One of the continuing issues in the manufacturing of IX reticles is defects. Due to the nature of the 1 — to—1 Stepper, defects do play a large role in the production of IX reticles. One of the problems with defects is the ability to define what role a particular defect will play when manufacturing wafers. To understand exactly what effect defects have on a 1-to-l Stepper, Ultratech has started an in-depth evaluation on' defect printabi1ity. The goals are to: 1) Define what a printable defect is. 2) Define the effect of a particular defect type. 3) Define what role a particular defect has on a particular geometry. 4) Aid Ultratech Stepper users in understanding what defects, and/or location of defects, to concentrate on evaluating. 5) Assist mask makers to optimize their inspection to find those defects which would be destructive. 6) Inform equipment manufacturers, specifically inspection and repair, what needs will be expected for present and future generations of IX reticles. In this ongoing study, defect printabi1ity has been researched extensively. The results gathered to date are what shall be discussed in this paper.
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