Extreme Ultraviolet Multilayer Defect Profile Parameters Reconstruction via Transfer Learning with Fine-Tuned VGG-16.

Extracting defect profile parameters from measured defect images poses a significant challenge in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) multilayer defect metrologies, because these parameters are crucial for assessing defect printing behavior and determining appropriate repair strategies. This paper proposes to reconstruct defect profile parameters from reflected field intensity images of a phase defect assisted by transfer learning with fine-tuning. These images are generated through simulations using the rigorous finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. The VGG-16 pre-trained model, known for its robust feature extraction capability, is adopted and fine-tuned to map the intensity images to the defect profile parameters. The results demonstrate that the proposed approach accurately reconstructs multilayer defect profile parameters, thus providing important information for mask repair strategies.