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lithographic tools
Shuang Xu
Bo Tao
Yongxing Guo
Gongfa Li
Shuang Xu, Bo Tao, Yongxing Guo, Gongfa Li, “Polarization aberration analysis in lithographic tools,”
Opt. Eng. 58(8), 082405 (2019), doi: 10.1117/1.OE.58.8.082405.
Abstract. Hypernumerical aperture and polarized illumination are the key technologies of resolution enhance-
ment of lithography. When the numerical aperture reaches 0.85 and above, especially in the immersion lithog-
raphy, polarization effect must be taken into consideration. The performance of the projection lens needs to be
characterized by rigorous polarization aberration. The vector polarization imaging system that is suitable for
hypernumerical aperture is established, and the distortion effects introduced by polarization aberration are
analyzed. Orientation Zernike polynomials-based method and Pauli–Zernike polynomials-based method are
adopted to parameterize the polarization aberration represented by Jones pupil. Critical dimension error, place-
ment error, and normal int. log slope index are introduced as the index to value imaging distortion. The proposed
method and analysis conclusion would provide meaningful guidance for projection lens design of lithographic
tools. © 2019 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) [DOI: 10.1117/1.OE.58.8.082405]
Keywords: polarization aberration; imaging system; Zernike polynomial; lithography.
Paper 181112SS received Aug. 3, 2018; accepted for publication Dec. 19, 2018; published online Jan. 24, 2019.
*Address all correspondence to Shuang Xu, E-mail: shuangxu@wust.edu.cn 0091-3286/2019/$25.00 © 2019 SPIE
Mask Projection lens only [Ex ; Ey ] component spreads to the entrance pupil,
Chip which is equivalent to vertical incidence of parallel light
into a plane.
Source From the enter-pupil to the expupil, the light vectors are
influenced by projection lens, especially the polarization
aberration. For the projection lens, it is considered that
the entire lens is treated as a single entity by using a pupil
to characterize its characteristics, and each coordinate point
on the pupil represents the light passing through the whole
projection lens system. With the polarization aberration
represented by Jones pupil, the expupil light passes the pro-
jection lens can be represented of the enter-pupil [Ex ; Ey ]
Fig. 1 The schematic diagram of imaging system for lithographic multiplied by Jones pupil J. The exit-pupil light is trans-
tools.
formed to the global coordinates (x; y; z) by the coordinate
transformation matrix F, interfering and imaging with vector
2.1 Polarization Imaging Modeling superposition carried out. The electric field on the wafer at
image plane is represented as
When considering polarization aberration, scalar imaging
model is no longer suitable, a vector imaging model should 2 3
EQ-TARGET;temp:intralink-;e002;326;565
s
coordinate (f; g), and the diffraction field [Ex ; Ey ] is also
The light that comes out from one point on the surface of associated with the coordinates and polarization state of the
the illumination source irradiates on the mask as parallel source. Matrix (Fij ) is a coordinate transformation matrix,
light. After the diffraction by the mask, divergent light which represents the coordinate transformation from exit-
waves are formed. The near-field electromagnetic wave pupil to the image plane.
after mask is represented as E ¼ ½Ex ; Ey ; Ez ¼ Oðx; yÞEi . To establish the vector model, we need to define the
Here, Ei is the polarization state of the point source i, global coordinate system and the local coordinate system.
and Oðx; yÞ is the mask transmittance function. When propa- The global coordinate system is the spatial-domain coordi-
gated to the projection lens, Ez component cannot reach the nates (x; y; z), same as scalar imaging model, and the local
enter-pupil as the propagation distance is much larger than coordinate system is defined along the propagation direction
the wave length, namely far-field propagation. Therefore, of the light, as the wave vector k, with the other x and y
f f x
x
Ei
z
S
directions in the plane perpendicular to the wave vector k, f is the 2-D normalized Cartesian coordinates of pupil plane,
namely (xl ; yl ; k). The global coordinate system and the f 1 and f 2 represent the pupil coordinate of the mask diffraction
local coordinate system can be converted freely by the spectrum. SðfÞ is the effective distribution of illumination
coordinate transformation matrix F: source on pupil plane, HðfÞ is the spectral transformation
2 3 function of projection lens, OðfÞ is the mask transmittance
" # function, FðfÞ is the coordinate transformation matrix, JðfÞ is
EQ-TARGET;temp:intralink-;e003;63;708
Ex
6 7 E the Jones pupil, and * is the complex conjugate.
6 Ey 7 ¼ F · xl
4 5 Eyl
Ez 2.2 Parameterized Representation of Polarization
2 x2l
3 Aberration
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi pxffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
l yl
1− −
6 nðnþ n2 −x2l −y2l Þ nðnþ n2 −x2l −y2l Þ 7" # Since the different kinds of polarization aberration coupled
6 7 Exl in Jones pupil, decomposition is needed in further analysis.
¼66 − pxffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
l yl
1−
yl
2
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 7
7 ;
nðnþ n2 −x2l −y2l Þ 5 Eyl
4 nðnþ n2 −x2l −y2l Þ As for Jones matrix decomposition, there are two main-
xl yl
stream ways: polar decomposition16,17 and Pauli decomposi-
n n tion,18–21 as shown in Fig. 3. Polarization aberrations of
(3) lithographic tools have two main parts: diattenuation and
retardance.
where n is the refractive index of the medium between expu- As for the physics pupil from polar decomposition,
pil and image plane, ½Ex ; Ey ; Ez T is the electric field under the transmission and global phases are both scalar terms.
The diattenuation and retardance are complex matrices,
global coordinate system, and ½Exl ; Eyl T is the electric field
which are the main parts of polarization aberration. As the
under local coordinate system. The intensity image caused
rotator term is mostly small in projection lens of lithographic
by one point source is represented as
tools, it can be ignored when analyzing the polarization aber-
ZZ
EQ-TARGET;temp:intralink-;e004;63;501
in Sec. 2.2 to test the CDE, PE, and NILS of imaging to ana- been built as Eq. (5), we can calculate the CDE, PE, and
lyze the imaging distortion introduced by different kinds of NILS. Therefore, we can analyze the influence of imaging
polarization aberration. distortion by different terms of different kinds of polarization
aberrations, which is of great significance to guide the pro-
3.1 Orientation Zernike Polynomial-Based jection lens design. The analysis process is shown in Fig. 5.
Polarization Aberration Analysis Here, OZi represents the OZP term, and Ci represents the
For each type of polarization aberration, such as diattenua- coefficients of OZi . OZP can synthesize specific diattenua-
tion and retardance presented by OZP, with given coefficient tion and retardance, by the control variable method, we can
values, a specific Jones pupil can be generated. Take the realize the polarization imaging sensitivity analysis of dia-
Jones pupil into the vector imaging model that has already ttenuation and retardance.
Diattenuation
CDE
CiOZi Generated Model Methology
1 2
Jones
Image PE
3 4
Retardance NILS
y
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 x
21 22 23 24 25
(a) (b)
Fig. 6 (a) Schematic diagram and (b) field points of a projection lens example in the lithographic tools.
3.1.1 Simulation of polar decomposition and orienta- the Jones pupil of field point 3 for the projection lens,
tion zernike polynomial generating Jones pupil and Fig. 8 shows the polar decomposition result, namely
For a Jones pupil under a certain view point, each point on physical pupil. What needs to be illustrated is that the
the pupil plane has a Jones matrix that represents the polari- Jones pupil is extracted directly from CodeV, which is not
zation aberration of this point. Implement polar decomposi- the “complete” Jones matrix that does not contain the apod-
tion at each point and the same set of parameters of all points ization term. It can be seen from the upper-left part in Fig. 8,
synthesizes a physical pupil. We use an optical projection the “scalar transmission” term is only the scalar part of dia-
lens with coated optical elements designed by CodeV as ttenuaion. Without apodization term, the lowest transmission
shown in Fig. 6(a) as an example to run the simulation. is in the center.
The projection system is rotationally symmetric along the Polar decomposition ignores the circular diattenuation
optical axis, and 25 field points were chosen to analyze term, thus there is a certain error after decomposition. Yet
the system as shown in Fig. 6(b). the circular diattenuation characteristics of projection lens
The NA of this projection lens is 1.15, and CodeV can of lithographic tools are small, it can be ignored. The
track the optics emitted to the final imaging surface and out- reconstruction error is shown in Fig. 9.
put Jones matrix parameters related to the polarization of As for OZP parameterization method, one OZP term with
each ray, which constitutes Jones pupil. Figure 7 shows a certain coefficient can generate a Jones pupil. For separate
m=-1;n=1,OZ3 m=-1;n=1,OZ-3
m=-1;n=1;OZ-3
0.4 0.4
c=0 c=0
c=0
0.35 c=0.2 0.35 =0.2
cc=0.2
c=0.4 c=0.4
c=0.4
0.3 c=0.6 0.3 cc=0.6
=0.6
c=0.8 c=0.8
c=0.8
Intensity
Intensity c=1
0.25 0.25 cc=1
=1
0.2 0.2
0.15 0.15
0.1 0.1
0.05 0.05
-50 0 50 -50 0 50
x x
m=0;n=2;OZ4
m=0;n=2,OZ4 m=0;n=2;OZ-4
m=0;n=2,OZ-4
0.4 0.4
c=0
c=0 c=0
c=0
0.35 c=0.2
c=0.2 =0.2
cc=0.2
0.35
c=0.4
c=0.4 c=0.4
c=0.4
0.3 c=0.6
c=0.6 0.3 =0.6
cc=0.6
c=0.8
c=0.8 c=0.8
c=0.8
Intensity
Intensity
0.25 cc=1
=1 0.25 cc=1
=1
0.2 0.2
0.15 0.15
0.1 0.1
0.05 0.05
-50 0 50 -50 0 50
x x
Fig. 13 Simulation results of intensity distribution curve including diattenuation of OZ3 and OZ4 .
4 ×10-4
1
+OZ
-OZ 0
3 0.5
-4
CDE
NILS
2 0
PE
-8
1 -0.5 -12
0 -1 -14
0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10
OZ OZ OZ
(a) (b) (c)
Fig. 14 Simulation results of (a) CDE, (b) PE, and (c) NILS caused by diattenuation of OZP.
always small, they can be ignored when we analysis the which is along the x∕y direction, whereas the right column
polarization aberration of lithographic tools. Figure 19 shows shows the diattenuation generated by Rða2 ∕a0 Þ, which is
the ignorant error. along the 45 deg/135 deg direction. It can be seen from
We ran the simulation of first nine order PZP for each type the figures that the diattenuation generated by PZ1 and PZ4
of polarization aberration. The results of diattenuation analy- along the x∕y direction has significant effects on CDE.
sis are shown in Figs. 20 and 21, respectively. In Fig. 20, the As for retardance, simulations were done in the same way,
left column shows the diattenuation generated by Rða1 ∕a0 Þ, and Figs. 22 and 23 show the results. According to the
m=-1;n=1;OZ3
m=-1;n=1,OZ3 m=-1;n=1;OZ-3
m=-1;n=1,OZ-3
0.4
0.4 0.4
0.4
c=0 cc=0
=0
0.35
0.35 c=0.2 0.35
0.35 c=0.2
c=0.2
c=0.4 cc=0.4
=0.4
0.3
0.3 c=0.6 0.3
0.3 c=0.6
c=0.6
Intensity
Intensity
c=0.8 cc=0.8
=0.8
Intensity
Intensity
0.25
0.25 c=1 0.25
0.25 c=1
c=1
0.2
0.2 0.2
0.2
0.15
0.15 0.15
0.15
0.1
0.1 0.1
0.1
0.05 0.05
0.05 0.05
-50 0
-50 0 5050 -50
-50 0
0 50
50
x x
x x
m=2;n=2;OZ5
m=2;n=2,OZ5 m=2;n=2;OZ-5
m=2;n=2,OZ-5
0.4 0.4
0.4 0.4
cc=0
=0 c=0
c=0
0.35
0.35 cc=0.2
=0.2 0.35 c=0.2
c=0.2
0.35
cc=0.4
=0.4 c=0.4
c=0.4
0.3
0.3 cc=0.6
=0.6 0.3
0.3 c=0.6
c=0.6
c=0.8
Intensity
cc=0.8
=0.8 c=0.8
Intensity
Intensity
Intensity
0.25
0.25 cc=1
=1 0.25
0.25 c=1
c=1
0.2
0.2 0.2
0.2
0.15
0.15 0.15
0.15
0.1
0.1 0.1
0.1
0.05
0.05 0.05
0.05
-50
-50 00 50
50 -50
-50 00 5050
xx x
x
Fig. 15 Simulation results of intensity distribution curve including retardance of OZ3 and OZ5 .
1 ×10-4
2
0
0.5 1
-4
0
CDE
CDE
NILS
0
PE
-1 -8
-0.5 -12
-2
-1 -3 -14
0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10
OZ OZ OZ
(a) (b) (c)
Fig. 16 Simulation results of (a) CDE, (b) PE, and (c) NILS caused by retardance of OZP.
simulation results, retardance generated by PZ3 and PZ6 imaging distortion caused by polarization aberration as
along the x∕y direction has significant effects on CDE, Table 1 shows. Both OZP-based method and PZP-based
and retardance generated by PZ3 along the x∕y direction method carried out the similar impact character of
has effects on PE too. different kinds of polarization aberration. The diattenuation
generated by even order terms of Zernike polynomials
3.3 Compare and Discussion has effects on CDE, and retardance generated by
After enough simulations of different coefficients odd order terms of Zernike polynomials has effects
value including higher order terms, we concluded the on PE.
R(a1/a0)
Diattenuation
R(a2/a0)
1 Methodology
CDE
Generated Model
Pauli-Zernike 2
Jones
Image PE
3 4
I(a1/a0)
NILS
Retardance
I(a2/a0)
Fig. 19 The reconstruction error of Pauli decomposition with circular diattenuation and circular retard-
ance ignored.
m=-1; n=1;PZ3
m=-1;n=1;PZ3
m=-1;n=1,PZ3
m=-1;n=1;PZ3
m =-1;n=1;PZ3
0.4
0.4 0.4
c=0
c=0
0.35
0.35 c=0.2
c=0.2 0.35
c
c=0.4
=0.4
0.3
0.3 c
c=0.6
=0.6 0.3
Intensity
Intensity
Intensity
c
c=0.8
=0.8
Intensity 0.25
0.25 c
c=1
=1 0.25
0.2
0.2 0.2
0.15
0.15 0.15
0.1 0.1
0.1
0.05 0.05
0.05
-50-50 00 50
50 -50 0 50
x
x xx
m=0;n=2;PZ4
m=0;n=2,PZ4 m=0;n=2;PZ4
m=0;n=2,PZ4
0.4 0.4
0.4 0.4
c=0c=0 c=0
c=0
0.35
0.35 c
c=0.2
=0.2
c=0.2 0.35 c
c=0.2
=0.2
c=0.2
0.35
c=0.4
c=0.4 c=0.4
c=0.4
0.3
0.3 c
c=0.6
=0.6
c=0.6 0.3
0.3 c
c=0.6
=0.6
c=0.6
c=0.8
c=0.8
Intensity
Intensity
c=0.8
c=0.8
Intensity
Intensity
Intensity
Intensity
0.25
0.25 c
c=1c=1
=1 0.25
0.25 cc=1
c=1
=1
0.2
0.2 0.2
0.2
0.15
0.15 0.15
0.15
0.1
0.1 0.1
0.1
0.05 0.05
0.05
0.05
-50
-50-50 000 50
5050 -50-50 00 50
50
xx xx
Fig. 20 Simulation results of intensity distribution curve including diattenuation of PZ3 and PZ4 .
×10-4
4 1
R(a1/a0) R(a1/a0)
R(a2/a0) R(a2/a0) 0
3 0.5
-4 R(a1/a0)
R(a2/a0)
CDE
NILS
2 0
PE
-8
1 -0.5 -12
0 -1 -14
0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10
PZ PZ PZ
(a) (b) (c)
Fig. 21 Simulation results of (a) CDE, (b) PE, and (c) NILS caused by diattenuation of PZ.
m=-1;n=1;PZ3
m=-1;n=1,PZ3 m=-1;n=1;PZ3
m=-1;n=1,PZ3
0.4
0.4 0.4
0.4
c=0 c=0
c=0
0.35
0.35 c=0.2 0.35
0.35 =0.2
cc=0.2
c=0.4 c=0.4
c=0.4
0.3
0.3 c=0.6 0.3
0.3 =0.6
cc=0.6
Intensity c=0.8
Intensity
c=0.8
c=0.8
Intensity
0.25
0.25 c=1 0.25
0.25 =1
cc=1
0.2
0.2 0.2
0.2
0.15
0.15 0.15
0.15
0.1 0.1
0.1 0.1
0.05 0.05
0.05 0.05
-50
-50 00 50
50 -50
-50 0 0 50 50
x
x x
m=-2;n=2;PZ6
m=-2;n=2,PZ6 m=-2;n=2;PZ6
m=-2;n=2,PZ6
0.4 0.4
0.4 0.4
c=0
c=0 c=0
c=0
0.35
0.35 c=0.2
c=0.2 0.35 =0.2
cc=0.2
0.35
c=0.4
c=0.4 c=0.4
c=0.4
0.3
0.3 c=0.6
c=0.6 0.3
0.3 =0.6
cc=0.6
c=0.8 c=0.8
c=0.8
Intensity
c=0.8
Intensity
0.25
0.25 c=1
c=1 0.25
0.25 cc=1
=1
0.2
0.2 0.2
0.2
0.15
0.15 0.15
0.15
0.1
0.1 0.1
0.1
0.05
0.05 0.05
0.05
-50
-50 00 5050 -50
-50 00 5050
xx x
x
Fig. 22 Simulation results of intensity distribution curve including retardance of PZ3 and PZ6 .
Fig. 23 Simulation results of (a) CDE, (b) PE, and (c) NILS caused by retardance of PZ.
Diattenuation Retardance