Aerial Image Microscopes for the Inspection of Defects in EUV Masks

The high volume inspection equipment currently available to support development of EUV blanks is non-actinic. The same is anticipated for patterned EUV mask inspection. Once potential defects are identified and located by such non-actinic inspection techniques, it is essential to have instrumentation to perform detailed characterization, and if repairs are performed, re-evaluation. The ultimate metric for the acceptance or rejection of a mask due to a defect, is the wafer level impact. Thus measuring the aerial image for the site under question is required. An EUV Aerial Image Microscope (''AIM'') similar to the current AIM tools for 248nm and 193nm exposure wavelength is the natural solution for this task. Due to the complicated manufacturing process of EUV blanks, AIM measurements might also be beneficial to accurately assessing the severity of a blank defect. This is an additional application for an EUV AIM as compared to today's use In recognition of the critical role of an EUV AIM for the successful implementation of EUV blank and mask supply, International SEMATECH initiated this design study with the purpose to define the technical requirements for accurately simulating EUV scanner performance, demonstrating the feasibility to meet these requirements and to explore various technical approaches to building an EUV AIM tool