MARKER STRUCTURE FOR ALIGNMENT OR OVERLAY TO CORRECT PATTERN INDUCED DISPLACEMENT, MASK PATTERN TO DEFINE THE MARKER STRUCTURE, AND LITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTING APPARATUS USING THE MASK PATTERN

• Main Authors: DUSA MIRCEA, COLINA LUIS ALBERTO COLINA SANTAMARIA, HENDRICKX ERIC HENRI JAN, FINDERS JOZEF MARIA, VAN HAREN RICHARD JOHANNES FRANCISCUS, VANDENBERGHE GEERT, VAN DER HOFF ALEXANDER HENDRIKUS MARTINUS
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 03.02.2005
• Edition: 7
• Subjects: APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED THEREFOR; BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ELECTRIC SOLID STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; ELECTRICITY; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY; MATERIALS THEREFOR; ORIGINALS THEREFOR; PHOTOGRAPHY; PHOTOMECHANICAL PRODUCTION OF TEXTURED OR PATTERNED SURFACES,e.g. FOR PRINTING, FOR PROCESSING OF SEMICONDUCTORDEVICES; PHYSICS; SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mask pattern for imaging a marker structure which decreases lens aberration and influences of the limitation of projection in a lithographic process. SOLUTION: The mask pattern is formed to image a marker structure on a substrate by lithographic projection. The marker structure is constituted to determine the optical alignment or overlay in use and has a constituent part defining the marker structure. The constituent part is segmented into a plurality of segmented elements (EL; ML), each segmented element having substantially a size of a device feature. In the mask pattern having a segment shape for each segmented element (EL; ML), the mask pattern for the marker structure includes at least one assist feature (EL_sub) located at a critical part of the segment shape for suppressing optical aberration or optical limitation generated in the lithographic projection at the critical part. At least one assist feature (EL_sub) substantially has a size below the resolution of the lithographic projection. COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI