Method for characterizing a feature on a mask and device for carrying out the method
AssigneeCarl Zeiss SMS GmbH
InventorHolger Seitz
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A mask inspection microscope is provided for characterizing a mask having a feature. The mask inspection microscope is configured to generate an aerial image of at least one segment of the feature of the mask, acquire a spatially resolved intensity distribution of the aerial image, and determine a total intensity from the intensities of at least one region of the aerial image.
Claims20
A method for characterizing a mask having a feature, comprising:
- generating an aerial image of at least one segment of a feature of a mask,
- acquiring a spatially resolved intensity distribution of the aerial image, and
- determining a total intensity from the intensities of at least one region of the aerial image.
A mask inspection microscope for characterizing a mask, comprising a data processing system that is configured to:
- generate an aerial image of at least one segment of a feature of the mask,
- acquire a spatially resolved intensity distribution of the aerial image, and
- determine a total intensity from the intensities of at least one region of the aerial image.
A method of determining a critical dimension distribution on a mask, the method comprising:
- generating a plurality of aerial images of a mask, each aerial image representing a portion of the mask, the portion having a feature, each image having pixels that have intensity values;
- for each aerial image, determining a total intensity of the aerial image;
- for each aerial image, determining a critical dimension value based on a correlation between predetermined total intensities of features and known critical dimension values;
- and
- determining a distribution of critical dimension values on the mask.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.