Dipole decomposition mask design for full-chip implementation at 100-nm technology node and beyond

For cost-effective Integrated Circuit (IC) manufacturing, it is highly desirable to use Binary-Chrome Masks (BIMs) instead of Phase Shifting Masks (PSMs). For the 70nm technology node, it is of particularly appealing if Argon Fluoride (ArF) BIMs can still be used. In this paper, we demonstrate that double dipole ArF exposure together with BIMs is capable of achieving acceptable overlapped process window for printing 70nm Critical Dimension (CD) features. The main challenge of using such a technique for IC manufacturing is how to properly decompose the original mask patterns into two separate orientation masks (vertical and horizontal). To compensate for the possible two-dimensional (2D) pattern distortion due to the strong proximity effect, a novel set of