to zero beyond a distance of 3.sub.b, therefore in practice it is only necessary to take into account the portion of the pattern comprised within a circle of radius 3.sub.b centered on the POI.

[0049] Defining the critical dimension for a non-trivial pattern is less straightforward. A possible way of doing it is illustrated on FIG. 5. A series of disks of increasing diameter D1, D2, D3, D4 and D5 and centered on the point of interest are superposed to the pattern. As it can be seen on FIG. 5, the three smallest disksD1, D2 and D3are fully contained within the pattern elementary shape PF containing the point of interest POI (a pattern elementary shape is a connected region of the pattern to be transferred, corresponding to a region of the substrate that will be exposed to the electron beam), and D4 is the smallest disk stretching beyond said elementary shapeand therefore beyond an edge of the pattern, corresponding to the limit of a region of the substrate that will be exposed to the electron beam. The critical dimension associated to the point of interest is therefore comprised between the diameters of disks D3 and D4. Mathematically, an overlap factor OF; can be defined for each disk Di (i=1-5):

[00003]$\begin{array}{cc}{\mathrm{OF}}_i=\frac{.Math.{}_{\mathrm{Pattern}}.Math.{}_{\mathrm{Din}}}{A\left(\mathrm{Di}\right)}& \left(\mathrm{eq}..Math.5\right)\end{array}$

where A(Di) is the area of the disk Di, .sub.Pattern is the indicator function of the pattern (.sub.Pattern=1 inside the pattern, 0 outside) and .sub.Di is the indicator function of the i.sup.th disk (.sub.Di=1 inside the disk Di, 0 outside). Clearly, OF.sub.i=1 when the disk is completely contained within an elementary shape of the pattern and OF.sub.i<1 when it stretches beyond the limits of such an elementary shape. The critical dimension of the elementary shape can then be defined as:

[00004]$\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{CD}=\sqrt{\frac{4.Math.A\left(\mathrm{Di}\right)}{}.Math.{\mathrm{OF}}_i}& \left(\mathrm{eq}..Math.6\right)\end{array}$

the index i taking the smallest value for which OF.sub.i<1.

[0050] This method of computing the critical dimension is not an essential feature of the invention, and alternative approaches can be devised.

[0051] The POI may be the geometrical center of a shaped spot, constituting an elementary shape of the pattern; in general, shape PF is constituted by a plurality of adjacent, or partially overlapping, shots. By applying the methods described above with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, a (density; critical dimension) pair is then associated to each shot. In general, there will be no entry of the look-up table corresponding exactly to this pair, but it is nevertheless possible to use the table to find a nearly optimal dose for the shot. For example, the dose associated to a particular (density; critical dimension) pair can be taken equal to the optimal dose for the nearest pair for which an entry of the look-up table exists, the relevant metrics being e.g. a Euclidian distance in the (density-critical dimension) space. It is also possible to use interpolation (e.g. linear, quadratic, spline . . . ) to achieve more accurate results.

[0052] FIG. 6A shows, in grayscale, the emitted dose computed using Abe's formula (equations 1 or 4) for a plurality of reference patterns of the kind of FIG. 3, densely sampling the (density-critical dimension) plane. It can be seen that D.sub.Abe only depends on the density, and is independent from the critical dimension (and indeed this is apparent from equation 4). FIG. 6B shows the optimal emitted dose for the same reference patterns, determined by trials and error using numerical simulations, as explained above. It can be seen that, unlike Abe's dose, the optimal emitted dose depends on both critical dimension and density. FIG. 6C shows the ratio between the optimal dose of FIG. 6B and the Abe's dose of FIG. 6A. It can be seen that Abe's dose is particularly inaccurate for small critical dimensions (approximately, CD<3, being the standard deviation of a Gaussian function expressing short-range proximity effects) and for small spacing (SPACE<3, where for instance, for one-dimensional patterns SPACE=CD*(1Density)/Density). Dots on FIGS. 6B and 6C illustrate the much sparser sampling of the (density-critical dimension) plane which is used for calculating the look-up table.

[0053] Spacing depends on both the critical dimension and the pattern density. The look-up table could also express the optimal dose as a function of critical dimension and spacing, or of pattern density and spacing, instead of using critical dimension and density. Indeed, the look-up table could be based on any two functions of critical dimension and pattern density (provided they are not simply proportional to each other). It is also possible to take into account additional parameters by using a multidimensional look-up table.

[0054] The inventive method is typically implemented by executing a suitable program on a computer. Said computer may directly drive the EBL apparatus (cf. computer or processor 40 on FIG. 1) or simply produce data to be provided to the EBL apparatus. The program comprises two main modules: a first one, which receives as an input a fractured pattern (i.e. a pattern decomposed into elementary shapes corresponding to EBL shots) and computes a critical dimension and a pattern density for each elementary shape of this pattern; and a module that receives said critical dimension and pattern density and uses a pre-computed look-up table to determine and output a dose for each said elementary shape. A same program can be able to use different pre-computed look-up tables, corresponding to different processes (a process being defined by a PSF and a resist threshold). The program itself and the look-up table(s) may be stored on the same or on different, and possibly remote, computer-readable storage media. For example, the program and the look-up table may be stored in the memory device 41 of the processor of FIG. 1. The program may also include a numerical simulation module and a library of reference patterns for computing the look-up table(s). Alternatively, the program may only include the dose map computation module, possibly accompanied by the numerical simulation module, the EBL apparatus being driven by a separate program, receiving the dose map as its input.

[0055] The invention has been described with reference to a particular embodiment, but is not limited to it.

[0056] For example, the reference patterns, or at least some of them, may not necessarily be one-dimensional (i.e. line) gratings; admissible reference patterns may include bi-dimensional gratings (e.g. regular dot patterns, or grids), or even non-grating pattern, e.g. issued from real designs.

[0057] Critical dimension and pattern density are only two of the possible metrics which can be used to compute the optimal emitted dose. Other metrics may be used for this purpose, such as SPACE (defined above); other suitable metrics are described in the following papers: [0058] J.-G. Park, S.-W. Kim, S.-B. Shim, S.-S. Suh, and H.-K. Oh (2011), The effective etch process proximity correction methodology for improving on chip CD variation in 20 nm node DRAM gate, Design for Manufacturability though Design-Process Integration V, proc. SPIE vol 7974. [0059] S. Sato, K. Ozawa, and F. Uesawa (2006), Dry-etch proximity function for model-based OPC beyond 65-nm node, proc. SPIE vol 6155.

[0060] It is also possible to use two (or more) densities calculated using different ranges.

[0061] The optimal emitted dose may be computed as a function a plurality (i.e. two or more) of said metrics. For instance, the critical dimension may be replaced by a short range density defined as:

Short range density=.sub.patterng.sub.SR(rr).Math.dr(eq. 7)

where

g.sub.SR(r)=A.sub.SR.Math.exp[((rr).sup.2/.sub.a.sup.2)](eq. 8)

A.sub.SR being a normalization constant and .sub.a a parameter smaller than .sub.b and typically of the same order of magnitude of the short-range PSF radius , i.e. 0.1.Math..sub.a10.Math.. Using a small value for .sub.a improves the accuracy of the method, but may lead to high dose values, and therefore to long writing processes. Conversely, large .sub.a values reduce the maximum dose value and therefore accelerate writing, but at the expense of accuracy (which may be improved using geometric proximity correction without adverse effects on writing speed).

[0062] A look-up table constitutes a useful tool for representing the relation between a given set of values of the metrics and the corresponding optimal emitted dose, but there are alternatives. For example, it is possible to determine the coefficients of a multi-variable polynomial function expressing the dose as a function of the metrics, storing these coefficients in a computer memory and using them for calculating the optimal emitted dose instead of reading it from a pre-computed table.

[0063] It is also possible to separately compute a first component of the emitted dose as a function of a first metrics and a second component of the emitted dose as a function of a second metrics, and to combine them.

[0064] Moreover, dose modulation may serve other purposes than maximizing the similarity between a reference and a transferred pattern. Said similarity may be ensured using geometry modulation, and dose modulation may then be used to optimize other suitable criteriai.e. for reducing the exposition time, minimizing the simulation error, reducing the roughness of the edges of the elementary shapes, etc.