Method and apparatus for using patterning device topography induced phase
AssigneeASML Netherlands B.V.
InventorJozef Maria FINDERS
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method including, for an illumination by radiation of a pattern of a lithographic patterning device, obtaining calculated wavefront phase information caused by three-dimensional topography of the pattern, and based on the wavefront phase information, adjusting a parameter of the illumination and/or adjusting a parameter of the pattern.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- for an illumination by radiation of a pattern of a lithographic patterning device, obtaining calculated wavefront phase information caused by three-dimensional topography of the pattern;
- and
- based on the wavefront phase information and by a hardware computer processor, adjusting a parameter of the illumination and/or of the pattern.
A non-transitory computer program product comprising machine-readable instructions configured to cause a processor to:
- for an illumination by radiation of a pattern of a lithographic patterning device, obtain calculated wavefront phase information caused by three-dimensional topography of the pattern;
- and
- based on the wavefront phase information, adjust a parameter of the illumination and/or of the pattern.
A method to improve a lithographic process to image at least a portion of a pattern of a lithographic patterning device onto a substrate, the method comprising:
- obtaining calculated wavefront phase information caused by three-dimensional topography of the pattern;
- computing, by a hardware computer, a multi-variable function of a plurality of parameters that are characteristics of the lithographic process, the parameters including a characteristic of illumination for the pattern and a characteristic of the pattern, wherein the multi-variable function is a function of the calculated wavefront phase information;
- and
- adjusting a characteristic of the lithographic process by adjusting one or more of the parameters and re-computing the multi-variable function with the adjusted one or more parameters, until a predefined termination condition is satisfied.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.