Simulator of lithography tool for correcting focus error and critical dimension, simulation method for correcting focus error and critical dimension, and computer medium for storing computer program for simulator

Claim 2

A simulator of a lithography tool comprising: a correcting parameter memory configured to store a correcting scaling value and a correcting bias, the correcting scaling value being used to correct a focus error of a projection optical system in the lithography tool, the correcting bias being used to correct a critical dimension error generated in the lithography tool; a model simulation engine configured to simulate an image formation by the lithography tool, by using a corrected focus, to model a calculated critical dimension of a simulated image, the corrected focus being calculated by multiplying an actual defocus of the projection optical system in the lithography tool by the correcting scaling value, the actual defocus being used to form an actual image by the lithography tool, the actual image corresponding to the simulated image; and a bias corrector configured to add the correcting bias to the calculated critical dimension to make the simulated image approximate to the actual image.

Claim 3

The simulator of claim 1 , further comprising a microscope configured to measure an actual critical dimension of the image generated by the lithography tool.

Claim 4

The simulator of claim 2 , wherein the model simulation engine models a plurality of focus dependency critical dimensions under a plurality of scaled focuses respectively, the scaled focuses being calculated by multiplying the defocus by a plurality of scaling values.

Claim 5

The simulator of claim 3 , further comprising a scaling value defining module configured to define one of the scaling values used to model one of the focus dependency critical dimensions approximate to the actual critical dimension as the correcting scaling value.

Claim 6

The simulator of claim 2 , wherein the model simulation engine models a plurality of resist parameter dependency critical dimensions by using a plurality of resist parameters, respectively.

Claim 7

The simulator of claim 5 , further comprising a resist parameter defining module configured to define one of the resist parameters used to model one of the resist parameter dependency critical dimensions approximate to the actual critical dimension as a correcting resist parameter used to model the calculated critical dimension.

Claim 8

A simulation method, comprising: obtaining a correcting scaling value used to correct a focus error of a projection optical system in a lithography tool; obtaining a correcting bias used to correct a critical dimension error generated in the lithography tool; simulating an image formation by the lithography tool, by using a corrected focus, to model a calculated critical dimension of a simulated image, the corrected focus being calculated by multiplying an actual defocus of the projection optical system in the lithography tool by the correcting scaling value, the actual defocus being used to form an actual image by the lithography tool, the actual image corresponding to the simulated image; and adding the correcting bias to the calculated critical dimension to make the simulated image approximate to the actual image.

Claim 9

A simulation method, comprising: obtaining a correcting scaling value used to correct a focus error of a projection optical system in a lithography tool; obtaining a correcting bias used to correct a critical dimension error generated in the lithography tool; simulating an image formation by the lithography tool, by using a corrected focus, to model a calculated critical dimension of a simulated image, the corrected focus being calculated by multiplying an actual defocus of the projection optical system in the lithography tool by the correcting scaling value, the actual defocus being used to form an actual image by the lithography tool, the actual image corresponding to the simulated image; and adding the correcting bias to the calculated critical dimension to make the simulated image approximate to the actual image.

Claim 10

The method of claim 7 , wherein obtaining the correcting scaling value further comprises: measuring an actual critical dimension of the image generated by the lithography tool; modeling a plurality of focus dependency critical dimensions under a plurality of scaled focuses, respectively, the scaled focuses being calculated by multiplying the defocus by a plurality of scaling values; and defining one of the scaling values used to model one of the focus dependency critical dimensions approximate to the actual critical dimension as the correcting scaling value.

Claim 11

The method of claim 8 , wherein defining the correcting scaling value further comprises calculating a residual sum of squares of the actual critical dimension and each of the focus dependency critical dimensions.

Claim 12

The method of claim 8 , wherein obtaining the correcting bias further comprises: defining a critical dimension bias function expressed by a sum of one of the focus dependency critical dimensions and a bias variable; calculating a residual sum of squares of the actual critical dimension and the critical dimension bias function; and determining a value of the bias variable giving the minimum of the residual sum of squares.

Claim 13

The method of claim 7 , further comprising obtaining a correcting resist parameter to correct a resist parameter dependency error generated in the lithography tool.

Claim 14

The method of claim 11 , wherein obtaining the correcting resist parameter further comprises: measuring an actual critical dimension of the image generated by the lithography tool; modeling a plurality of resist parameter dependency critical dimensions by using a plurality of resist parameters, respectively; and defining one of the resist parameters used to model one of the resist parameter dependency critical dimensions approximate to the actual critical dimension as the correcting resist parameter.

Claim 15

The method of claim 12 , wherein defining the correcting resist parameter further comprises calculating a residual sum of squares of the actual critical dimension and each of the resist parameter dependency critical dimensions.

Claim 16

A computer-readable medium for storing a computer program for a simulator, the computer program comprising: instructions configured to obtain a correcting scaling value within the simulator, the correcting scaling value being used to correct a focus error of a projection optical system in a lithography tool; instructions configured to obtain a correcting bias within the simulator, the correcting bias being used to correct a critical dimension error generated in the lithography tool; instructions configured to simulate an image formation by the lithography tool, by using a corrected focus, to model a calculated critical dimension of a simulated image within the simulator, the corrected focus being calculated by multiplying an actual defocus of the projection optical system in the lithography tool by the correcting scaling value, the actual defocus being used to form an actual image by the lithography tool, the actual image corresponding to the simulated image; and instructions configured to add the correcting bias to the calculated critical dimension to make the simulated image approximate to the actual image within the simulator.

Claim 17

A computer-readable medium for storing a computer program for a simulator, the computer program comprising: instructions configured to obtain a correcting scaling value within the simulator, the correcting scaling value being used to correct a focus error of a projection optical system in a lithography tool; instructions configured to obtain a correcting bias within the simulator, the correcting bias being used to correct a critical dimension error generated in the lithography tool; instructions configured to simulate an image formation by the lithography tool, by using a corrected focus, to model a calculated critical dimension of a simulated image within the simulator, the corrected focus being calculated by multiplying an actual defocus of the projection optical system in the lithography tool by the correcting scaling value, the actual defocus being used to form an actual image by the lithography tool, the actual image corresponding to the simulated image; and instructions configured to add the correcting bias to the calculated critical dimension to make the simulated image approximate to the actual image within the simulator.

Claim 18

The computer-readable medium for storing the computer program of claim 14 , wherein the instructions configured to obtain the correcting scaling value further comprise: instructions configured to measure an actual critical dimension of the image generated by the lithography tool within the simulator; instructions configured to model a plurality of focus dependency critical dimensions under a plurality of scaled focuses, respectively, within the simulator, the scaled focuses being calculated by multiplying the defocus by a plurality of scaling values; and instructions configured to define one of the scaling values used to model one of the focus dependency critical dimensions approximate to the actual critical dimension as the correcting scaling value within the simulator.

Claim 19

The computer-readable medium for storing the computer program of claim 15 , wherein the instructions configured to define the correcting scaling value further comprise instructions configured to calculate a residual sum of squares of the actual critical dimension and each of the focus dependency critical dimensions within the simulator.

Claim 20

The computer-readable medium for storing the computer program of claim 15 , wherein the instructions configured to obtain the correcting bias further comprise: instructions configured to define a critical dimension bias function expressed by a sum of one of the focus dependency critical dimensions and a bias variable within the simulator; instructions configured to calculate a residual sum of squares of the actual critical dimension and the critical dimension bias function within the simulator; and instructions configured to determine a value of the bias variable giving the minimum of the residual sum of squares within the simulator.

Claim 21

The computer-readable medium for storing the computer program of claim 15 , further comprising instructions configured to obtain a correcting resist parameter to correct a resist parameter dependency error generated in the lithography tool within the simulator.

Claim 22

The computer-readable medium for storing the computer program of claim 18 , wherein the instructions configured to obtain the correcting resist parameter further comprise: instructions configured to measure an actual critical dimension of the image generated by the lithography tool within the simulator; instructions configured to model a plurality of resist parameter dependency critical dimensions by using a plurality of resist parameters, respectively, within the simulator; and instructions configured to define one of the resist parameters used to model one of the resist parameter dependency critical dimensions approximate to the actual critical dimension as the correcting resist parameter within the simulator.

Claim 23

The computer-readable medium for storing the computer program of claim 19 , wherein the instructions configured to define the correcting resist parameter further comprise instructions configured to calculate a residual sum of squares of the actual critical dimension and each of the resist parameter dependency critical dimensions within the simulator.