In this paper, we introduce the concept and development background of iFPC (intra-field Finger Print Correction). iFPC is a scanner option that removes the generic 3D fingerprint seen in the leveling data so that both process dependency and actual wafer topography are not followed during wafer exposure. In addition, we compare the degree of process margin improvement when applying iFPC compared to that of AGILE on a critical layer. The achieved results demonstrate that by applying iFPC it is possible to gain an additional 15~20nm DoF. In other words, on this use case our feasibility suggests that by removing the generic 3D fingerprint seen in the leveling data, it is possible to achieve a better focus performance than when trying to follow the topography during scanning. In conclusion, we found another good way to improve the process margin through this comparative experiment. Therefore, our next step will be to setup the methodology to select the use cases where iFPC is the optimal solution. |
|