Integrated ODP metrology with floating n&k's for lithography process

Patrick Kearney; Dmitriy Likhachev; Junichi Uchida; Göran Fleischer

doi:10.1117/12.814246

23 March 2009 Integrated ODP metrology with floating n&k's for lithography process

Patrick Kearney, Dmitriy Likhachev, Junichi Uchida, Göran Fleischer

Proceedings Volume 7272, Metrology, Inspection, and Process Control for Microlithography XXIII; 727241 (2009) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.814246
Event: SPIE Advanced Lithography, 2009, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

Advanced DRAM manufacturing demands rigorous and tight process control using high measurement precision, accurate, traceable and high throughput metrology solutions. Scatterometry is one of the advanced metrology techniques which satisfies all the above mentioned requirements and it has been implemented in semiconductor manufacturing for some time for monitoring and controlling critical dimensions and other important structural parameters. One of the major contributions to the optical critical dimensions metrology uncertainty is the variations in optical properties (n&k's) of film stack materials. And it is well-known that the optical properties of materials depend very much on process conditions (such as operating conditions of deposition tools). However, in traditional scatterometry approach all the n&k's have been used as fixed inputs in a scatterometry model which might result in significant metrology error. This paper shows the use of the integrated scatterometry system in a real production environment. The significant improvement in accuracy of CD data was achieved following the implementation of new floating n&k's option for the Optical Digital Profilometry (ODPTM) system. It has been clearly shown that to achieve desired sub-nanometer accuracy in scatterometry measurements for advanced processes we need to pay scrupulous attention to every detail of the scatterometry modeling and measurement. Still further work is needed to better understand the impact of n&k's variations on tool-to-tool matching.

Citation Download Citation

Patrick Kearney, Dmitriy Likhachev, Junichi Uchida, and Göran Fleischer "Integrated ODP metrology with floating n&k's for lithography process", Proc. SPIE 7272, Metrology, Inspection, and Process Control for Microlithography XXIII, 727241 (23 March 2009); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.814246

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