90-nm lithography process characterization using ODP scatterometry technology

Ke, Chih-Ming; Yu, Shinn-Sheng; Wang, Yu-Hsi; Chou, Yu-Jun; Chen, Jeng-Horng; Lee, Bih-Huey; Chu, H.C.; Lin, Hon-Jarn; Gau, Tsai‐Sheng; Lin, Chien‐Chu; Ku, Yao-Ching; Lin, Burn J.; Huang, Jacky; Hsu, Jeff; Liu, Victor; Hetzer, Dave; Yap, Lip; Yang, Wenge; Araki, Kiyomichi

doi:10.1117/12.536123

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…For example, scatterometry has become attractive metrology for the depth monitor of STI 1, 2 . Another application is critical dimension (CD) monitoring, instead of a conventional top down CD-SEM 3,4 . In photoresist CD monitoring, scatterometry is advantageous because it causes no damage to photoresist and the measurement is unaffected by line edge roughness (LER).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Usage of profile information obtained with scatterometry

et al. 2005

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Scatterometry, a non-destructive optical metrology, provides information on cross-sectional pattern profiles, including pattern height, sidewall angle and linewidth. Compared with other non-destructive metrology tools, such as the atomic force microscope (AFM) and CD-SEM, scatterometry offers the advantages of high throughput and superior repeatability. We have applied scatterometry to the monitoring of the depth of Shallow Trench Isolation (STI) for the analysis of complicated stack. We obtained sufficient measurement accuracy by optimizing a model.In addition, we propose the application of scatterometry to post-lithography monitoring for advanced process control (APC). A regression model was established to derive effective dose and focus from the change of photoresist profile monitored by means of scatterometry. In our experiment using an ArF scanner, we obtained sufficient measurement repeatability of dose and focus.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Usage of profile information obtained with scatterometry

et al. 2005

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Recently increasing progress has been observed in applying the optical scatterometry method for CD measurement [7][8][9][10][11][12]. In this approach optical interference signals from grating pads were collected and analyzed theoretically through spectra comparison and/or spectra fitting, and structure information such as CDs and depth are obtained therefrom when good fitting is achieved.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accurate in-line CD metrology for nanometer semiconductor manufacturing

et al. 2006

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The need for absolute accuracy is increasing as semiconductor-manufacturing technologies advance to sub-65nm nodes, since device sizes are reducing to sub-50nm but offsets ranging from 5nm to 20nm are often encountered. While TEM is well-recognized as the most accurate CD metrology, direct comparison between the TEM data and in-line CD data might be misleading sometimes due to different statistical sampling and interferences from sidewall roughness. In this work we explore the capability of CD-AFM as an accurate in-line CD reference metrology. Being a member of scanning profiling metrology, CD-AFM has the advantages of avoiding e-beam damage and minimum sample damage induced CD changes, in addition to the capability of more statistical sampling than typical cross section metrologies. While AFM has already gained its reputation on the accuracy of depth measurement, not much data was reported on the accuracy of CD-AFM for CD measurement. Our main focus here is to prove the accuracy of CD-AFM and show its measuring capability for semiconductor related materials and patterns. In addition to the typical precision check, we spent an intensive effort on examining the bias performance of this CD metrology, which is defined as the difference between CD-AFM data and the best-known CD value of the prepared samples. We first examine line edge roughness (LER) behavior for line patterns of various materials, including polysilicon, photoresist, and a porous low k material. Based on the LER characteristics of each patterning, a method is proposed to reduce its influence on CD measurement. Application of our method to a VLSI nanoCD standard is then performed, and agreement of less than 1nm bias is achieved between the CD-AFM data and the standard's value. With very careful sample preparations and TEM tool calibration, we also obtained excellent correlation between CD-AFM and TEM for poly-CDs ranging from 70nm to 400nm. CD measurements of poly ADI and low k trenches are also reported, and both show good correlation to in-line CD-SEM results.

show abstract

Scatterometry-based metrology with feature region signatures matching

Ku¹,

Wang²,

Shyu³

et al. 2006

Opt. Express

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Scatterometry takes advantage of the sensitivity exhibited by optical diffraction from periodic structures, and hence is an efficient technique for lithographic process monitoring. A feature region measurement algorithm has been developed to extract accurately and quickly the relevant constitutive parameters from diffraction data. It is a method for efficiently determining grating structure by seeking the reflectance at some angles contains more information about the structure of the surface relief profile than the reflectance at other angles in a library data match process. The number of measurements and size of signature matching library will be reduced in a great percentage by performing the feature region algorithm.

show abstract

90-nm lithography process characterization using ODP scatterometry technology

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Usage of profile information obtained with scatterometry

Usage of profile information obtained with scatterometry

Accurate in-line CD metrology for nanometer semiconductor manufacturing

Scatterometry-based metrology with feature region signatures matching

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About