Process latitude dependency on local photomask haze defect in 70-nm binary intensity mask

Abstract

The crystal growth and haze formation on the reticle continue to be significant problems for the semiconductor industry. Recently, a pattern size has gradually reduced to enhance the integration of semiconductor device. As minimum linewidth has shrunk, the exposure wavelength has also progressively shrunk. The exposure wavelengths have been reduced progressively from g-line (436 nm), i-line (365 nm), KrF (248 nm), to ArF (193 nm). However, expose wavelength shrink caused some serious problems. One of the problems to be solved is growing defect in the reticle during the process. This growing defect on the reticle is called the haze. The haze is formed on both sides of the reticle, on the quartz side of the mask and on the chrome side of the mask. In this investigation, we varied the local haze defect size and the characteristics of the haze defect. And we get the critical dimension and the exposure latitude variation as the haze transmission changes and the haze phase shifts.