Projection exposure method and projection exposure apparatus for microlithography

Abstract

A projection exposure method for exposing a radiation-sensitive substrate with at least one image of a pattern includes providing the pattern between an illumination system and a projection lens of a projection exposure apparatus so that the pattern is arranged in the region of an object plane of the projection lens and can be imaged via the projection lens into an image plane of the projection lens. The image plane is optically conjugate with respect to the object plane, and imaging-relevant properties of the pattern can be characterized by pattern data. The method also includes illuminating an illumination region of the pattern with an illumination radiation provided by the illumination system in accordance with an illumination setting which is specific to a use case and which can be characterized by illumination setting data.

1 - 34 . (canceled) 
     
     
         35 . A method, comprising:
 illuminating a pattern with illumination radiation having an illumination setting specific to a use case, the illumination setting being characterized by illumination setting data and imaging-relevant properties of the pattern being characterized by pattern data, the pattern comprising a core region and a peripheral region which is different from the core region;   determining imaging specification data with regard to use case data specific to the use case so that imaging specification data for the core region differ from imaging specification data for the peripheral region with respect to at least one imaging specification, the use case data comprising pattern data and/or illumination setting data;   controlling optical components of a projection lens based on the imaging specification data to adapt imaging behavior of the projection lens to the use case; and   using the projection lens adapted to the use case to image the pattern onto a substrate, the pattern being disposed in an object plane of the projection lens.   
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 35 , further comprising determining at least a portion of the pattern data and/or of the illumination setting data by at least one measurement to acquire data about the projection lens. 
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 35 , wherein:
 the pattern data comprise at least core region structure data containing quantitative information about the structure of the core region;   the core region comprises a region having the smallest line spacing and/or the smallest periodicity length of a group of mutually parallel lines in the pattern; and   lines of the core region form the core region structure.   
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 35 , wherein the pattern data comprise core region structure orientation data representing an orientation of lines of the core region. 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 38 , further comprising deriving the core region structure orientation data from illumination setting data containing information about the orientation of poles of a dipole illumination set on the illumination system. 
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 38 , wherein the pattern data comprise, in addition to the core region orientation data, one or more data selected from the group consisting of:
 core region structure position data representing a position of lines of a core region structure within the pattern;   peripheral region structure orientation data representing an orientation of lines of the peripheral region; and   peripheral region structure position data representing a position of lines of the peripheral region.   
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 35 , wherein:
 an imaging specification S k  has a specification ratio between an imaging specification S k (FP i ) for a first field point in the core region and a corresponding imaging specification S k (FP j ) for a second field point in the peripheral region that deviates from one; and
   max( S   k ( FP   i )/ S   k ( FP   j ), S   k ( FP   j )/ S   k ( FP   i ))≥1.5.
 
   
     
     
         42 . The method of  claim 41 , wherein the imaging specification S k  is described by an odd-order Zernike coefficient or a linear combination of odd-order Zernike coefficients. 
     
     
         43 . The method of  claim 35 , wherein:
 the imaging specification data comprise at least one structure data selected from the group consisting of core region structure orientation data, core region structure position data, peripheral structure orientation data, and peripheral structure position data;   the at least one structure data is such that at least one of the following holds:
 there are two field points whose imaging specification data differ in at least one aspect; and 
 there is one field point at which the wavefront specification for a wavefront for an n th -order wavefront expansion function differs in at least one aspect from the wavefront rotated by an angle of 90°/n. 
   
     
     
         44 . The method of  claim 35 , further comprising:
 determining at least one subset of use case data and/or imaging specification data for a use case via an extrinsic data acquisition;   communicating the at least one subset of use case data and/or imaging specification data to the control unit of the projection lens,   wherein:
 acquiring the extrinsic data comprises at least one measure from the group consisting of:
 interrogation by the user via a user interface; 
 retrieval from a memory accessible to a control unit of the projection exposure apparatus; 
 determination from information concerning settings on the illumination system of the projection exposure apparatus; and 
 determination from information about the mask to be exposed. 
 
   
     
     
         45 . The method of  claim 35 , further comprising determining at least one subset of use case data for a use case via intrinsic data acquisition by at least one measurement on or in the projection lens, and communicating the at least one subject of use case data for the use case to the control unit of the projection lens. 
     
     
         46 . The method of  claim 35 , wherein determining use case data comprises automatedly determining projection radiation data representing at least one property of the projection radiation passing from the object plane of the projection lens in a direction of an image plane of the projection lens. 
     
     
         47 . The method of  claim 46 , wherein determining projection radiation data comprises measuring a wavefront of the projection radiation at at least one field point. 
     
     
         48 . The method of  claim 46 , wherein determining projection radiation data comprises determining intensity distribution data representing a two-dimensional distribution of radiation intensity of the projection radiation at at least one reference surface lying between the object plane and the image plane in a projection beam path. 
     
     
         49 . The method of  claim 48 , wherein at least one optical surface of an optical element in the beam path of the projection lens is used as the reference surface. 
     
     
         50 . The method of  claim 49 , wherein the optical element is a mirror, and the optical surface is a mirror surface. 
     
     
         51 . The method of  claim 50 , wherein, for determining intensity distribution data, a two-dimensional temperature distribution at the reference surface is measured in a spatially resolved manner. 
     
     
         52 . The method of  claim 51 , further comprising acquiring the two-dimensional temperature distribution via at least one thermal imaging camera or at least one temperature sensor. 
     
     
         53 . The method of  claim 50 , further comprising determining intensity distribution data at a reference surface which lies at or in proximity to a pupil plane of the projection lens, and using the intensity distribution data to determine illumination setting data. 
     
     
         54 . The method of  claim 50 , further comprising determining intensity distribution data at a reference surface which lies at or in proximity to a field plane of the projection lens, and using the intensity distribution data to determine pattern data. 
     
     
         55 . The method of  claim 50 , wherein:
 a first reference surface is arranged at or in proximity to a pupil plane of the projection lens;   a second reference surface is arranged at or in proximity to a field plane of the projection lens; and   the method further comprises:
 determining first intensity distribution data at the first reference surface; 
 determining second intensity distribution data at the second reference surface; and 
 using the first and the second intensity distribution data to determine the pattern data and/or illumination setting data. 
   
     
     
         56 . The method of  claim 35 , wherein:
 use case classification data are stored in a memory accessible to a control unit of the projection exposure apparatus;   the use case classification data comprises, for a multiplicity of combinations of an illumination setting and a mask structure in the illumination region, corresponding intensity distribution data for at least one reference surface lying between the object plane and the image plane; and   projection radiation data are determined using the use case classification data.   
     
     
         57 . The method of  claim 35 , wherein a pattern recognition method and/or a feature extraction method are/is used when determining pattern data and/or illumination setting data from the projection radiation data. 
     
     
         58 . The method of  claim 35 , further comprising comparing first use case data of a first projection exposure with second use case data of a directly succeeding second projection exposure to generate use case comparison data. 
     
     
         59 . The method of  claim 35 , further comprising generating a use case change signal indicating the change of the use case in a manner dependent on the use case comparison data. 
     
     
         60 . A method of using a projection exposure apparatus comprising an illumination system, a patterning unit and a projection lens, the patterning unit configured to provide a pattern comprising a core region and a peripheral region which different from the core region, the pattern being disposed in an object plane of the projection lens, the method comprising:
 illuminating the pattern with illumination radiation provided by the illumination system in accordance with an illumination setting specific to a use case, the illumination setting being characterized by illumination setting data and imaging-relevant properties of the pattern being characterized by pattern data;   determining use case data specific to the use case, the use case data comprising pattern data and/or illumination setting data;   determining imaging specification data with regard to the use case data so that imaging specification data for the core region differ from imaging specification data for the peripheral region with respect to at least one imaging specification;   controlling optical components of the projection lens based on the imaging specification data to adapt imaging behavior of the projection lens to the use case; and   using the projection lens adapted to the use case to image the pattern onto a substrate.   
     
     
         61 . An apparatus, comprising:
 a patterning unit configured to provide a pattern comprising a core region and a peripheral region different form the core region;   an illumination system configured to illuminate the pattern;   a projection lens having an object plane and an image plane, the pattern being disposed in the object plane during use, the projection lens configured to generate an image of the pattern in a region of the image plane; and   a system configured to adapt imaging behavior of the projection lens to a specific use case, the system comprising:
 units configured to determine use case data specific to the use case; 
 units configured to determine imaging specification data with regard to the use case data so that imaging specification data for the core region differ from imaging specification data for the peripheral region with respect to at least one imaging specification; and 
 a control unit assigned to the projection lens and configured to control optical components of the projection lens based on the imaging specification data to adapt the imaging behavior of the projection lens to the use case, 
   wherein the apparatus is a projection exposure apparatus.   
     
     
         62 . The apparatus of  claim 61 , wherein the units configured to determine use case data comprise an intrinsic data acquisition system which comprises a unit configured to acquire intrinsic data which is connected to at least one measuring and acquiring unit selected from the group consisting of:
 a wavefront measuring system configure to measure a wavefront of projection radiation passing in the projection lens from the mask to a substrate to be exposed;   a reticle measuring system configured to measure structures of the pattern of the mask;   a unit configured to determine intensity distribution data representing a two-dimensional distribution of radiation intensity of the projection radiation at at least one reference surface lying between an object plane of the projection lens and an image plane of the projection lens in a projection beam path.   
     
     
         63 . The apparatus of  claim 62 , wherein the unit configured to determine intensity distribution data comprises at least one element selected from the group consisting of:
 a temperature measuring system configured to: i) acquire local temperatures in an illuminated region in a spatially resolved manner at an optical surface of an optical element that serves as reference surface; and ii) determine therefrom a two-dimensional temperature distribution at the optical surface; and   a thermal imaging camera configured to spatially resolve recording of a two-dimensional heat distribution at an optical surface of an optical element of the projection lens.   
     
     
         64 . The apparatus of claim  29 , wherein the optical element having the optical surface comprises a mirror. 
     
     
         65 . The apparatus of  claim 62 , wherein the system for intrinsic data acquisition comprises:
 a first unit configured to determine first intensity distribution data at a first reference surface lying at or in proximity to a pupil plane of the projection lens; and   a second unit configured to determine second intensity distribution data at a second reference surface lying at or in proximity to a field plane of the projection lens.   
     
     
         66 . The apparatus of  claim 65 , wherein a subaperture ratio is in the range of 0.7 to 1 at the first reference surface, and a subaperture ratio is in the range of 0 to 0.3 at the second reference surface. 
     
     
         67 . The apparatus of claim  27 , wherein the units configured to determine use case data comprise a system to acquire extrinsic data which comprises a unit to acquire extrinsic data, which is connected to at least one unit selected from the group consisting of:
 a user interface with a computer terminal configured to allow a user to input data;   a memory to the control unit and in which is stored at least one portion of the use case data in the form of information about the illumination system, the projection lens and/or the reticle;   a data line by which information concerning settings on the illumination system of the projection exposure apparatus is retrievable; and   a reticle data acquisition unit configured to read in information concerning the reticle.   
     
     
         68 . The apparatus of claim  27 , wherein a controllable optical component of the projection lens is a mirror arranged at or in proximity to a pupil surface and to which is assigned a deformation manipulator comprising a multiplicity of independently driveable actuators which allow the mirror surface of the mirror to be deformed one-dimensionally or two-dimensionally.