Electron beam proximity effect correction

Abstract

The principal goal of this work is to produce an electron beam PEC system that is faster, more accurate, and requires less computational resources than those currently available.

The correction system described in this thesis is derived from the pattern area density proximity effect correction (PADPEC) method of Murai et al. [F. Murai, H. Yoda, S. Okazaki, N. Saitou and Y. Sakitani, Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B10, 3072(1992)], one of the fastest published algorithms. Each individual source of error in the processing chain is analysed and attacked, and a number of algorithmic enhancements introduced (corner rounding error reduction and shape fracturing); the outcome is a significant improvement in accuracy and data throughput of the process. The new system is called the Enhanced PADPEC, or EPADPEC.

Compare to PADPEC, EPADPEC reduces line width errors by factors ranging from 4 to 11, at a cost of doubling the calculation time. However, for the same accuracy requirement, EPADPEC is around five times faster than PADPEC.

In parallel with the development of the EPADPEC system, because experimental work on an electron beam lithography (EBL) machine is costly and slow, a suite of support programs was developed: a GDSII browser, a shape processor, a proximity effect simulator and an EBL machine write time simulator. These allowed the bulk of the experimental and development work to be entirely software based; physical experimentation is used only to calibrate and validate the simulator, and to verify a handful of key results.

Finally, the thesis presents a feasibility study of the idea of implementing proximity correction as an embedded hardware/software system, to be integrated into the EBL machine. The design goal is to accelerate the correction calculation to the point that it is no longer rate limiting and can be performed in-line. The study suggests that such an approach is likely to succeed.

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