Hitachi, Ltd.

Renesas Technology Corp.

Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

Renesas Electronics Corporation

Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd.

Other

Fujitsu Semiconductor Limited

Hitacji, Ltd.

Tsuneo Terasawa

Norio Hasegawa

Toshihiko Tanaka

Hiroshi Fukuda

Shinji Okazaki

Toshiei Kurosaki

Yoshio Kawamura

Takeshi Yamane

Akira Imai

Sumio Hosaka

Shigeo Moriyama

Shinji Kuniyoshi

Soichi Katagiri

Akihiro Takanashi

Yoshihiko Okamoto

Kazutaka Mori

Ko Miyazaki

Masaaki Itou

Katsuya Hayano

Osamu Suga

Shinji Tanaka

Kazuo Sato

Tadashi Otaka

Seiji Yonezawa

Osamu Komuro

Takashi Iizumi

Tatsuo Harada

Atsuko Yamaguchi

Toshiaki Kita

Akemi Moniwa

Harukazu Miyamoto

Minori Noguchi

Yukihiro Shibata

Norio Ohta

Yoshitada Oshida

Keiji Kataoka

Fumio Murai

Masaru Ito

Norio Saitou

Eiji Takeda

Kozo Mochiji

Minoru Hidaka

Seiichiro Shirai

Makoto Murayama

Hajime Fukke

Eiichi Seya

Hiroaki Oizumi

Yoshihiro Tezuka

Keizo Kato

Jiro Yamamoto

Hajime Aoyama

Hisashi Tsuruoka

Minoru Toriumi

Tsutomu Tawa

Tutomu Tawa

Hiroyuki Shigemura

Tosiyuki Yamamoto

Ryoko Yamanaka

Tatsuya Aota

Katsunobu Hama

Shigemi Ishii

Klaus Kinstatter

Massaaki Ito

According to one embodiment, an imaging apparatus includes a light source for illumination, a stage on which an imaging object illuminated by illumination light from the light source is to be placed, a critical illumination optical system configured to supply the illumination light to the imaging object placed on the stage, and to have a greater magnification in a first axis direction than in a second axis direction, an imaging optical system configured to form an image of the imaging object placed on the stage and illuminated using the critical illumination optical system, and a detector configured to detect the image of the imaging object formed by the imaging optical system, and to have a detection area longer in the first axis direction than in the second axis direction.

Imaging apparatus and imaging method

There is provided a method of high-sensitively detecting both of a phase defect existing in a mask blank and a phase defect remaining after manufacturing an EUVL mask. When the mask blank is inspected, EUV light having illumination NA to be within an inner NA but a larger value is irradiated. When the EUVL mask is inspected, by using a dark-field imaging optical system including a center shielding portion for shielding EUV light and a linear shielding portion for shielding the EUV light whose width is smaller than a diameter of the center shielding portion, the center shielding portion and the linear shielding portion being included in a pupil plane, the EUV light having illumination NA as large as or smaller than the width of the linear shielding portion is irradiated.

Method of inspecting mask, mask inspection device, and method of manufacturing mask

According to one embodiment, a method of inspecting a mask substrate for defects, includes acquiring a defocus image of a partial region of a mask substrate using a dark-field optical system, acquiring a just-focus image of the partial region using the dark-field optical system, generating a set composed of first signals obtained from the defocus image and having signal intensities equal to or higher than a first threshold value, excluding, from the set, the first signals pertaining to parts in which signal intensities of signals obtained from the just-focus image are equal to or higher than a second threshold value, determining an inspection threshold value for signal intensities, on the basis of the first signals not excluded from, and remaining in, the sea.

Method and apparatus for inspecting a mask substrate for defects, method of manufacturing a photomask, and method of manufacturing a semiconductor device

According to one embodiment, an optimum imaging position detecting method includes acquiring an image of a predetermined area of a substrate surface, calculating, on the basis of the image of the predetermined area, peak intensity corresponding to a value obtained by subtracting average signal intensity of an area outside an intensity acquisition part from signal intensity of the intensity acquisition part, calculating variation of the peak intensity, executing acquiring the image of the predetermined area, calculating the peak intensity, and calculating the variation of the peak intensity at each of a plurality of imaging positions, and determining that a position of the maximum variation of the peak intensity is an optimum imaging position.

Optimum imaging position detecting method, optimum imaging position detecting device, photomask manufacturing method, and semiconductor device manufacturing method

According to one embodiment, a method of detecting a defect of a semiconductor exposure mask includes acquiring a background intensity from a surface height distribution of the mask, acquiring a standard background intensity distribution from the background intensity, making light of an arbitrary wavelength incident on the mask, and acquiring an image at a position of interest of the mask, acquiring background intensity raw data, based on a signal intensity of the acquired image at the position of interest and a mean value of image intensity data in a peripheral area of the position of interest, finding a correction coefficient of the signal intensity, based on a ratio of the background intensity raw data to the standard background intensity distribution, correcting the signal intensity by multiplying the signal intensity.

Mask inspection method and mask inspection apparatus

According to one embodiment, in a method for inspecting a defect of an exposure mask, using an optical system which acquires a dark-field image, an arbitrary partial region where a uniform dark-field image is obtained on the mask is allocated at a defocus position to acquire an image. A detection threshold is decided using signal intensities of the acquired image and an area ratio between a desired inspection region and the partial region, so that a signal count indicating signal intensities greater than the detection threshold in the inspection region is less than a target false detection count. The mask is allocated in a just-in-focus position to acquire an image of the inspection region. A signal having a signal intensity of the acquired image, which indicates an intensity greater than the detection threshold, is determined as a defect.

Mask defect inspection method and defect inspection apparatus

A inspection image data of the chip A is captured and the data representing the amount of correction of flare corresponded to the chip A is appropriately loaded from the map storage block. Next, a inspection image of the chip A' is captured, and the data representing the amount of correction of flare corresponded to the chip A&#x2032; is loaded from the flare map storage block as the amount of shifting of the edge of the contour of the pattern. The amount of correction is converted, by a correction data generation block which is a correction data generator, into the amount of geometrical correction of pattern which provides correction data. In the comparison block, the images of the geometry of two chips are compared and corrected on the amount of correction of flare generated by a correction data generation block, to thereby judge whether defect is found or not.

Method of inspecting mask pattern and mask pattern inspection apparatus

Provided is a technique capable of improving the dimensional accuracy of a transfer pattern in a lithography technique in which EUV light is used and the EUV light is incident obliquely on a mask and an image of the EUV light reflected from the mask is formed on a semiconductor substrate (resist film), thereby transferring the pattern formed on the mask onto the semiconductor substrate. The present invention is based on a lithography technique in which EUV light is used and an exposure optical system in which the EUV light is obliquely incident on a mask is used. In this lithography technique, an absorber and a difference in level are formed on the mask, and a projective component projected on a mask surface out of a direction cosine component of the incident light is set to be almost orthogonal to an extending direction of the difference in level.

Manufacturing method of semiconductor device and manufacturing method of mask

A method for measuring a shape of a phase defect existing on an exposure mask includes making inspection light incident on the mask, measuring the intensity of light scattered in an angular range in which the width of an scattering area on the phase defect can be predicted, calculating a radius of the phase defect based on the measured scattered light intensity, changing the angular range of scattered light to be measured, remeasuring scattered light intensity in the thus changed angular range, and calculating a scattering cross-sectional area based on the scattered light intensity obtained by remeasurement. A process of remeasuring the scattered light intensity and calculating the scattering cross-sectional area is repeatedly performed until the remeasured scattered light intensity is saturated and the shape of the phase defect is determined by using the calculated radius of the phase defect and each of the calculated scattering cross-sectional areas.

Mask defect measurement method, mask quality determination and method, and manufacturing method of semiconductor device

The mask blank inspection apparatus is constituted of a stage for mounting a reflective mask blank thereon, a light source for generating inspection light, a mirror serving as an illuminating optics, an imaging optical system, a beam splitter, two two-dimensional array sensors, signal storage units, an image processing unit, a main control unit for controlling operation of the whole apparatus, the first sensor being located at a position which is displaced by a predetermined distance from the focal plane of a first light beam, the second sensor being located at a position which is displaced by a predetermined distance from the focal plane of a second light beam along a opposite direction, whereby accurately and conveniently inspecting presence/absence and types of defects in reflective mask blank.

Apparatus and a method for inspection of a mask blank, a method for manufacturing a reflective exposure mask, a method for reflective exposure, and a method for manufacturing semiconductor integrated circuits

Defect detection is performed with two settings, that is, setting of a focus position where a signal intensity obtained from a dot pattern is maximum and setting of a focus position where a signal intensity obtained from a hole pattern is maximum. In addition, defect detection is performed at a predetermined focus position previously set and for the detected defect, the focus position is changed at that position to find a focus position where the signal intensity is maximum. If the focus position is away from a signal light-receiving system, the defect is determined as dot-shaped. If the focus position is close to the signal light-receiving system, the defect is determined as hole-shaped. If the focus position is intermediate of them, the defect is determined as an elongated-shaped.

Method and system of defect inspection for mask blank and method of manufacturing semiconductor device using the same

A system for measuring a pattern on a sample, including: a data processing system that processes a set of two-dimensional distribution data of intensities from the sample, to calculate: a set of edge points indicative of position of edges of the pattern in a two-dimensional plane from the two-dimensional distribution data; an approximation edge indicative of the edge of the pattern; an edge fluctuation data by calculating a difference between the set of edge points and the approximation edge; and a correlation between a first portion of the edge fluctuation data and a second portion of the edge fluctuation data.

Method and apparatus for circuit pattern inspection

Productivity of a semiconductor integrated circuit device is improved. According to how many times the photomask is used, a photomask having an opaque pattern made of metal and a photomask having an opaque pattern made of a resist film are properly used, and thereby an exposure treatment is performed.

Method of fabricating a semiconductor integrated circuit that includes patterning a semiconductor substrate with a first photomask that uses metal for blocking light and patterning the same substrate with a second photomask that uses organic resin for blocking light

Growing community of inventors

Ome, Japan

Tsuneo Terasawa