Aerial Imaging Performance of ALTA4700 Printed Mask for 130nm Design Rule

Photomask plays a key role in optical lithography. Laser pattern generators are widely used for photomask manufacturing due to their high throughput. However, corner rounding and line-end shortening degrade pattern fidelity resulting in distorted pattern image s on wafer. ALTA4700 incorporates a new 0.9 NA, 42X reduction lens that significantly improves resolution and pattern accuracy performance. In this study, three critical line/space 130nm technology device patterns are printed by ALTA4700 laser pattern generator. Input data for these layers was based on existing OPC model generated for e-beam pattern generator. ALTA4700 printed masks have the same aerial image performance compare with e-beam pattern generator.