Accurate, full chip 3D electromagnetic field model for non-Manhattan mask corners

The physical process of mask manufacturing produces absorber geometry with significantly less than 90 degree fidelity at corners. The non-Manhattan mask geometry is an essential contributor to the aerial image and resulting patterning performance through focus. Current state of the art models for corner rounding employ "chopping" a 90 degree mask corner, replacing the corner with a small 45 degree edge. In this paper, a methodology is presented to approximate the impact of 3D EMF effects introduced by corners with rounded edges. The approach is integrated into a full chip 3D mask simulation methodology based on the Domain Decomposition Method (DDM) with edge to edge crosstalk correction.