Polarization aberration analysis in lithographic tools

Hypernumerical aperture and polarized illumination are the key technologies of resolution enhancement of lithography. When the numerical aperture reaches 0.85 and above, especially in the immersion lithography, polarization effect must be taken into consideration. The performance of the projection lens needs to be characterized by rigorous polarization aberration. The vector polarization imaging system that is suitable for hypernumerical aperture is established, and the distortion effects introduced by polarization aberration are analyzed. Orientation Zernike polynomials-based method and Pauli–Zernike polynomials-based method are adopted to parameterize the polarization aberration represented by Jones pupil. Critical dimension error, placement error, and normal int. log slope index are introduced as the index to value imaging distortion. The proposed method and analysis conclusion would provide meaningful guidance for projection lens design of lithographic tools.