Challenges in development and construction of stand-alone inspection, metrology, and calibration tools for EUV lithographic applications

Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Lithography is currently viewed as the most promising approach for reaching the 22 nm node in the manufacture of silicon devices. One of the principal challenges in the ongoing EUVL research effort is the development of necessary at-wavelength metrology tools. EUV Technology worlds leading manufacturer of EUV metrology tools manufactures custom instrumentation for the utilization and analysis of short wavelength electromagnetic radiation - soft x-rays and extreme ultraviolet (EUV). Our company has pioneered the development of several stand-alone inspection, metrology, and calibration tools for EUV lithographic applications that can be operated in a clean room environment on the floor of a fab. An overview of necessary metrology tools for EUV Lithography will be presented, along with the challenges in developing these tools in order to support the successful implementation of EUV Lithography for the 22nm node. In addition, a detailed description of the EUV metrology tools we have delivered, their long term performance and stability of these tools along with our plans for developing a Reflectometer to achieve the HVM requirements will be discussed.