Ptychography as a means of lensless imaging is used in wafer metrology applications using Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) light, where use of high quality optics is out-of-scope. To obtain sufficient diffraction intensity, reflection geometries with shallow (ca. 20 degrees) grazing incidence angles are used, which require re-sampling the diffraction data in a process called tilted plane correction (TPC). The tilt angle used for TPC is conventionally obtained through either experimentally tricky calibration, manual estimation based on diffraction pattern symmetry, although computational approaches are emerging. In this work we offer an improved numerical optimization approach as an alternative to TPC, where we use the flexibility offered by our Automatic Differentiation (AD)-based ptychography approach to include the data resampling into the forward model to learn the tilt angle. We demonstrate convergence of the approach across a range of incidence angles on simulated and experimental data obtained on an EUV beamline with either a high-harmonic generation (HHG)-based or a visible light source.
Due to their increasingly complex 3D geometries, upcoming gate all around (GAA) devices pose new metrology challenges for which there is not yet any established HVM metrology solution, in particular for various critical timed etch steps [5]. Soft x-ray (SXR) scatterometry using 10-20 nm wavelength light is a promising next-generation metrology technique for 3D profile metrology and overlay (OVL) applications. This wavelength regime offers unique benefits over existing metrology techniques today: (1) Short wavelengths allow for higher resolution measurements than traditional visible wavelengths could offer, enabling measurement of structures at device pitches. (2) Primarily single scattering yields low correlation between parameters and aids physical interpretation of signals. This enables many parameters of interest to be extracted accurately and simultaneously. (3) SXR provides 3D capability, with stack heights up to 400 nm supported and high depth resolution due to the broadband source and sensor. These properties together make SXR suitable for measuring the 3D profiles of advanced devices such as gate all around (GAA) transistors, as well as after develop (ADI) overlay at device pitch. In this paper, we demonstrate SXR for profile metrology of GAA devices. We show sensitivity to average SiGe lateral recess etch depth as well as individual nanosheet critical dimensions, which cannot be reliably accessed by other nondestructive, inline metrology techniques available today. We furthermore demonstrate sensitivity in ADI OVL measurements directly on device-pitch structures in the presence of an underlying patterned nuisance layer.
With increasingly 3D devices becoming the norm, there is a growing need in the semiconductor industry and in materials science for high spatial resolution, non-destructive metrology techniques capable of determining depth-dependent composition information on devices. We present a solution to this problem using ptychographic coherent diffractive imaging (CDI) implemented using a commercially available, tabletop 13 nm source. We present the design, simulations, and preliminary results from our new complex EUV imaging reflectometer, which uses coherent 13 nm light produced by tabletop high harmonic generation. This tool is capable of determining spatially-resolved composition vs. depth profiles for samples by recording ptychographic images at multiple incidence angles. By harnessing phase measurements, we can locally and nondestructively determine quantities such as device and thin film layer thicknesses, surface roughness, interface quality, and dopant concentration profiles. Using this advanced imaging reflectometer, we can quantitatively characterize materials-sciencerelevant and industry-relevant nanostructures for a wide variety of applications, spanning from defect and overlay metrology to the development and optimization of nano-enhanced thermoelectric or spintronic devices.
We present preliminary through-pellicle imaging using a 30nm tabletop extreme ultraviolet (EUV) coherent diffractive imaging microscope. We show that even in a non-optimized setup, this technique enables through-pellicle imaging of a sample with no detectable impact on image fidelity or resolution.
Using a tabletop coherent extreme ultraviolet source, we extend current nanoscale metrology capabilities with applications spanning from new models of nanoscale transport and materials, to nanoscale device fabrication. We measure the ultrafast dynamics of acoustic waves in materials; by analyzing the material’s response, we can extract elastic properties of films as thin as 11nm. We extend this capability to a spatially resolved imaging modality by using coherent diffractive imaging to image the acoustic waves in nanostructures as they propagate. This will allow for spatially resolved characterization of the elastic properties of non-isotropic materials.
EUV lithography is promising for addressing upcoming, <10nm nodes for the semiconductor industry, but with this promise comes the need for reliable metrology techniques. In particular, there is a need for actinic mask inspection in which the imaging wavelength matches that of the intended lithography process, so that the most relevant defects are detected. Here, we demonstrate tabletop, ptychographic, coherent diffraction imaging (CDI) in reflection- and transmission-modes of extended samples, using a 13 nm high harmonic generation (HHG) source. We achieve the first sub-wavelength resolution EUV image (0.9λ) in transmission, the highest spatial resolution using any 13.5 nm source to date. We also present the first reflection-mode image obtained on a tabletop using 12.7 nm light. This work represents the first 12.7 nm reflection-mode image using any source of a general sample.
We present an extension of ptychography coherent diffractive imaging that enables simultaneous imaging of several areas of an extended sample using multiple, spatially separated interfering beams. We show that this technique will increase the throughput of an imaging system by a factor that is equal to the number of beams used. This allows for the acquisition of large field of view images with near diffraction-limited resolution without an increase in data acquisition. This represents a significant step towards large field of view, high resolution imaging in the EUV and x-ray energy regimes.
We demonstrate hyperspectral coherent imaging in the EUV spectral region for the first time, without the need for hardware-based wavelength separation. This new scheme of spectromicroscopy is the most efficient use of EUV photons for imaging because there is no energy loss from mirrors or monochromatizing optics. An EUV spectral comb from a tabletop high-harmonic source, centered at a wavelength of 30nm, illuminates the sample and the scattered light is collected on a pixel-array detector. Using a lensless imaging technique known as ptychographical information multiplexing, we simultaneously retrieve images of the spectral response of the sample at each individual harmonic. We show that the retrieved spectral amplitude and phase agrees with theoretical predictions. This work demonstrates the power of coherent EUV beams for rapid material identification with nanometer-scale resolution.
We present an extension to ptychography that allows simultaneous deconvolution of multiple, spatially separate, illuminating probes. This enables an increased field of view and hence, an increase in imaging throughput, without increased exposure times. This technique can be used for any non-interfering probes: demonstrated with multiple wavelengths and orthogonal polarizations. The latter of which gives us spatially resolved polarization spectroscopy from a single scan.
We use EUV coherent microscopy to obtain high-resolution images of buried interfaces, with chemical specificity, in 2+1 dimensions. We perform reflection mode, ptychographic, coherent diffractive imaging with tabletop EUV light, at 29nm, produced by high harmonic generation. Our damascene-style samples consist of copper structures inlaid in SiO2, polished nearly flat with chemical mechanical polishing. We obtain images of both an unaltered damascene as well as one buried below a 100nm thick layer of evaporated aluminum. The aluminum is opaque to visible light and thick enough that neither optical microscopy, SEM, nor AFM can access the buried interface. EUV microscopy is able to image the buried structures, non-destructively, in conditions where other techniques cannot.
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