Dependence of Defects in Optical Lithography

In the optical lithography process, the effect of defects on the patterns is related to the process ability and the device design rule. It is, however, very difficult to predict the defect generation and influences. By simulation and experiments, we examined the designed patterns with a typical defect according to the process ability and condition in order to predict and analyze the printability, the effect of defects, and the device performance. In the experiments, the electrical and the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) monitoring method were used for the analysis of the defect patterns on the oxide, poly, nitride, and metal layers with process and design parameters. We propose that the results confirm the defect size to be controlled in the real process.