Monte Carlo simulation study of local critical dimension error on mask and wafer

Summary form only given. Mask Error Enhanced Factor (MEEF) is the important issue in sub-100 nm lithography. In addition, the types of patterns written on the mask become so complicated that the variation of critical dimension (CD) on mask can be crucial for determination of wafer CD uniformity. The CD variation on mask consists of two components, local and global CD variation. These are the two main sources inducing the CD variation on a wafer. The printed image on wafer can be distorted due to proximity effect caused by near neighboring features on mask. Therefore, MEEF simulation and local CD error calculation should be performed with careful consideration for the effect caused by near neighboring features. The Monte Carlo method has been applied to images printed on wafer in order to evaluate the effects mentioned above.