Influence of mask manufacturing process on printing behavior of angled line structures

For the successful reduction of chip production costs, the usage of more advanced designs with lower area consumption by manufacturing angled line structures is one possibility. The usage of conventional vector shaped electron beam writers does only allow writing Manhattan-like structures as well as 45 degree angled structures. There are several approximation possibilities for writing any angled lines, e.g. they could be approximated by writing only small rectangles or small rectangles in combination with small 45 degree triangles. This method introduces a very pronounced line edge roughness due to the written uneven edges. The critical dimension uniformity on the mask and the printing behavior are directly influenced by this synthesized line edge roughness. This paper addresses the investigation of critical dimension of the angled mask structures as well as the influence on the printing behavior. The different masks used in the experiment were patterned at the Advanced Mask Technology Center (AMTC). Measurements of pattern line widths were performed by using scanning electron microscopy techniques. The printing behavior of different structures was investigated by running AIMS measurements and performing exposure experiments. Comparing the mask structures and the final printed wafer structures, estimations on the transfer function of the synthesized line edge roughness could be performed.