Patent · US Active

Method and apparatus for analyzing a group of photolithographic masks

US8264535B2 · kind B2 · utility

0Cited by

7References

20Claims

0Family size

Assignee

Carl Zeiss SMS Ltd. · IL

Inventors

Oliver Kienzle · Aalen, DE
Rigo Richter · Zeulenroda, DE
Norbert Rosenkranz · Reichenbach, DE
Yuji Kobiyama · Yokohama, JP
Thomas Scheruebl · Jena, DE

Key dates

Filing date	Jul 11, 2008
Grant date	Sep 11, 2012
Priority date	—
Expiry date	Mar 18, 2029

Classification

Technology area (CPC G)Physics
CPC primaryG03F1/30
WIPO fieldOptics
WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for analyzing a group of at least two masks for photolithography, wherein each of the masks comprises a substructure of a total structure, which is to be introduced in a layer of the wafer in the lithographic process, and the total structure is introduced in the layer of the wafer by introducing the substructures in sequence. In this method, a first aerial image of a first one of the at least two masks is recorded, digitized and stored in a data structure. Then, a second aerial image of a second one of the at least two masks is recorded, digitized and stored in a data structure. A combination image is generated from the data of the first and second aerial images, which combination image is represented and/or evaluated.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.