Assessment of silicon carbide x-ray mask overlay performance in the IBM Advanced Lithography Facility x-ray stepper

This paper presents the results of a study to explicitly assess the performance of silicon carbide masks by directly measuring overlay accuracy and precision of exposures made on a state-of-the-art commercially available x-ray stepper, the Suss XRS200/3. The work was done using a mask fabricated at IBM from silicon carbide coated wafers obtained from HOYA Electronics Corp. with exposures completed at IBM's Advanced Lithography Facility (ALF) using synchrotron-generated radiation. The mask pattern design contains many overlay measurement fiducials, resolution patterns, and alignment verniers, and two sets of three alignment marks: one set inboard (kerf) and one set outboard. The performance of an imaging-based alignment system, such as the ALX system on the Suss XRS200/3 steppers, varies depending upon the optical characteristics of the alignment marks on the mask and wafer.