Estimation of 1D proximity budget impacts due to light source for advanced node design

The laser impacts on the proximity error are well known in many previous studies and papers. The proximity budget control is more and more important for advanced node design. The goal of this paper is to describe the laser spectral bandwidth and wavelength stability contributions to the proximity budget by considering general line/space and trench pattern design. We performed experiments and modeled the photolithography response using Panoramic Technology HyperLith simulation over a range of laser bandwidth and wavelength stability conditions to quantify the long term and short term stability contributions on wafer-to-wafer and field-to-field proximity variation. Finally, we determine the requirements for current system performance to meet patterning requirements and minimize the laser contribution on proximity error and within 4% of target CD Critical Dimension Uniformity (CDU) budget process requirement [2]. This paper also discusses how the wafer lithography drivers are enabled by ArFi light source technologies.