Analysis of Defect in Extreme UV Lithography Mask Using a Modal Method Based on Nodal B-Spline Expansion

This paper details to an electromagnetic modeling of an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography mask. For that purpose, a modal method based on a spline nodal expansion (MMSNE) is presented. The results obtained using first, and second-order splines as basis functions are compared with those obtained using other modal methods, such as modal method by Fourier expansion (MMFE). The agreement between the results obtained using different methods is very good, and a convergence test is also performed. The spline nodal basis function implemented in this paper is the first step toward the realization of a multiresolution scheme that is expected to perform much more efficiently than conventional schemes.