Projection exposure apparatus for microlithography

Optical: systems and elements – Lens – With field curvature shaping

Reexamination Certificate

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C359S355000, C355S067000, C362S268000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06788471

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a projection exposure apparatus for microlithography with a light source having a wavelength less than 200 nm and a bandwidth less than 0.3 pm, preferably less than 0.2 pm and with an exclusively refractive projection objective made of a single lens material.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
European patent publication 1 037 267 discloses a projection exposure apparatus for microlithography used for transferring a mask pattern onto a substrate such as a semiconductor device. The dimensions of structures which can be generated on the substrate are limited by dispersion in the optical system of the projection exposure apparatus. In using light for illumination having a bandwidth &Dgr;&lgr; which is comparatively narrow, the effects of dispersion can be minimized. European patent publication 1 037 267 teaches that the maximum tolerable bandwidth &Dgr;&lgr; of the light for illumination is proportional to L/NA
2
, with L being the inter object-image distance and NA denoting the numerical aperture. It is suggested to use F
2
-lasers or YAG lasers as light sources for illumination providing illumination light having a wavelength shorter than 193 nm and 157 nm, respectively. As an example, in European patent publication 1 037 267, an exclusively spherical projection objective is described which consists of 27 lenses with NA=0.6, L=1000 mm, magnification &bgr;=−0.25, infinite focal length and maximum image height Y=13.2 mm.
Lithography by means of 157 nm lasers is described in T. M. Bloomstein et al, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 15(6), November/December 1997, p. 2112-2116.
This publication suggests that in lithographic systems using laser illumination light at &lgr;=157 nm, exclusively refractive projection objectives could consist of lenses made of a single lens material. For lithography however the bandwidth of the laser light should be narrowed as known for lasers providing laser light at &lgr;=193 nm.
In “Clearing the Hurdles in the 157 nm Race”, Phil Ware, Canon Submicron Focus, Summer 2000, p. 17, several projection objectives for &lgr;=157 nm are described. For such refractive single material projection objectives, a narrowing of the bandwidth to within a range of 0.1 to 0.2 pm is deemed necessary.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,243,206 discloses an illuminating system for ultraviolet microlithography at 157 nm wavelength. This system has refractive optical elements made of fluoride material and includes both a microlens array functioning as an element for increasing the light conductance value and a honeycomb condenser.
It is well known how to narrow the bandwidth of present day lasers at &lgr;=193 nm and &lgr;=157 nm. However, the narrower the bandwidth of the laser light, the greater the loss in efficiency of the corresponding laser and the higher the production costs of such an apparatus.
In pure quartz glass objectives for &lgr;=248 nm and achromatic objectives for &lgr;=193 nm, numerical apertures of 0.7 to 0.9 are state of the art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In the field of microlithography, enhanced resolution can only be achieved by reducing the wavelength and only if a high image side numerical aperture in the order of magnitude of 0.7 to 0.9 is maintained.
The object of the present invention is to provide a projection exposure apparatus as described hereinafter which allows for a gain in resolution while affording the advantages of illumination at a reduced wavelength.
This object is achieved by a projection exposure apparatus for microlithography which includes a light source having a wavelength of less than 200 nm and a bandwidth of less than 0.3 pm, preferably less than 0.25 pm, and greater than 0.1 pm; and, an exclusively refractive projection objective made of a single lens material. The projection objective has: a maximum image height in the range of 12 mm up to 25 mm; an image side numerical aperture in the range of 0.75 to 0.95; and, a monochromatic correction of the wavefront to rms<15‰ of the wavelength of the light source.
The parameters of the optics of such a projection apparatus allow for the imaging quality achieved at higher wavelengths or in achromatic 193 nm projection exposure apparatuses.
The large image field as represented by the image height allows for a high throughput and for correspondence to the exposure field of other machines operating under less demanding structural requirements. Only with such a high numerical aperture is it possible to achieve a gain in resolution using light of wavelength &lgr;=157 nm for illumination compared to light for illumination at wavelength &lgr;193 nm. The resolution which can be achieved is proportional to the ratio of the wavelength &lgr; of the illumination light and the image side numerical aperture NA, that is &lgr;/NA. For &lgr;=193 nm and NA=0.9, this ratio is 193 nm/0.9=214 nm, for &lgr;=157 nm and NA=0.6, the ratio is 157 nm/0.6=261 nm, which is remarkably greater, and for &lgr;=157 nm and NA=0.75, the ratio is 157 nm/0.75=209 nm, which corresponds approximately to the ratio at &lgr;=193 nm. This means that for the range of the numerical aperture of 0.75 to 0.95, a gain in resolution is possible by using illumination light having wavelength &lgr;=157 nm as compared to illumination light having wavelength &lgr;=193 nm. Because of the high numerical aperture, the quality of imaging is increased as compared to state of the art systems especially at &lgr;=193 nm.
The high quality correction of the projection objective to a monochromatic image plane wavefront error of rms<15‰ ensures that, all over the image field, use can be made of the high resolution, which is achieved because of the small wavelength and the high aperture. Furthermore, this allows for form-correct undistorted imaging all over the image plane. For comparison, in the field of optics, a system having an image error, the magnitude of which corresponds to the ratio of the wavelength and the image side numerical aperture, is usually considered to be limited by diffraction. It should be noted that this error is up to five hundred times greater than with the projection exposure apparatus of the present invention.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention there is an illumination system providing for an increase of the geometrical light flux, that means an increase of the etendue. Preferably also homogenization and variable illumination aperture are provided. The projection illumination apparatus may provide for an annular aperture, a quadrupolar illumination as well as a variable coherence length. Such projection exposure apparatus allows for the best structure-related resolution. Without such an illumination system, a projection exposure apparatus at 157 nm or 193 nm does not provide advantages for many types of structures with respect to conventional projection exposure apparatuses.
In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is at least one lens in the projection objective having an aspherical surface. Lenses with an aspherical lens surface allow a reduction of the path length which the light has to travel through the optical elements of an objective. This reduces not only absorption and hence dissipation of energy in the lens material but also allows less lens material to be used and reduces the number of lenses required in a projection objective. This is of interest in view of the extraordinarily high costs of the lens material, in particular the costs of CaF
2
. Furthermore, these aspherical surfaces allow for a relatively small number of lenses or refractive surfaces such that also reflection losses and thus production costs are reduced.
Preferably fluorides are used as lens material. Such material is particularly apt for illumination with light at wavelength &lgr;=157 nm. Preferably, CaF
2
may be used but lenses could also be made of BaF
2
or LiF
2
. In a preferred embodiment, single cr

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