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US 2024/0402623 A1Published application
Lithography system and methods
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsChen-Pin CHENG, Tsun-Cheng TANG, Guo-Chih YEN
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Abstract
A method includes: placing a mask on a mask stage; placing a pellicle assembly on a pellicle stage, the pellicle assembly including a pellicle; determining whether a defect level of the pellicle is less than a selected value by scanning the pellicle by a first optical detector; forming a protected mask assembly by mounting the pellicle assembly to the mask assembly; and performing semiconductor processing using the protected mask assembly.
Claims20
A method, comprising:
- placing a mask on a mask stage;
- placing a pellicle assembly on a pellicle stage, the pellicle assembly including a pellicle;
- determining whether a defect level of the pellicle is less than a selected value by scanning the pellicle by a first optical detector;
- forming a protected mask assembly by mounting the pellicle assembly to the mask assembly;
- and
- performing semiconductor processing using the protected mask assembly.
3 more elements
An apparatus, comprising:
- a top portion;
- a mask stage positioned on the top portion;
- a bottom portion;
- a pellicle stage positioned on the bottom portion;
- and
- a second optical detector mounted to the mask stage, the second optical detector facing the pellicle stage.
3 more elements
A method, comprising:
- placing a mask assembly on a mask stage in a mounting apparatus;
- placing a pellicle assembly on a pellicle stage in the mounting apparatus;
- generating a second plurality of images by scanning the pellicle assembly by a second interferometer positioned in the mounting apparatus;
- determining whether a number of particles on a pellicle of the pellicle assembly exceeds a threshold value;
- and
- in response to the number of particles not exceeding the threshold value:
- forming a protected mask assembly by mounting the pellicle assembly to the mask assembly;
- and
- performing semiconductor processing on a semiconductor wafer by using the protected mask assembly.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.