EUV mask-blank defect avoidance solutions assessment

It is anticipated that throughout the process development phase for the introduction of EUV lithography, defect free substrates won't be available – even at the manufacturing stage, non-repairable defects may still be present. We investigate EDA-based approaches for defect avoidance, such as reticle floor planning, shifting the entire reticle field (pattern shift), pattern shift in addition to layout classification (smart shift), and defect repair in the data prior to mask write. This investigation is followed by an assessment of the complexity and impact on the mask manufacturing process of the various approaches. We then explore the results of experiments run using a software solution developed on the Calibre platform for EUV defect avoidance on various mask blanks, analyzing its effectiveness and performance.