Stochastic side-lobe printing in EUV lithography: a simulation study

EUV PSM may be introduced at the N3 node as alternative to double patterning or high-NA exposures. To be advantageous, PSM should come with ∆ϕ≠π and 30% transmission. The main concern is how such exposures could be affected by stochastic side-lobe printing. In this paper, we present a simulation study where we compare stochastic probability plots generated by PROLITH for contact layers with different mask approaches: binary, PSM with/without SRAF, and Tritone. The purpose of this work is to evaluate whether EUV PSM may become a valuable option to further extend single exposure EUV at NA = 0.33.