Abstract:
PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical pellicle to protect a photomask from particulate contamination during semiconductor lithography which has enhanced transparency and operational characteristics. SOLUTION: The pellicle utilizes alternating layers of a transparent polymer and a transparent inorganic layer to form pellicles which have high transmission properties and high strength. In a preferred pellicle, a three-layer pellicle is provided having a transparent inorganic layer 4 sandwiched between two polymer layers 12a and 12b. A five-layer pellicle is also provided with the outer layers and a middle layer being polymer layers and the inner layers an inorganic material. The preferred polymer layer is a perfluorinated polymer such as Teflon (R) and the preferred inorganic material is silicon dioxide. The pellicle of the invention provides light transmission of greater than 0.99% at incident light angles up to arcsine 0.45. COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT
Abstract:
PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To ensure a direct measurement of phase shift generating in a phase shift area of a phase shift mask by measuring a relative shift between interference patterns caused by a first slit pair having the same phase shift characteristic and a second slit pair having a different phase shift characteristic. SOLUTION: A mask 55 contains a reference slit pair, each of which has substantially the same phase characteristic. The mask 55 has also a measuring slit pair, each of which has a different phase shift characteristic. An objective lens projects Young's interference stripes generated by the slit pairs on a plane of a NA aperture 90. A people image lens 69 projects these stripes on a CCD camera 71. A phase difference between the two slits of the measuring slit pair by measuring a relative fringe shift between the measuring slit pair and the reference slit pair.