Aerial image of mesh supported extreme ultraviolet pellicle

We report the effect of the mesh support for the EUV pellicle on the wafer pattern image. The intensity distribution passing through the meshed pellicle was simulated with a partially coherent EUV beam showing that its non-uniformity and the CD uniformity are increased with the mesh width. In order to reduce a non-uniformity of the intensity distribution and CD uniformity, the mesh width should be narrower and the height becomes smaller as well. Thus, the image deformation on the wafer due to the mesh can be avoided by optimizing the mesh structure and thus the pellicle with the mesh support can be used for the EUV lithography.