System and method for rejuvenating an imaging sensor degraded by exposure to extreme ultraviolet or deep ultraviolet light

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10096478-B2
Application number	US-201313860230-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 10, 2013
Priority date	Apr 12, 2012
Publication date	Oct 9, 2018
Grant date	Oct 9, 2018

Abstract

The present invention for imaging sensor rejuvenation may include a rejuvenation illumination system configured to selectably illuminate a portion of an imaging sensor of an imaging system with illumination suitable for at least partially rejuvenating the imaging sensor degraded by exposure to at least one of extreme ultraviolet light or deep ultraviolet light; and a controller communicatively coupled to the rejuvenation illumination system and configured to direct the rejuvenation illumination system to illuminate the imaging sensor for one or more illumination cycles during a non-imaging state of the imaging sensor.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A system comprising:
an imaging system including an imaging sensor, the imaging system including an optical pathway between the imaging sensor and a sample stage, wherein the imaging system is configured to image one or more samples disposed on the sample stage with at least one of extreme ultraviolet light or deep ultraviolet light;
a rejuvenation illumination system including one or more illumination sources configured to selectably illuminate a portion of the imaging sensor of the imaging system with illumination for at least partially reversing degradation of the imaging sensor caused by exposure of the imaging sensor to the at least one of extreme ultraviolet light or deep ultraviolet light from the imaging system, wherein the rejuvenation illumination system includes an optical pathway between the one or more illumination sources of the rejuvenation system and the imaging sensor, the optical pathway of the rejuvenation illumination system is aligned off-axis relative to the optical pathway of the imaging system,
wherein the one or more illumination sources of the rejuvenation illumination system are configured to generate illumination of at least one wavelength range different from extreme ultraviolet light and deep ultraviolet light from the imaging system; and
a temperature sensor disposed on a portion of the imaging sensor; and
a controller communicatively coupled to the rejuvenation illumination system and the temperature sensor disposed one the portion of the imaging sensor, wherein the controller is configured to direct the rejuvenation illumination system to illuminate the imaging sensor for one or more illumination cycles during a non-imaging state of the imaging sensor in response to one or more signals from the temperature sensor.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the imaging sensor comprises:
a semiconductor imaging sensor.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the imaging sensor comprises:
at least one of a charged coupled device (CCD) or a time delay integration (TDI) sensor.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the rejuvenation illumination system includes one or more illumination sources configured to generate illumination having a wavelength suitable for absorption by a substrate of the imaging sensor.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the rejuvenation illumination system includes one or more illumination sources configured to generate illumination having a wavelength large enough to substantially avoid degradation of the imaging sensor.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the rejuvenation illumination system includes one or more illumination sources configured to generate illumination having a wavelength in at least one of the near infrared band, the visible band and the near ultraviolet band.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the rejuvenation illumination system includes one or more illumination sources configured to generate illumination having a wavelength between 350 nm and 900 nm.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the rejuvenation illumination system includes one or more illumination sources configured to emit illumination capable of heating a substrate above a rejuvenation temperature threshold.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the rejuvenation temperature threshold is 60° C.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the rejuvenation illumination system includes one or more illumination sources emitting illumination capable of heating the substrate above the rejuvenation temperature threshold and below a degradation threshold.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the rejuvenation illumination system includes one or more illumination sources emitting illumination capable of heating a substrate between 60° and 80° C.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the rejuvenation illumination system includes one or more illumination sources configured to illuminate the imaging sensor continuously over a selected time interval.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the rejuvenation illumination system includes one or more illumination sources configured to illuminate the imaging sensor over the selected time interval, wherein the one or more illumination sources are configured to illuminate the imaging sensor using two or more exposure intervals having a selected time of exposure.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the rejuvenation illumination system includes one or more pulsed illumination sources configured to illuminate the imaging sensor with a periodic waveform having selected pulse duration and frequency.

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein the rejuvenation illumination system includes one or more illumination sources, the one or more illumination sources including at least one of a light-emitting diode, a broadband lamp and a laser.

16. The system of claim 1 , wherein the rejuvenation illumination system comprises:
an actuatable mirror configured to selectably establish a temporary illumination pathway between an output of the one or more illumination sources and the one or more imaging sensors.

17. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to establish a selected temperature of the imaging sensor via the one or more illumination sources of the rejuvenation system in response to the temperature sensor.

18. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to maintain a selected temperature of the imaging sensor via the one or more illumination sources of the rejuvenation system in response to the temperature sensor.

Assignees

• Kla Tencor Corp

Inventors

• Delgado Gildardo
• Janik Gary

Classifications

• H10P34/00 Primary

  Irradiation with electromagnetic or particle radiation of wafers, substrates or parts of devices · CPC title

• G01J2001/0285

  against laser damage · CPC title

• G01N2021/95676

  Masks, reticles, shadow masks · CPC title

• G01J1/0228 Primary

  Control of working procedures; Failure detection; Spectral bandwidth calculation · CPC title

• G01J2001/0276

  Protection · CPC title