Semiconductor processing tool and methods of operation
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsShih-Ming Chang, Minfeng Chen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An illumination system includes a plurality of pixels (or spots) that are (or may be) configured in one or more polarization configuration types. The pixels of the illumination system may be configured to promote particular types of polarization (e.g., transverse electric (TE) polarization, transvers magnetic (TM) polarization) to increase pattern contrast while achieving suitable exposure operation throughput. Moreover, the pixels of the pixels of the illumination system may be configured to achieve free-form (arbitrary or freely-configurable) polarization, which permits the polarization of radiation to be tailored to particular exposure operation patterns and other parameters.
Claims20
A method, comprising:
- forming a photosensitive material on a semiconductor substrate;
- loading the semiconductor substrate after forming the photosensitive material on the semiconductor substrate;
- configuring a plurality of multilayer mirrors and a multilayer polarizer of a configurable pixel included on a substrate of an illumination system, wherein the configurable pixel is capable of switching between different polarization configurations of a plurality of polarization configurations;
- modulating unpolarized radiation and using the plurality of multilayer mirrors and the multilayer polarizer to form polarized radiation from the unpolarized radiation;
- and
- exposing the photosensitive material on the semiconductor substrate to the polarized radiation, wherein the polarized radiation is based on a particular polarization configuration of the plurality of polarization configurations.
An illumination system for use in an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) exposure tool, comprising:
- a substrate;
- a plurality of fixed transverse electric (TE) polarized pixels;
- and
- a plurality of configurable pixels that are each capable of being selectively configured in a respective polarization configuration of a plurality of polarization configurations, wherein the plurality of polarization configurations comprise:
- a TE polarized configuration,
- a transverse magnetic (TM) polarized configuration, a TE polarized and TM polarized configuration, or
- an unpolarized configuration, and
- wherein one or more of the plurality of configurable pixels are capable of selectively switching between different polarization configurations of the plurality of polarization configurations.
A method, comprising:
- transmitting, by a controller, a first signal to cause at least one of a plurality of configurable pixels of an illumination system to be configured in a polarization configuration of a plurality of polarization configurations, wherein the at least one of the plurality of configurable pixels is capable of switching between different polarization configurations of the plurality of polarization configurations;
- and
- transmitting, by the controller, a second signal to cause a lithography system to perform an exposure operation while the at least one of the plurality of configurable pixels is configured in the polarization configuration, wherein the illumination system is included in an exposure tool of the lithography system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.