Actinic detection of sub-100 nm defects on extreme ultraviolet lithography mask blanks

Journal Article · Mon Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1999 · Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. B, Microelectronics Processing and Phenomena

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1116/1.590944· OSTI ID:20217902

Jeong, Seongtae ^[1]; Johnson, Lewis ^[1]; Rekawa, Seno ^[1]; Walton, Chris C ^[2]; Prisbrey, Shon T ^[2]; Tejnil, Edita ^[3]; Underwood, James H ^[1]; Bokor, Jeffrey ^[1]

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1. Center for X-Ray Optics, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)
2. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550 (United States)
3. Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, California 95052 (United States)

We present recent experimental results from a prototype actinic (operates at the 13 nm extreme ultraviolet wavelength) defect inspection system for extreme ultraviolet lithography mask blanks. The defect sensitivity of the current actinic inspection system is shown to reach 100 nm in experiments with programmed defects. A method to cross register and cross correlate between the actinic inspection system and a commercial visible-light scattering defect inspection system is also demonstrated. Thus, random, native defects identified using the visible-light tool can reliably be found and scanned by our actinic tool. We found that native defects as small as 86 nm (as classified by the visible-light tool) were detectable by the actinic tool. These results demonstrate the capability of this tool for independent defect counting experiments. (c) 1999 American Vacuum Society.

• OSTI ID: 20217902
• Journal Information: Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. B, Microelectronics Processing and Phenomena, Journal Name: Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. B, Microelectronics Processing and Phenomena Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 17; ISSN 0734-211X; ISSN JVTBD9
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
DEFECTS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
EXTREME ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION
INSPECTION
INTEGRATED CIRCUITS
MASKING
OPTICAL SYSTEMS