Hybrid diffraction modeling of diffracting structures

1. A method of generating a modeled angular spectrum of diffracted orders for at least a portion of a diffracting photolithographic mask including a patterned absorber material disposed above a plurality of unpatterned layers forming a high and low refractive index (HL) quarter wave stack, the method comprising:

calculating the modeled angular spectrum of diffracted orders resulting from modeled electromagnetic radiation incident to a hybrid model profile of the diffracting photolithographic mask portion, the hybrid model profile including a plurality of curved interfaces which varies with respect to a first dimension, each of the curved interfaces representing an interface between two adjacent unpatterned layers of the (HL) quarter wave stack, and a horizontal slab defined by two parallel interfaces which are constant with respect to the first dimension representing the patterned absorber material; and

predicting how the diffracting photolithographic mask images onto a substrate based on the modeled angular spectrum of diffracted orders.

2. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the modeled electromagnetic radiation has a wavelength of approximately 13.5 nm or smaller; and wherein only one eigensolution is generated for the absorber and only one eigensolution is provided for each of the unpatterned layers.

3. A method as in claim 1 , wherein calculating the modeled angular spectrum of diffracted orders for the hybrid model profile further comprises:

solving a first differential equation system in curvilinear coordinates for a first diffraction amplitude at a first of the curved interfaces;

coupling a first plurality of response wave modes with a first plurality of cause wave modes across the first of the curved interfaces based on the solution of the first differential equation system;

propagating the first plurality of response and cause wave modes from the first of the curved interfaces to a first of the two planar interfaces proximate to the first of the curved interfaces;

transforming the first plurality of cause and response wave mode amplitudes into a first vector of Fourier components of the tangential electro-magnetic field;

solving a second differential equation system in Cartesian coordinates for a second diffraction amplitude at the horizontal slab;

coupling the first vector of Fourier components of the tangential electro-magnetic field with a second plurality of cause and response wave modes based on the solution of the second differential equation system; and

propagating the second plurality of cause and response wave modes from the first of the planar interfaces to a second of the planar interfaces.

4. A machine-accessible non-transitory storage medium having instructions stored thereon which cause a data processing system to perform a method of generating a modeled angular spectrum of diffracted orders for at least a portion of a diffracting photolithographic mask including a patterned absorber material disposed above a plurality of unpatterned layers forming a high and low refractive index (HL) quarter wave stack, the method comprising:

calculating the modeled angular spectrum of diffracted orders resulting from modeled electromagnetic radiation incident to a hybrid model profile of the diffracting photolithographic mask portion, the hybrid model profile including a plurality of curved interfaces which varies with respect to a first dimension, each of the curved interfaces representing an interface between two adjacent unpatterned layers of the (HL) quarter wave stack, and a horizontal slab defined by two parallel interfaces which are constant with respect to the first dimension representing the patterned absorber material; and

predicting how the diffracting photolithographic mask images onto a substrate based on the modeled angular spectrum of diffracted orders.

5. A medium as in claim 4 , further comprising instructions for:

solving a first differential equation system of a first of the curved interfaces by a curvilinear coordinate transformation method;

solving a second differential equation system of the horizontal slab by a rigorous coupled-wave method;

recursively coupling a plurality of response wave modes with a plurality of cause wave modes between the curved interface solution and the horizontal slab solution with an S-matrix algorithm to generate a scattering matrix for the hybrid model profile; and

extracting the upper left quarter sub-matrix of the scattering matrix as a reflection matrix for the hybrid model profile.

6. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the layers of the HL stack are distorted by an underlying defect;

wherein each of the curved interfaces models an interface of the HL stack layers as distorted by the underlying defect; and

wherein predicting how the diffracting photolithographic mask images onto a substrate further comprises determining an effect of the underlying defect on an image formed with the diffracting photolithographic mask based on the modeled angular spectrum of diffracted orders.

7. A method as in claim 1 , wherein calculating the angular spectrum of diffracted orders further comprises:

solving a first differential equation system for each of the curved interfaces with a curvilinear coordinate transformation method;

solving a second differential equation system of the horizontal slab with a rigorous coupled-wave method;

recursively coupling a plurality of response wave modes with a plurality of cause wave modes between the curved interface solution and the horizontal slab solution with an S-matrix algorithm to generate a scattering matrix for the hybrid model profile; and

extracting a sub-matrix of the scattering matrix as a reflection matrix for the hybrid model profile.

8. A data processing system for generating a modeled angular spectrum of diffracted orders for at least a portion of a diffracting photolithographic mask including a patterned absorber material disposed above a plurality of unpatterned layers forming a high and low refractive index (HL) quarter wave stack, the data processing system comprising:

a memory to store a location of a defect in the photolithographic mask inducing distortions in two or more layers of the quarter wave stack;

a microprocessor to calculate a modeled angular spectrum of diffracted orders resulting from modeled electromagnetic radiation incident to a hybrid model profile of the diffracting photolithographic mask portion, the hybrid model profile including a plurality of curved interfaces which varies with respect to a first dimension, each of the curved interfaces representing an interface between two adjacent unpatterned layers of the (HL) quarter wave stack, and a horizontal slab defined by two parallel interfaces which are constant with respect to the first dimension representing the patterned absorber material, and wherein the microprocessor is to determine how the diffracting photolithographic mask images onto a substrate based on the modeled angular spectrum of diffracted orders.

9. The data processing system of claim 8 , wherein the modeled electromagnetic radiation has a wavelength of approximately 13.5 nm or smaller; and wherein the microprocessor is to generate only one eigensolution for the absorber and only one eigensolution for each of the two or more unpatterned layers.

10. The data processing system of claim 8 , wherein the microprocessor is to calculate the modeled angular spectrum of diffracted orders for the hybrid model profile by:

solving a first differential equation system in curvilinear coordinates for a first diffraction amplitude at a first of the curved interfaces;

coupling a first plurality of response wave modes with a first plurality of cause wave modes across the first of the curved interfaces based on the solution of the first differential equation system;

propagating the first plurality of response and cause wave modes from the first of the curved interfaces to a first of the two planar interfaces proximate to the first of the curved interfaces;

transforming the first plurality of cause and response wave mode amplitudes into a first vector of Fourier components of the tangential electro-magnetic field;

solving a second differential equation system in Cartesian coordinates for a second diffraction amplitude at the horizontal slab;

coupling the first vector of Fourier components of the tangential electro-magnetic field with a second plurality of cause and response wave modes based on the solution of the second differential equation system; and

propagating the second plurality of cause and response wave modes from the first of the planar interfaces to a second of the planar interfaces.