Automatic testing and analysis of misregistrations found in semiconductor processing

Stemp, I. J.; Nicholas, K. H.; Brockman, H.E.

doi:10.1109/t-ed.1979.19484

Cited by 22 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Mask errors.--Mask errors have been identified by repetition of errors on different slices (6) and by the pattern of errors (1) using the standard form. Distortion variations were minimized but they do limit the accuracy.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measurement and Identification of Distortion, Alignment, and Mask Errors in IC Processing

Nicholas

Stemp

Brockman

1981

J. Electrochem. Soc.

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Measurement and identification of misregistration between patterns in integrated circuits is becoming increasingly important as finer geometry processes are being developed for VLSI. Various forms of the Stickman resistor pattern are described. These enable measurement of the alignment errors, mask errors, and distortions that occur when using any alignment apparatus. The properties of the different forms of Stickman resistors are compared and examples of applications to studying mask making errors, slice/mask distortions, projection distortions, and process induced slice distortions are described. It is shown that misregistrations of 0.1 micron or even less can be measured and identified. Direct measurements on simple apparatus are shown to be reproducible to ±0.003 micron and accuracy is estimated at 5% of the misregistration with simple apparatus and 2% for a one micron misregistration if on chip measurement of sheet resistance is made.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measurement and Identification of Distortion, Alignment, and Mask Errors in IC Processing

Nicholas

Stemp

Brockman

1981

J. Electrochem. Soc.

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“…͑2͒, and use the overlay test structures used in electrical-test overlay measurement, 5,6 in which the overlay is obtained by measuring the difference between two linewidths and hence immune to the linewidth variation. ͑2͒.…”

Section: Algorithmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Field distortion characterization using linewidth or pitch measurement

Ye¹

1995

Journal of Vacuum Science &Amp; Technology B: Microelectronics and Nanometer Structures Processing, Measurement, and Phenomena

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Articles you may be interested inA proposed scheme for comprehensive characterization of the measured geometric distortion in magnetic resonance imaging using a three-dimensional phantom Med.Field distortion in steppers and mask pattern generators can be a serious source of placement errors, which subsequently translate to overlay errors if different steppers/masks ͑with different distortion͒ are used in different layers of wafer printing. Such distortion is often determined using an expensive coordinate measuring system ͑e.g., Leica LMS2020 optical metrology system͒ which may not be readily available. We describe a simple and inexpensive technique for measuring field distortion using readily available instruments. The essence of the technique is to build up a pattern using multiple exposures with different portions of the field overlapped in the complete pattern, so that the resulting linewidth or pitch variation across the field gives the difference between the field distortion and a shifted field distortion. We can then reconstruct the field distortion by measuring the linewidth/ pitch. We have applied this technique to two optical steppers, and have shown that the reconstructed field distortion agrees well with the direct LMS2020 measurement.

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“…The determination of the resistor values (RL) and (RIO can be a four terminal measurement to increase accuracy. The measurement and analysis can be carried out automatically (2). Any small overall misalignment between sets of patterns can be separated from basic mask errors.…”

Section: The Measurement Devicementioning

confidence: 99%

The Electrical Measurement of Pattern Placement Errors of Mask Makers

Nicholas

Tree

1982

J. Electrochem. Soc.

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The misregistration between patterns in integrated circuits can be due in part to the masks. Mask errors can be simulated by writing different patterns on the same mask. The patterns can be arranged to form thin film resistors in a bright chrome mask and the resistor value can be used to calculate misregistrations. Normally the two patterns have to be aligned to get useful results. This paper, however, describes patterns that do not require alignment and this extends the use of the measurement technique to the assessment of the long term mask making errors and errors in copying. It is shown that the technique can be accurate to better than -+0.05 ~m and an evaluation of runout effects in mask copying is described.

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Automatic testing and analysis of misregistrations found in semiconductor processing

Cited by 22 publications

References 4 publications

Measurement and Identification of Distortion, Alignment, and Mask Errors in IC Processing

Measurement and Identification of Distortion, Alignment, and Mask Errors in IC Processing

Field distortion characterization using linewidth or pitch measurement

The Electrical Measurement of Pattern Placement Errors of Mask Makers

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