Vectorial pupil optimization to compensate for a polarization effect at full exposure field in lithography.

Abstract

Recently, a single vectorial pupil optimization (VPO) was proposed to compensate for the polarization effect induced by thick mask and image optics at one field point in a lithography system, which does not work at full field points. In this paper, we propose a multi-objective VPO (MOVPO) method to obtain a universal vectorial pupil that can compensate for the polarization aberration at full field points. A novel multi-objective cost function, to the best of our knowledge, is built and includes uneven image pattern errors causing by polarization aberration (PA) at full field points in the MOVPO method. Comprehensive simulations demonstrate that the proposed MOVPO method can effectively improve the consistency of imaging and enlarge the overlapped process window at full field points.