Signal response metrology for image based and scatterometry overlay measurements

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10210606-B2
Application number	US-201514880077-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 9, 2015
Priority date	Oct 14, 2014
Publication date	Feb 19, 2019
Grant date	Feb 19, 2019

Abstract

Methods and systems for measuring overlay error between structures formed on a substrate by successive lithographic processes are presented herein. Two overlay targets, each having programmed offsets in opposite directions are employed to perform an overlay measurement. Overlay error is measured based on zero order scatterometry signals and scatterometry data is collected from each target at two different azimuth angles. In addition, methods and systems for creating an image-based measurement model based on measured, image-based training data are presented. The trained, image-based measurement model is then used to calculate values of one or more parameters of interest directly from measured image data collected from other wafers. The methods and systems for image based measurement described herein are applicable to both metrology and inspection applications.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
providing a first overlay target having a first grating structure located in a first layer and a second grating structure located in a subsequent layer, wherein the second grating structure is offset from the first grating structure by a known offset distance in a first direction;
providing a second overlay target having a first grating structure located in the first layer and a second grating structure located in the subsequent layer, wherein the second grating structure is offset by the known offset distance in a second direction, opposite the first direction;
receiving a first amount of scatterometry data associated with a measurement of the first overlay target at a first azimuth angle and a second amount of scatterometry data associated with a measurement of the first overlay target from a second azimuth angle;
determining a first differential measurement signal for the first overlay target based on a difference between the first amount of scatterometry data and the second amount of scatterometry data;
receiving a third amount of scatterometry data associated with a measurement of the second overlay target at the first azimuth angle and a fourth amount of scatterometry data associated with a measurement of the second overlay target from the second azimuth angle;
determining a second differential measurement signal for the second overlay target based on a difference between the third amount of scatterometry data and the fourth amount of scatterometry data; and
determining an overlay error between the first grating structures of the first and second overlay targets and the second grating structures of the first and second overlay targets based at least in part on the first and second differential measurement signals.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first, second, third, and fourth amounts of scatterometry data include measurements at multiple illumination wavelengths.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the determining of the first differential measurement signal involves a summation of a plurality of differential measurement signals each determined for the first overlay target based on a difference between the first amount of scatterometry data and the second amount of scatterometry data at each of the multiple illumination wavelengths, and wherein the determining of the second differential measurement signal involves a summation of a plurality of differential measurement signals each determined for the second overlay target based on a difference between the third amount of scatterometry data and the fourth amount of scatterometry data at each of the multiple illumination wavelengths.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the determining of the first differential measurement signal involves a weighted summation of a plurality of differential measurement signals each determined for the first overlay target based on a difference between the first amount of scatterometry data and the second amount of scatterometry data at each of the multiple illumination wavelengths, and wherein the determining of the second differential measurement signal involves a weighted summation of a plurality of differential measurement signals each determined for the second overlay target based on a difference between the third amount of scatterometry data and the fourth amount of scatterometry data at each of the multiple illumination wavelengths.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
providing a plurality of overlay training targets each having a first grating structure located in a first layer and a second grating structure located in a subseqent layer, wherein each of the first grating structures and each of the second grating structure are offset by different, known overlay values;
receiving a fifth amount of scatterometry data associated with measurements of each of the overlay training targets at the first azimuth angle and a sixth amount of scatterometry data associated with measurements of each of the overlay training targets from the second azimuth angle;
determining a plurality of differential measurement signals, each differential measurement signal of the plurality based on a difference between a portion of the fifth amount of scatterometry data and a portion of the sixth amount of scatterometry data associated with each of the overlay training targets; and
determining a plurality of weighting values of the weighted summation based on a fitting of a linear combination of principal components of each of the plurality of differential measurement signals to a function of the known overlay values.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing a metrology target having a process induced asymmetry;
receiving a fifth amount of scatterometry data associated with a measurement of the metrology target at the first azimuth angle and a sixth amount of scatterometry data associated with a measurement of the metrology target at the second azimuth angle;
transforming the fifth and sixth amounts of scatterometry data from coordinates in a measurement domain to coordinates of the metrology target in an alternate domain;
transforming the first and second amounts of scatterometry data from coordinates in a measurement domain to coordinates of the first overlay target in the alternate domain;
fitting a linear model of the principal components of the metrology target to the principal components of the first overlay target;
determining residuals of the fit of the linear model of the principal components of the metrology target to the principal components of the first overlay target, wherein the determining of the first differential measurement signal for the first overlay target is based on a difference between the residuals associated with the first amount of scatterometry data and the residuals associated with the second amount of scatterometry data.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the metrology target includes a grating structure located in the first layer, the grating structure of the metrology target and the first grating structure of the first overlay target having a process induced asymmetry.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the metrology target includes a grating structure located in the subsequent layer, the grating structure of the metrology target and the second grating structure of the first overlay target having a process induced asymmetry.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the transforming involves any of a principal component analysis (PCA), an independent component analysis (ICA), a kernel PCA, a non-linear PCA, a fast Fourier transform (FFT) analysis, a discrete cosine transform (DCT) analysis, and a wavelet analysis.

10. An overlay metrology system comprising:
an illumination source configured to supply an amount of illumination light to a specimen;
a detector configured to collect an amount of zero order diffracted light from a first overlay target and a second overlay target at a first azimuth angle and a second azimuth angle,
the first overlay target having a first grating structure located in a first layer of the specimen and a second grating structure located in a subsequent layer of the specimen, wherein the second grating structure is offset from the first grating structure by a known offset distance in a first direction, and

the second overlay target having a first grating structure located in the first layer and a second grating structure located in the subsequent layer, wherein the second grating structure is offset by a known offset distance in a second direction, opposite the first direction; and
a computing system configured to:
receive a first amount of scatterometry data associated with a measurement of the first overlay target a

Assignees

• Kla Tencor Corp

Inventors

• Pandev Stilian Ivanov
• Sanko Dzmitry
• Lu Wei
• Srivastava Siddharth

Classifications

• H04N23/56

  provided with illuminating means · CPC title

• G06T7/001 Primary

  using an image reference approach · CPC title

• G01N21/956 Primary

  Inspecting patterns on the surface of objects {(contactless testing of electronic circuits G01R31/308; testing currency G07D; manufacturing processes per se of semiconductor devices implementing a measuring step H10P74/20)} · CPC title

• G06T2207/20081

  Training; Learning · CPC title

• G06T2207/10056

  Microscopic image · CPC title