Phase revealing optical and X-ray semiconductor metrology

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10677586-B2
Application number	US-201816047818-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 27, 2018
Priority date	Jul 27, 2018
Publication date	Jun 9, 2020
Grant date	Jun 9, 2020

Abstract

The embodiments disclosed herein can enable a target on a semiconductor wafer to be reconstructed and/or imaged. A surface of a target on a semiconductor wafer is measured using a wafer metrology tool. A voxel map of the surface is fixed to match geometry measurements and using scattering density of expected materials. Uniform scaling of the scattering density of all fixed surface voxels can occur.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
measuring a surface of a target on a semiconductor wafer using a wafer metrology tool; and
using a processor, fixing a voxel map of the surface to match geometry measurements and using scattering density of expected materials, wherein uniform scaling of the scattering density of all fixed surface voxels occurs.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wafer metrology tool is a critical dimension scanning electron microscope.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wafer metrology tool is a reflection small angle x-ray scatterometer, and wherein the method further comprises measuring the surface of the target with a measurement tool configured in reflection mode.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the measurement tool is a transmission small angle x-ray scatterometer.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wafer metrology tool is an optical scatterometer, and wherein the method further comprises measuring the surface of the target with a measurement tool configured use a transmission technique.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the measurement tool is a transmission small angle x-ray scatterometer.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein measuring the surface of the target includes measuring a geometry of the target to provide the geometry measurements.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein voxels take scattering values from a set of values associated with materials in the target.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the scattering values float continuously.

10. A system comprising:
a wafer metrology tool configured to measure a surface of a target on a semiconductor wafer; and
a processor in electronic communication with the wafer metrology tool, wherein the processor is configured to fix a voxel map of the surface to match geometry measurements and using scattering density of expected materials, wherein uniform scaling of the scattering density of all fixed surface voxels occurs.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the wafer metrology tool is a critical dimension scanning electron microscope.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the wafer metrology tool is a reflection small angle x-ray scatterometer, and wherein the system further comprises a measurement tool configured use a reflection mode in electronic communication with the processor.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the measurement tool is a transmission small angle x-ray scatterometer.

14. The system of claim 10 , wherein the wafer metrology tool is an optical scatterometer, and wherein the system further comprises a measurement tool configured use a transmission technique in electronic communication with the processor.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the measurement tool is a transmission small angle x-ray scatterometer.

16. The system of claim 10 , wherein the system further comprises a measurement tool configured use a transmission technique in electronic communication with the processor, and wherein the wafer metrology tool is further configured to measure a geometry of the target.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the wafer metrology tool is a reflection small angle x-ray scatterometer or an optical scatterometer, and wherein the measurement tool is a transmission small angle x-ray scatterometer.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the system further comprises an electronic data storage unit configured to store a plurality of scattering values associated with materials in the target, wherein the electronic data storage unit is in electronic communication with the processor.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the processor is configured to take scattering values from the set of values for the voxels.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the scattering values float continuously.

Assignees

• Kla Tencor Corp

Inventors

• Hench John
• Veldman Andrei

Classifications

• G01N23/083

  the radiation being X-rays · CPC title

• G06T9/20

  Contour coding, e.g. using detection of edges · CPC title

• G01N21/9503

  Wafer edge inspection · CPC title

• G01B11/0641 Primary

  with measurement of polarization · CPC title

• H10P74/203 Primary

  Structural properties, e.g. testing or measuring thicknesses, line widths, warpage, bond strengths or physical defects · CPC title