Lithographic method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10962887-B2
Application number	US-201916686418-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 18, 2019
Priority date	Sep 28, 2017
Publication date	Mar 30, 2021
Grant date	Mar 30, 2021

Abstract

A method for determining one or more optimized values of an operational parameter of a sensor system configured for measuring a property of a substrate is disclosed the method including: determining a quality parameter for a plurality of substrates; determining measurement parameters for the plurality of substrates obtained using the sensor system for a plurality of values of the operational parameter; comparing a substrate to substrate variation of the quality parameter and a substrate to substrate variation of a mapping of the measurement parameters; and determining the one or more optimized values of the operational parameter based on the comparing.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
obtaining measurement parameter values for a plurality of substrates, wherein the measurement parameter values are obtained, using a sensor system, for a plurality of values of an operational parameter corresponding to a physical characteristic of radiation in the sensor system;
comparing, by a hardware computer system, a substrate to substrate variation of a quality parameter for the plurality of substrates and a substrate to substrate variation of a mapping of the measurement parameter values; and
determining, based on the comparing, one or more optimized values of the operational parameter.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining, based on the comparing, a set of weight factors for weighting the measurement parameter values associated with a first value of the operational parameter and the measurement parameter values associated with a second value of the operational parameter.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the quality parameter is an overlay or focus parameter.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the measurement parameter is a position of a feature provided to one or more substrates of the plurality of substrates or an out-of-plane deviation of a location on one or more substrates of the plurality of substrates.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the operational parameter is a wavelength, polarization state, spatial coherence state or temporal coherence state of the radiation.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the quality parameter is determined using a metrology system.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the quality parameter is determined using a simulation model predicting the quality parameter based on any one or more selected from: context information, measurement data, reconstructed data, and/or hybrid metrology data.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining one or more optimized values of the operational parameter is performed for different zones of the substrate.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the measurement parameter is a measured position of a mark, the quality parameter is a mark-to-device shift, and the one or more optimized values of the operational parameter are determined so as to optimize the quality parameter such that a substrate to substrate variation is reduced or minimal.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the operational parameter is a parameter associated with a radiation source from which radiation is directed at the substrate, and the one or more optimized values of the operational parameter are determined by applying a weighting for adjusting measurements obtained utilizing the operational parameter.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining weightings for the operational parameter for measuring sub-segmented marks using measurements obtained from substrates having sub-segmented marks that have intentional mark-to-device shifts applied thereto so as to determine a sensitivity of the operational parameter to mark-to-device shifts.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the quality parameter and the measurement parameter are associated with a particular layer associated with the plurality of substrates.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the particular layer is selected based on evaluation of:
a first substrate to substrate variation of the quality parameter associated with the particular layer; and
a second substrate to substrate variation of the variation between the measurement parameter values associated with the particular layer.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the particular layer is selected responsive to the first substrate to substrate variation and the second substrate to substrate variation exceeding a threshold.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more optimized values of the operational parameter comprise a set of one or more first values associated with a first coordinate of the measurement parameter values and a set of one or more second values associated with a second coordinate of the measurement parameter values.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
determining a third coordinate parallel to a first preferential direction of a mark;
determining a fourth coordinate parallel to a second preferential direction of a mark;
determining a set of one or more third optimized values of the operational parameter associated with the third coordinate and a set of one or more fourth optimized values of the operational parameter associated with the fourth coordinate; and
transforming, using a transformation from the third and fourth coordinates to the first and second coordinates, the determined optimized values of the operational parameter in the third and fourth coordinates to optimized values of the operational parameter in the first and second coordinates.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the one or more first values are optimized independently of the one or more second values.

18. A method for monitoring the condition of a semiconductor manufacturing process, the method comprising:
obtaining an optimized value of the operational parameter using the method of claim 1 ;
obtaining measurement parameter values for a further substrate, obtained using the sensor system, for a plurality of values of the operational parameter;
determining a new value of the operational parameter associated with an expected minimum substrate to substrate variation of the measurement data; and
determining the condition of the semiconductor manufacturing process based on comparison of the optimized value and the new value of the operational parameter.

19. A non-transitory computer program product comprising program instructions therein that, when executed by a suitable apparatus, are configured to cause the apparatus to at least:
obtain measurement parameter values for a plurality of substrates, wherein the measurement parameter values are obtained, using a sensor system, for a plurality of values of an operational parameter corresponding to a physical characteristic of radiation in the sensor system;
compare a substrate to substrate variation of a quality parameter for the plurality of substrates and a substrate to substrate variation of a mapping of the measurement parameter values; and
determine, based on the comparing, one or more optimized values of the operational parameter.

20. The computer program product of claim 19 , wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the apparatus to determine, based on the comparison, a set of weight factors for weighting the measurement parameter values associated with a first value of the operational parameter and the measurement parameter values associated with a second value of the operational parameter.

Assignees

• Asml Netherlands Bv

Inventors

• Tinnemans Patricius Aloysius Jacobus
• Hulsebos Edo Maria
• Megens Henricus Johannes Lambertus
• Raghunathan Sudharshanan
• Menchtchikov Boris
• Erdamar Ahmet Koray
• Verhees Loek Johannes Petrus
• Roelofs Willem Seine Christian
• Van De Ven Wendy Johanna Martina
• Yagubizade Hadi
• Cekli Hakki Ergün
• Brinkhof Ralph
• Vu Tran Thanh Thuy
• Goosen Maikel Robert
• Van'T Westeinde Maaike
• Kou Weitian
• Rijpstra Manouk
• Cox Matthijs
• Bijnen Franciscus Godefridus Casper

Classifications

• G03F9/7046 Primary

  Strategy, e.g. mark, sensor or wavelength selection · CPC title

• G03F7/70625

  Dimensions, e.g. line width, critical dimension [CD], profile, sidewall angle or edge roughness · CPC title

• G03F7/70641

  Focus · CPC title

• G03F9/7019

  Calibration · CPC title

• G03F7/70516 Primary

  Calibration of components of the microlithographic apparatus, e.g. light sources, addressable masks or detectors · CPC title