Integrated optical critical dimension metrology with Mueller matrix ellipsometry

Guo, Chunfu; Shi, Yian; Wu, Huaxi; Li, Weiqi; Zhang, Chuanwei; Jiang, Hao; Liu, Shiyuan

doi:10.1016/j.tsf.2023.139695

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Ellipsometry-based OCD measurement methods are being studied into various types such as faster measurement speed or massive expansion of the measurable data domain to meet the requirements of the semiconductor manufacturers. Among them, spectroscopic ellipsometry using spectral signals, variable angle spectral ellipsometry (VASE) 1,2 that can measure various angles of incidence and azimuth signals, imaging ellipsometry 3,4 that can increase spatial resolution and acquire signals for a region, and micro-ellipsometry 5,6 which can measure various angle of incidence and azimuth angle in oneshot, are being studied. Among various OCD measurement methods, micro-ellipsometry is a promising OCD technique as it enables massive angular measurements and small-spot illumination.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving the accuracy and precision of OCD measurement by systematic error correction in self-interference pupil ellipsometry

Lee

Park

Lee

et al. 2023

Optical Measurement Systems for Industrial Inspection XIII

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To achieve high accuracy and precision in optical metrology for advanced semiconductors, it is crucial to identify and compensate for errors from optical components and environmental perturbations. In this study, we investigated the sources of the errors in the interferometric ellipsometer developed for next-generation OCD. The objective lens and beam splitters, the critical optical components of the system, are intensively investigated. The system errors induced by temperature fluctuation, wavelength inaccuracy, and defocus were quantitatively examined. We also proposed methods for compensating individual errors and analyzed the effect of the compensation. As a result of error compensation, the accuracy and precision of the system is improved by 6.9 times and 2.3 times, respectively. Although the investigation was conducted based on our interferometric ellipsometry system, the finding is not limited to this system, as these errors are commonly found in most optical metrology systems. The proposed method for error compensation will be essential strategies for various ellipsometry systems suffering from a low level of accuracy and precision.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving the accuracy and precision of OCD measurement by systematic error correction in self-interference pupil ellipsometry

Lee

Park

Lee

et al. 2023

Optical Measurement Systems for Industrial Inspection XIII

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“…Benefiting from non-contact, non-destructive, fast and lowcost characteristics, optical scatterometry has been used as a * Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed. powerful tool for characterizing nanostructures in the semiconductor industry [1][2][3][4]. This technique involves measuring the corresponding scattering signatures induced by the sample and extracting the profiles by solving the inverse problem [5][6][7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Condition-number-based measurement configuration optimization for nanostructure reconstruction by optical scatterometry

Yang

Chen

Liu

et al. 2023

Meas. Sci. Technol.

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The quality of the measured signature is influenced not only by the instrument’s precision but also by the selected measurement configuration. In optical scatterometry, the purpose of measurement configuration optimization (MCO) is to select an optimal or suboptimal combination of measurement conditions, such as the angles of incidence, azimuth, polarization and wavelength, to achieve higher measurement accuracy. This analysis not only requires an effective optimization strategy but is also time-consuming. In this work, we propose a general MCO method that incorporates error propagation theory and condition-number-based error estimation technique, by which the MCO problem can be formulated as an optimization problem for the condition number of the coefficient matrix in the linear estimation of parameter deviations. The method is demonstrated on a multi-wavelength Mueller matrix scatterometry measuring a Si grating. With the help of the neural-network-based surrogate model, the feasibility of the method is verified by making a comparison with Latin Hypercube sampling. Fitting results of the measured and calculated Mueller matrix spectra obtained at the selected optimal measurement configuration show a good agreement. The proposed method is promising to provide an alternate solution to globally evaluate the MCO problem in optical scatterometry and other measurement scenarios.

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Ensemble Learning-Fused Solution to the Inverse Problem in Integrated Optical Critical Dimension Metrology

Guo,

Liu,

et al. 2025

IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas.

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Integrated optical critical dimension metrology with Mueller matrix ellipsometry

Cited by 4 publications

References 27 publications

Improving the accuracy and precision of OCD measurement by systematic error correction in self-interference pupil ellipsometry

Improving the accuracy and precision of OCD measurement by systematic error correction in self-interference pupil ellipsometry

Condition-number-based measurement configuration optimization for nanostructure reconstruction by optical scatterometry

Ensemble Learning-Fused Solution to the Inverse Problem in Integrated Optical Critical Dimension Metrology

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