A new approach to pattern metrology

Ausschnitt, Christopher P.

doi:10.1117/12.539143

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…In parallel to this, references [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] are the winning papers of the Diana Nyyssonen Award, given annually to the paper which is judged the best paper of the Conference by the members of the Program Committee [24]. These papers deal more specifically with the technologies developed to make measurements: 6 deal with scatterometry, and 4 with CD SEM.…”

Section: The Past 25 Years Of the Metrology Conferencementioning

confidence: 99%

Metrology in times of shrinking budgets

Arnold¹

2013

SPIE Proceedings

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Variations in key device parameters such as gate width, fin height, and storage node aspect ratio can lead to performance variations device to device and within die. Extreme excursions can result in yield loss. Metrology and process control are enablers to detect and keep these variations to within certain bounds. As the features of devices continue to shrink, the allowable tolerances for critical dimensions and overlay errors likewise must shrink, in turn forcing the metrology budgets to shrink in step. At the same time, more data is required per wafer to generate higher order analyses while at the same time greater productivity in terms of silicon area processed in unit time is needed to keep the economics favorable. It is essential we develop the strategies needed for metrology in times of shrinking budgets.

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Section: The Past 25 Years Of the Metrology Conferencementioning

confidence: 99%

Metrology in times of shrinking budgets

Arnold¹

2013

SPIE Proceedings

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“…However, in order to improve a process-robust measurement of lithography parameters, the use of the 1st diffraction order has been proposed in[38].…”

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confidence: 99%

Optical wafer metrology sensors for process-robust CD and overlay control in semiconductor device manufacturing

Boef

2016

Surf. Topogr.: Metrol. Prop.

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This paper presents three optical wafer metrology sensors that are used in lithography for robustly measuring the shape and position of wafers and device patterns on these wafers. The first two sensors are a level sensor and an alignment sensor that measure, respectively, a wafer height map and a wafer position before a new pattern is printed on the wafer. The third sensor is an optical scatterometer that measures critical dimension-variations and overlay after the resist has been exposed and developed. These sensors have different optical concepts but they share the same challenge that sub-nm precision is required at high throughput on a large variety of processed wafers and in the presence of unknown wafer processing variations. It is the purpose of this paper to explain these challenges in more detail and give an overview of the various solutions that have been introduced over the years to come to process-robust optical wafer metrology.

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“…This is an immersion version of the previously proposed MOXIE approach. 20 As is the case with darkfield microscopy, the scattered signal should be sensitive only to the pattern and not uniform films. For the cases simulated in this work, we found very good theoretical sensitivity for this measurement mode.…”

Section: Instrumentation and Measurement Modesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Immersion scatterometry for improved feature resolution and high speed acquisition of resist profiles

Terry

Bendik²

2005

SPIE Proceedings

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Specular-mode spectroscopic scatterometry is currently being used as an in-line metrology tool for wafer-to-wafer process monitoring and control in lithography and etch processes. Experimental real-time, in situ demonstrations of critical dimension monitoring and control have been made for reactive ion etching. There have been no similar demonstrations of real-time control in the critical step of resist development. In this paper, we will show the results of a simulation study on the use of scatterometry in an immersion mode both to improve resolution and to act as a real-time monitor for photoresist topography evolution during development. We have performed realistic simulations of the experimental performance by using Prolith™ to generate developing resist profiles vs. time and a rigorous couple wave algorithm (RCWA) simulator (modified to include the immersion ambient) to generate simulated scatterometry data. We have examined several modes of operation of the proposed measurement including specular and 1 st order scattered modes using spectroscopic ellipsometry and reflectometry. For our simulations, we have used pure water to approximate the developer refractive index. We have created realistic simulation data by adding appropriate amounts of random noise to perfect simulations, and then used regression analysis to extract profiles from these data. Water immersion increases feature shape resolution for small period gratings by increasing the scattering into real diffracted modes.

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A new approach to pattern metrology

Cited by 7 publications

References 7 publications

Metrology in times of shrinking budgets

Metrology in times of shrinking budgets

Optical wafer metrology sensors for process-robust CD and overlay control in semiconductor device manufacturing

Immersion scatterometry for improved feature resolution and high speed acquisition of resist profiles

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