Carl Zeiss Smt Gmbh

Asad Rasool

Ulrich Matejka

Holger Seitz

Thomas Frank

Carola Blaesing-Bangert

Steffen Weissenberg

A method for qualifying a mask for a lithography system, the mask having measurement points for detecting critical dimensions of the mask, comprising: first detection of critical dimensions of the mask at the measurement points, the first detection taking place sequentially and the duration of the first detection defining a measurement time period; determining reference measurement points from the measurement points, the number of reference measurement points being less than the number of measurement points; second detection of the at least one critical dimension of the mask at the reference measurement points; determining a deviation between the first and the second detected critical dimension at each of the reference measurement points; and applying a determined temporal profile of the correction factor to the at least one critical dimension to obtain a corrected critical dimension of the mask, and also a corresponding device for qualifying a mask for a lithography system.

Method and device for qualifying a mask of a lithography system

The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for characterizing a microlithographic mask. In a method according to the invention, structures of a mask intended for use in a lithography process in a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus are illuminated by an illumination optical unit, wherein the mask is imaged onto a detector unit which has a plurality of pixels by an imaging optical unit. Here, a plurality of individual imaging processes are carried out with a pixel resolution specified by the detector unit, wherein these individual imaging processes differ from one another in respect of the position of at least one polarization-optical element situated in the imaging optical unit, wherein image data recorded by the detector unit are evaluated in an evaluation unit, wherein polarization-dependent effects on account of a polarization dependence of the interference of electromagnetic radiation that takes place in the wafer plane during the operation of the microlithographic projection exposure apparatus are emulated, wherein a conversion of the image data obtained in the individual imaging processes is implemented, in each case on the basis of at least one calibration image obtained by imaging a structure-free region of the mask onto the detector unit, wherein the calibration image respectively used is chosen differently depending on the position of the at least one polarization-optical element.

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Jena, Germany

Asad Rasool