Accelerating high-NA introduction with ImageTuner EXE
Steven L. Carson, Harsha Grunes, Can Guven, Todd J. Hoppe, Robert M. Bigwood, Vince Plachecki, Dezheng Sun, Paul Derks, Stephen Hsu, Peter D. Engblom, Sjoerd Lok · 2025
The new High-NA (Numerical Aperture) system from ASML has an NA of 0.55 compared to the previous 0.33NA systems. To reach this NA the optical system of the high NA system (POB: Projection Optics Box) is significantly larger than that of a 0.33NA system. The High NA POB is so large, it is not feasible to test and adjust the POB to final spec at the supplier. This means that initially the system will be shipped with a POB that will not meet the final aberration specs. Once the system is installed, the wavefront will be measured, the data sent back to the supplier and used to prepare one or more mirrors to be installed in the system to meet the final spec. During this time, the system is operational but won’t meet imaging specifications. To use the system during this time ImageTuner EXE was used to enable use of the first High NA system at Intel. By using ImageTuner EXE it was possible to bring the imaging within spec for specific layers, and the system could be used to expose multiple layers for system verification, process development and OPC exposures, significantly ahead of what would have been possible in the standard scanner system integration/setup/qualification flow.