Three-dimensional absorber correction for EUV mask defect compensation

Extreme ultraviolet multilayer defects induce both amplitude and phase effects, which significantly degrade defocused imaging quality. However, existing phase effects compensation approaches either require alteration of the multilayer structure, introduce additional phase-shifting materials, or impose constraints on pattern pitch. In this work, we propose a defect compensation method based on three-dimensional absorber correction that avoids all of these limitations and achieves substantially improved defocused imaging performance compared with existing techniques. Within this framework, the trade-off between three-dimensional and two-dimensional corrections is explored, while a multi-channel perception strategy is employed to enhance imaging performance. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method effectively compensates for defects of various types, sizes, and locations under both 0.33 NA and 0.55 NA conditions, and applies to diverse mask patterns.