Automatic resist parameter calibration procedure for lithography simulation

The simulation of photolithographic processes depends on accurate resist modeling parameters. In this paper we present an automated fitting procedure which can be applied to arbitrary combinations of experimental data and model parameters. The procedure is applied to a typical i-line process. The resulting models are evaluated with respect to their performance for the full set of experimental data. The correlation of model parameters with certain experimental data is discussed and an optimum automatic parameter extraction procedure for i-line resists is proposed. Finally, we evaluate the extracted parameters by comparing different simulated profiles with cross-section SEM pictures.