KEYWORDS: Defect detection, Optical microscopy, Near infrared, 3D modeling, 3D metrology, Data modeling, 3D acquisition, Wafer-level optics, Semiconductors
Through-focus scanning optical microscopy (TSOM) is a model-based optical metrology method that involves the scanning of a target through the focus of an optical microscope. Nanometer scale sensitive information is then extracted by matching the target TSOM data/image to reference TSOM data/images that are either experimentally or computationally collected. The nanometer sensitivity was previously confirmed by several theoretical and optical implementations. However, these studies all involved application to wafer patterns on the top surface. The present study extends the TSOM method to subsurface defect detection and classification without destruction, which becomes extremely important due to increasingly widely employed 3D semiconductor technologies. First, we apply a near-infrared (NIR) beam as illumination light in order to allow defect identification over the entire device depth. In addition, we adopt a model-less TSOM approach since the construction of a TSOM reference database for 3D pattern structures such as 3D NAND flash memory is hardly practical. We therefore employ a comparative TSOM method in which a TSOM data cube/image is compared with an image of an adjacent die or that of a “golden” die known to be defect free. We report the results of the first application of this method to an Intel 3D NAND flash and show that substantial subsurface defects are detected and classified.
Metrology and inspection (MI) processes are established at critical points of the semiconductor manufacturing process in order to maintain a certain yield and also provide information needed for future processes improvements. Typically, the inspection consists of dark-field (DF) inspection and SEM review/classification processes. An optical DF microscopy system (or inspection tool) first detects particles or pattern defects on wafers and obtains their position coordinates. However, due to its limited optical resolution, the DF system is not widely applied in the review process, which requires higher resolution images of the detected defects such as those provided by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) but with a sacrifice of throughput. We propose an innovative idea of applying two (or three) dark-field microscopy images for intermediate defect classification and size estimation under optical resolution. The proposed method utilizes the angular scattering distribution from a defect that is in the Mie scattering domain, which varies depending on both the beam and defect properties (wavelength, polarization, incident angle; shape, size, complex refractive index). It captures three darkfield images of the same wafer by three inter-changeable objectives with different magnification and numerical aperture (NA) values under identical side illumination conditions. We estimate the defect types and sizes simply by investing three measurements. We demonstrated this proposed method to classify and estimate the defect size down to ~ 80nm by an existing UV inspection tool with three DF imaging modes; 1) M15 mode, sampling stance = 150 nm, NA =0.6, 2) M25 mode, sampling distance = 250 nm, NA=0.36, and 3) M40 mode, sampling distance =400 nm, and NA =0.23. We demonstrated its feasibility by an independent SEM measurement of the detected defects.
Through-focus optical microscopy (TSOM) with nanometer-scale lateral and vertical sensitivity levels matching those of scanning electron microscopy has been demonstrated to be useful both for 3D inspections and metrology assessments. In 2014, funded by two private companies (Nextin/Samsung Electronics) and the Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology (KEIT), a research team from four universities in South Korea set out to investigate core technologies for developing in-line TSOM inspection and metrology tools, with the respective teams focusing on optics implementation, defect inspection, computer simulation and high-speed metrology matching. We initially confirmed the reported validity of the TSOM operation through a computer simulation, after which we implemented the TSOM operation by throughfocus scanning of existing UV (355nm) and IR (800nm) inspection tools. These tools have an identical sampling distance of 150 nm but have different resolving distances (310 and 810 nm, respectively). We initially experienced some improvement in the defect inspection sensitivity level over TSV (through-silicon via) samples with ~ 6.6 μm diameters. However, during the experiment, we noted sensitivity and instability issues when attempting to acquire TSOM images. As TSOM 3D information is indirectly extracted by differentiating a target TSOM image from reference TSOM images, any instability or mismatch in imaging conditions can result in measurement errors. As a remedy to such a situation, we proposed the application of adaptive optics to the TSOM operation and developed a closed-loop system with a tip/tilt mirror and a Shack-Hartmann sensor on an optical bench. We were able to keep the plane position within in RMS 0.4 pixel by actively compensating for any position instability which arose during the TSOM scanning process along the optical axis. Currently, we are also developing another TSOM tool with a deformable mirror instead of a tip/tilt mirror, in which case we will not require any mechanical scanning.
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