Optical critical dimension (OCD) measurement has been widely demonstrated as an essential metrology method for monitoring advanced IC process in the technology node of 90 nm and beyond. However, the rapidly shrunk critical dimensions of the semiconductor devices and the increasing complexity of the manufacturing process bring more challenges to OCD. The measurement precision of OCD technology highly relies on the optical hardware configuration, spectral types, and inherently interactions between the incidence of light and various materials with various topological structures, therefore sensitivity analysis and parameter optimization are very critical in the OCD applications. This paper presents a method for seeking the optimum sensitive measurement configuration to enhance the metrology precision and reduce the noise impact to the greatest extent. In this work, the sensitivity of different types of spectra with a series of hardware configurations of incidence angles and azimuth angles were investigated. The optimum hardware measurement configuration and spectrum parameter can be identified. The FinFET structures in the technology node of 14 nm were constructed to validate the algorithm. This method provides guidance to estimate the measurement precision before measuring actual device features and will be beneficial for OCD hardware configuration.
The continuing demand for higher frequency microprocessors and larger memory arrays has led to decreasing device dimensions and smaller process control windows. Decreasing process control windows have created a need for higher precision metrology to maintain an acceptable precision to tolerance ratio with a reasonable sampling rate. In order to determine and reduce across chip, across wafer, and across lot linewidth variations, higher sampling is required which, in turn, demands faster move acquire measure (MAM) times to maintain throughput. Finally, the need to detect and quantify sidewall angle changes in addition to CD measurements is becoming critical. Spectroscopic Scatterometry is a metrology technique which offers the potential to meet these requirements. This work explores some of the fundamental technology concerns for implementing scatterometry in a manufacturing environment. These concerns include mark requirements and characterization necessary for library generation. Comparison of scatterometry data to in-line CD SEM, x-section SEM, and AFM results will be presented.
Current optical interferometric methods for reconstructing 3D surface profiles of thin films from phase measurements are often inaccurate because of the effects of phase changes on reflection. A new method has been developed that automatically determines the film thickness and reconstructs the surface profile of thin films from conventional interferometric phase measurements. This method uses known optical constants of the materials that compose the test surface. By measuring the film thickness at each point of the test surface, a 3D surface profile can be reconstructed. Experimental results are presented for a set of thin film standards consisting of SiO2 film on silicon substrate. The thin film thickness determined using this method is within the uncertainty certified by the standard manufacturer.
A new approach is proposed that uses optical phase shifting interferometry to detect phase shifting mask (PSM) defects. The surface topography is measured directly by determining the phase information from the wavefront reflected or transmitted from the surface of the PSM. The defect size, shape, and location can then be easily determined from the measured 3D surface topography, which provides the necessary information for subsequent defect analysis, repair, or removal. A WYKO high resolution surface profiler that utilizes optical phase shifting interferometry was used to carry out extensive experimental studies on different types of programmed defects. Results show that an optical non-contact surface profiler can be very useful in PSM defect detection. A defect as small as 0.25 micrometers can be easily detected.
We investigated the effect of dissimilar materials on submicron linewidth measurements that are made from phase images. When the relative reflectivity is low, errors are introduced into linewidth measurements made directly from phase images. Two calibration algorithms were developed based on the theoretical modeling of a partially coherent optical system. There was good agreement between the experimental results and the theoretical predictions.
This paper describes a simple and effective phase unwrapping technique that prevents the propagation of errors introduced at some locations on a surface from being included in or propagating to all subsequent calculations for the remaining area of the surface. Unlike conventional phase unwrapping methods that use only the principal phase value, the proposed technique utilizes the modulation information about the fringe pattern to divide the principal phase map into regions, performs mathematical morphology operations to generate a labeled unwrapping sequence mask, and carries out multi-stage phase unwrapping procedures.
We have developed a new realistic 3-D microsurface visualization technique utilizing optical phase-shifting interferometry (PSI). First, we measure the surface topography directly by determining the phase of the wavefront reflected from the surface of the object. The phase information is obtained by shifting the phase of one beam of the interferometer by a known amount and measuring the intensity of the interferometer for many different phase shifts. A phase difference map between the reference and object wavefronts is then calculated from the measured intensities. The vertical resolution is on the order of a few Angstroms. Second, we extend phase-shifting interferometry to a measurement of surface reflectivity. The measured reflectivity is not affected by any variations associated with the light source across the entire illumination field. Third, both the measured surface height data and the reflectivity images are fed into a workstation where advanced computer graphics algorithms are applied. The surface height data are used to generate the 3-D surface profile, which is then shaded by the reflectivity image, resulting in a realistic 3-D image. We will present the theoretical analysis, system setup, experimental measurements, and examples of realistic 3-D microscopic surface images.
A new approach to measuring submicron linewidths using optical phase-shifting interferometry is proposed. The technique has two main features. First, the surface topography is measured directly by determining phase information from the wavefront reflected from the surface of the object. Theoretical analysis indicates that the phase image of a line feature gives better lateral resolution than that of the intensity image of the same optical system. By comparing the intensity images and phase images from the computer simulations, it will be shown that the phase image (1) is affected less by the diffraction limitation; (2) has sharper edge definition; and (3) is insensitive to the variations of material composition and step height of the object. Second, the surface reflectivity can also be measured using phase-shifting interferometry. Unlike the intensity image measured by conventional methods, the measured reflectivity is not affected by any variations associated with the light source across the entire illumination field. The relative reflectivity between the line feature and the substrate is then determined. These advantages will result in better resolution and accuracy in measuring submicron linewidths. Theory and simulations predict that accurate measurements of 0.2 micrometers linewidths should be possible.
A new precise alignment technique using optical phase-shifting, Fourier transform and spatial filtering has been developed for registering a symmetric pattern on the substrate to a phase-shifting pattern on the reticle. The alignment between two marks was determined by detecting a minimum point in the zero order spatial frequency intensity of the light reflected from the alignment mark on the substrate. The minimum is due to the complete phase-cancellation when the alignment marks co-centered. The theoretical analysis and computer simulations were performed to show that this technique is not affected by variations of linewidth and step height of the alignment mark pattern as well as variations of optical properties of the substrate in which the alignment mark is built. The preliminary experimental results were in good agreement with the calculations. It has been shown that this technique does not have the alignment ambiguity problem existed in the techniques using grating pattern and detecting interference moire image. Current results indicate that the overlay accuracy of the technique can be better than 0. 1 .tm.
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