Quality assessment of directed self-assembling method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10048212-B2
Application number	US-201514673986-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 31, 2015
Priority date	Mar 31, 2014
Publication date	Aug 14, 2018
Grant date	Aug 14, 2018

Abstract

A method for evaluating the quality of a directed self-assembling method used for generating directed self-assembling patterns. The method for evaluating comprises obtaining at least one set of parameter values for a parameterized set of processing steps and material properties characterizing the directed self-assembling method, thus characterizing a specific directed self-assembling method used for generating a directed self-assembled pattern. The method furthermore comprises obtaining a scattered radiation pattern on the directed self-assembled pattern obtained using the directed self-assembling method characterized by the set of parameter values, thus obtaining scattered radiation pattern results for the directed self-assembled pattern. The method furthermore comprises determining based on the scattered radiation pattern results a qualification score and correlating the qualification score with the set of parameter values.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for evaluating the quality of a directed self-assembling method used for generating directed self-assembling patterns, the method comprising:
obtaining at least one set of parameter values for a parameterized set of processing steps and material properties characterizing the directed self-assembling method, thus characterizing a specific directed self-assembling method used for generating a directed self-assembled layer;
obtaining, using a scatterometer, a scattered radiation pattern on the directed self-assembled layer, wherein the directed self-assembled layer is obtained by applying the directed self-assembling method characterized by the set of parameter values on a guiding pattern comprising a number of induced, intended defects, thus obtaining scattered radiation pattern results for the directed self-assembled pattern; and
determining, using a computing device and based on the scattered radiation pattern results, a qualification score identifying a robustness of the directed self-assembling method to the induced, intended defects in the guiding pattern and correlating the qualification score with the set of parameter values.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the induced, intended defects include one or more of non-local or local pitch offsets, interruptions in the line patterns, or local or non-local CD bias.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the induced, intended defects have a tuned defect size.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the induced, intended defects are systematically distributed and/or are randomly distributed.

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
obtaining a plurality of sets of parameter values for the parameterized set of processing steps and material properties, wherein the plurality of sets of parameter values span a process window for the directed self-assembling method;
performing the steps of obtaining a scattered radiation pattern and determining a qualification score for each of the sets of parameters; and
evaluating the process window for the directed self-assembling method based on the obtained qualification scores through the process window.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein determining based on the scattered radiation pattern results a qualification score further comprises performing a normalization of the scattered radiation pattern results.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein performing the normalization further comprises normalizing the scattered radiation pattern results using an analysis of scanning electron microscopy measurements of the self-assembled layers.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
comparing the qualification score correlated with the set of parameters with a qualification score obtained earlier in time for the set of parameter values; and
evaluating, based on the comparing, whether the directed self-assembling method needs to be amended.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein comparing the qualification score further comprises a comparison with a reference comprising previously recorded qualification scores correlated with specific sets of parameter values.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method comprises obtaining the directed self-assembled layer by applying the directed self-assembling method characterized by the set of parameter values on the guiding pattern comprising the number of induced, intended defects.

11. A computer program product for, when run on a processing unit, performing a method for evaluating according to claim 1 .

12. A data carrier comprising a computer program product according to claim 11 .

13. A transmission of a computer program product according to claim 11 over a local or wide area network.

14. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the scatterometer is an angle-resolved polarized reflectometry based scatterometer.

15. A system comprising:
a scatterometer, configured to obtain a scattered radiation pattern;
a storage; and
a computing device that executes instructions so as to carry out operations, the operations comprising:
causing the scatterometer to obtain a scattered radiation pattern, wherein the scattered radiation pattern comprises radiation scattered from a directed self-assembly layer, wherein the directed self-assembled layer is obtained by applying a directed self-assembling method on a guiding pattern comprising a number of induced, intended defects;
determining, based on the scattered radiation pattern, a qualification score, wherein the qualification score is indicative of an order of the directed self-assembled layer;
comparing the qualification score and at least one set of parameter values indicative of a parameterized set of processing steps and material properties characterizing the directed self-assembling method; and
storing comparative data in the storage, wherein the comparative data is based on the comparison.

16. The system according to claim 15 , wherein the comparative data is normalised based on scanning electron microscopy reference data.

17. The system according to claim 15 , wherein the scatterometer is an angle-resolved polarized reflectometry based scatterometer.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored therein instructions, that when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform functions comprising:
obtaining at least one set of parameter values for a parameterized set of processing steps and material properties characterizing the directed self-assembling method, thus characterizing a specific directed self-assembling method used for generating a directed self-assembled layer;
obtaining a scattered radiation pattern on the directed self-assembled layer, wherein the directed self-assembled layer is obtained by applying the directed self-assembling method characterized by the set of parameter values on a guiding pattern comprising a number of induced, intended defects, thus obtaining scattered radiation pattern results for the directed self-assembled pattern, and wherein the scattered radiation pattern is obtained using a scatterometer; and
determining, using a computing device and based on the scattered radiation pattern results, a qualification score identifying a robustness of the directed self-assembling method to the induced, intended defects in the guiding pattern and correlating the qualification score with the set of parameter values.

Assignees

• Imec Vzw
• Univ Leuven Kath

Inventors

• Gronheid Roel
• Van Look Lieve
• Rincon Delgadillo Paulina Alejandra

Classifications

• G01N21/95607 Primary

  using a comparative method · CPC title

• G03F7/0002 Primary

  Lithographic processes using patterning methods other than those involving the exposure to radiation, e.g. by stamping · CPC title

• G01N2201/12

  Circuits of general importance; Signal processing · CPC title

• G01N21/47

  Scattering, i.e. diffuse reflection (G01N21/25, G01N21/41 take precedence {G01N21/55 takes precedence}) · CPC title