Carl Zeiss launched a new system for photomask registration correction

The brand new system called RegC™ is based on ZEISS femtosecond- laser technology. RegC™ enables to correct high-end photomasks for remaining registration errors after the pattern generation process. Current results give evidence of registration improvements over 50 %. RegC™ thereby helps to reduce the overlay error in wafer printing which is one of the most critical items in advanced lithography.



“This application is targeted to customers who want to beat the lithography roadmaps for overlay and registration, in conjunction with double patterning or other advanced lithography schemes.” states Guy Ben-Zvi, Managing Director of Carl Zeiss SMS Ltd. in Karmiel, Israel. “The RegC™ system builds an ideal closed-loop application with the successful ZEISS PROVE™ registration metrology tool and is another milestone in the ZEISS strategy to support our customers with solutions resulting in perfect photomasks. We developed this system after an extensive survey of our high-end customer base which had clearly pointed out the emerging need of the industry.”



RegC™ can be used to significantly correct the registration errors of any single photomask or groups of photomasks of the same mask set towards optimal wafer overlay values. Even the diminutive pellicle impact on the overall registration budget can be corrected, as the RegC™ process can be run after the pellicle has been applied.



Fast turn around time and seamless integration in any advanced mask manufacturing cycle allow users to save pattern generation tool time. The need of rewriting masks due to registration errors can be avoided and the mask process flow in the mask shop does not need to be interrupted.



Carl Zeiss presents the new tool RegC™ on SPIE Advanced Lithograpy in San Jose, California, between February 27 and March 4, 2011.