Technique for repairing a reflective photo-mask

1. A computer-implemented method for calculating a modification to a reflective photo-mask, comprising:

aligning a mask pattern in a first image of the reflective photo-mask and a second image of the reflective photo-mask, wherein the first image and the second image correspond to different types of analysis techniques that measure information associated with at least one of a contour in the mask pattern and a profile of the reflective photo-mask;

identifying a group of potential defects in the reflective photo-mask based on the aligned first and second images; and

calculating the modification to the reflective photo-mask based on at least a subset of the group of potential defects using an inverse optical calculation to correct an impact of at least the subset of the defects in a photo-lithographic process, wherein, during the inverse optical calculation, a cost function at an image plane in a model of the photolithographic process is used to determine the modification to the reflective photo-mask at an object plane in the model of the photolithographic process, wherein the cost function corresponds to a difference between a reference pattern associated with a target mask pattern and a calculated pattern associated with a modified reflective photo-mask, and wherein the modified reflective photo-mask includes the modification to the reflective photo-mask determined in a previous iteration during the inverse optical calculation.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first image includes the contour of the mask pattern corresponding to a scanning-electron-microscope image of the mask pattern of the reflective photo-mask and the second image includes the profile of the reflective photo-mask corresponding to atomic-force-microscope image of the reflective photo-mask.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein, prior to aligning the first image and the second image, the method further involves extracting the contour and determining the profile.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the group of potential defects involves calculating an aerial image at the image plane in the photolithographic process.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the inverse optical calculation includes a constrained inverse optical calculation in which the modification is restricted to discrete values.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the discrete values correspond to an etching step size and an etching pixel size used when modifying the reflective photo-mask.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the discrete values correspond to a deposition step size and a deposition pixel size used when modifying the reflective photo-mask.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reference pattern includes a reference aerial image at the image plane and the calculated pattern includes an aerial image at the image plane.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reference pattern includes a reference contour at the image plane and the calculated pattern includes a contour at the image plane.

10. The method of claim 1 , the reference pattern and the calculated pattern correspond to a set of process conditions during the photolithographic process.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the set of process conditions include different focal conditions and different exposure latitudes.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the cost function includes different weights for different process conditions in the set of process conditions.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein, after calculating the modification, the method further involves modifying the reflective photo-mask based on the calculated modification.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein modifying the reflective photo-mask involves etching the reflective photo-mask.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein modifying the reflective photo-mask involves depositing a material on the reflective photo-mask.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein, prior to modifying the reflective photo-mask, the method further involves decomposing the modification into an etching modification to the reflective photo-mask and a deposition modification to the reflective photo-mask.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the modification includes a modification to the mask pattern in an absorption layer in the reflective photo-mask.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein, after identifying the group of potential defects and prior to calculating the modification, the method further involves determining the subset of the group of potential defects that modify a wafer pattern to be produced using the reflective photo-mask in the photolithographic process.

19. A computer-program product for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer-program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and a computer-program mechanism embedded therein to calculate a modification to a reflective photo-mask, the computer-program mechanism including:

instructions for aligning a mask pattern in a first image of the reflective photo-mask and a second image of the reflective photo-mask, wherein the first image and the second image correspond to different types of analysis techniques that measure information associated with at least one of a contour in the mask pattern and a profile of the reflective photo-mask;

instructions for identifying a group of potential defects in the reflective photo-mask based on the aligned first and second images; and

instructions for calculating the modification to the reflective photo-mask based on at least a subset of the group of potential defects using an inverse optical calculation to correct an impact of at least the subset of the defects in a photo-lithographic process, wherein, during the inverse optical calculation, a cost function at an image plane in a model of the photolithographic process is used to determine the modification to the reflective photo-mask at an object plane in the model of the photolithographic process, wherein the cost function corresponds to a difference between a reference pattern associated with a target mask pattern and a calculated pattern associated with a modified reflective photo-mask, and wherein the modified reflective photo-mask includes the modification to the reflective photo-mask determined in a previous iteration during the inverse optical calculation.

20. A computer system, comprising:

at least one processor;

at least one memory; and

at least one program module, the program module stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processor to calculate a modification to a reflective photo-mask, the program module including:

instructions for aligning a mask pattern in a first image of the reflective photo-mask and a second image of the reflective photo-mask, wherein the first image and the second image correspond to different types of analysis techniques that measure information associated with at least one of a contour in the mask pattern and a profile of the reflective photo-mask;

instructions for identifying a group of potential defects in the reflective photo-mask based on the aligned first and second images; and

instructions for calculating the modification to the reflective photo-mask based on at least a subset of the group of potential defects using an inverse optical calculation to correct an impact of at least the subset of the defects in a photo-lithographic process, wherein, during the inverse optical calculation, a cost function at an image plane in a model of the photolithographic process is used to determine the modification to the reflective photo-mask at an object plane in the model of the photolithographic process, wherein the cost function corresponds to a difference between a reference pattern associated with a target mask pattern and a calculated pattern associated with a modified reflective photo-mask, and wherein the modified reflective photo-mask includes the modification to the reflective photo-mask determined in a previous iteration during the inverse optical calculation.