Laser Scattering Simulations from Submicron Features on Silicon Substrates

SBIR第一阶段研究的目的是演示和验证麦克斯韦方程的时间域数值解，这些问题涉及亚微米物体的光学(激光)散射和衍射以及硅衬底上的特征。这种计算光学能力的预期应用是在集成电路(ILC)制造过程中遇到的污染监测、工艺监测、微光刻和成像问题。这些结果表明，严格地模拟与IC制造、检查和设计相关的许多光学问题没有固有的限制。随着超级计算机和应用于麦克斯韦方程的现代数值算法的出现，情况尤其如此。然而，与计算网格的大小、非常短或很长的波长以及完全三维问题相关的某些限制确实存在。这些限制将在第二阶段在增强辐射条件和半解析算法的背景下加以解决。第一阶段的工作取得了很高的成功，第二阶段的工作有望取得更大的成功。第三阶段的承诺书令人印象深刻。

The purpose of the SBIR Phase I research was to demonstrate and validate time-domain numerical solutions of Maxwell's equations for problems involving optical (laser) scattering and diffraction from submicron objects and features on silicon substrates. The intended applications of this computational optics capability is to contaminant monitoring, process monitoring, microlithography, and imaging problems, as encountered in the integrated circuit (ILC) manufacturing process. These results indicate that there is no inherent limitation to simulating rigorously, many, of the optical problems associated with IC fabrication, inspection, and design. This is particularly true with the availability of supercomputers and modern numerical algorithms applied to Maxwell's equations. Certain limitations do exist, however, associated with size of the computational grid, very short or long wavelengths, and fully three-dimensional problems. These limitations will be addressed in Phase II in the context of enhanced radiation conditions and semi-analytic algorithms. The PI has achieved a high level of success in the Phase I effort, and there is every expection for further success in Phase II. The Phase III letters of commitment are impressive.