Electromagnetic Field Simulations of Isolated and Periodic 3D Photomask Patterns

We present rigorous 3D EMF simulations of isolated features on photomasks using a newly developed finite-element method. We report on the current status of the finite-element solver JCMsuite, incorporating higher-order edge elements, adaptive refinement methods, and fast solution algorithms. We demonstrate that rigorous and accurate results on light scattering off isolated features can be achived at relatively low computational cost, compared to the standard approach of simulations on large-pitch, periodic computational domains.