Monte-Carlo-based analysis of local CD variation and application to establish realistic process and tool error budgets

James W. Blatchford; Cathy Fruga

doi:10.1117/12.534351

28 May 2004 Monte-Carlo-based analysis of local CD variation and application to establish realistic process and tool error budgets

James W. Blatchford, Cathy Fruga

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 5377, Optical Microlithography XVII; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.534351
Event: Microlithography 2004, 2004, Santa Clara, California, United States

Abstract

'Local' critical dimension (CD) variations, defined in this paper as those that impact transistor gate lengths within a localized 2.5 mm X 2.5 mm area of a semiconductor device, are of most critical interest to circuit performance, as these errors determine critical path delays. However, these errors are difficult to quantify in the fab and historically have been neglected by the lithography community. We combine an empirically anchored response surface model with a Monte Carlo engine to examine in detail the variation in local CD error across a typical lens field and as a function of various process parameters. This methodology allows for the correct statistical treatment of systematic and random errors, and enables the separation of in-die and die-to-die CD variations (as the former impact yield much more than the latter). We demonstrate that local CD variation defines the space of allowable process errors to a much greater extent than across-chip linewidth variation (ACLV) or die-to-die variation, and we use the output of the model to establish control limits for tool parameters for a candidate 90-nm-node alternating phase-shift gate process.

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James W. Blatchford and Cathy Fruga "Monte-Carlo-based analysis of local CD variation and application to establish realistic process and tool error budgets", Proc. SPIE 5377, Optical Microlithography XVII, (28 May 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.534351

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