Whereas critical-dimension (CD) error below 35 nm and transmission error below 3.5% are required for 256 M DRAM, a present-day cutting-edge inspection system may fail to detect 150 nm CD error or 6% transmission error. Improvement of defect inspection is, therefore, necessary to raise yields of semiconductor devices. A new inspection algorithm has been developed for CD error and transmission error of photomask patterns by calculating the average transmission error. Experimental results show as small as 4% transmission error or over 25 nm CD error of hole pattern will be detected without any false alarms.

Date Published: 18 December 1998
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 3546, 18th Annual BACUS Symposium on Photomask Technology and Management, (18 December 1998); doi: 10.1117/12.332819

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 3546:
18th Annual BACUS Symposium on Photomask Technology and Management
Brian J. Grenon; Frank E. Abboud, Editor(s)