Method and apparatus for determining a fingerprint of a performance parameter

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11194258-B2
Application number	US-202016838139-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 2, 2020
Priority date	Jul 11, 2016
Publication date	Dec 7, 2021
Grant date	Dec 7, 2021

Abstract

A lithographic process is one that applies a desired pattern onto a substrate, usually onto a target portion of the substrate. During the lithographic process, the focus needs to be controlled. There is disclosed a method for determining a fingerprint of a performance parameter associated with a substrate, such as a focus value to be used during the lithographic process. A reference fingerprint of the performance parameter is determined for a reference substrate. A reference substrate parameter of the reference substrate is determined. A substrate parameter for a substrate, such as a substrate with product structures, is determined. Subsequently, the fingerprint of the performance parameter is determined based on the reference fingerprint, reference substrate parameter and the substrate parameter. The fingerprint may then be used to control the lithographic process.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for configuring a lithographic apparatus, the method comprising:
determining a focus setting based on a measurement on a structure on a substrate, wherein the substrate has been exposed by the lithographic apparatus at an aberration setting associated with an enhanced sensitivity of the measurement on the structure to variations of the focus setting, the aberration setting introducing a type of optical aberration other than or in addition to focus aberration; and
configuring the lithographic apparatus for patterning a plurality of substrates based on the determined focus setting.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the aberration setting is associated with an introduction of astigmatism.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a metric is defined that is representative for a deviation of the determined focus setting from a target focus setting.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the structure comprises two features and the metric is based on the first metric being associated with a first feature of the two features comprised within the structure and the second metric being associated with a second feature of the two features comprised within the structure.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the structure is a focus target.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the structure comprises two features.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the structure is a product structure.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the configuring the lithographic apparatus further comprises setting a further aberration setting different from the aberration setting associated with the enhanced sensitivity of the measurement to variations of the focus setting.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the measurement is based on analysis of a diffraction pattern of the structure.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the measurement is based on analysis of an image of the structure on the substrate acquired by a metrology tool based on electron beam imaging.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the measurement is based on scatterometry.

12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of substrates pertain to one or more lots of substrates associated with a volume manufacturing process.

13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the measurement is performed on a structure on one or more substrates pertaining to a send-ahead lot.

14. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the measurement is performed on a plurality of focus targets on one or more substrates.

15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the determining of the focus setting further includes establishing a temporal behavior of the focus setting during patterning of the plurality of substrates.

16. The method according to claim 15 , further comprising patterning of the plurality of substrates, wherein the focus setting is dynamically adjusted during the patterning of the plurality of substrates.

17. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the configuring of the lithographic apparatus is based on the determined focus setting and additional data.

18. The method according to claim 17 , wherein the additional data comprises one or more selected from: leveling data, substrate geometry data, alignment data, aberration data, and/or reticle data.

19. A non-transitory computer program product comprising machine-readable instructions, that when executed by a processor system, are configured to cause the processor system to at least:
determine a focus setting based on a measurement on a structure on a substrate, wherein the substrate has been exposed by the lithographic apparatus at an aberration setting associated with an enhanced sensitivity of the measurement on the structure to variations of the focus setting, the aberration setting introducing a type of optical aberration other than or in addition to focus aberration; and
configure a lithographic apparatus for patterning a plurality of substrates based on the determined focus setting.

20. A method for configuring a lithographic apparatus, the method comprising:
determining a focus setting based on a measurement on a structure on a substrate, wherein the substrate has been exposed by the lithographic apparatus at an aberration setting associated with an enhanced sensitivity of the measurement on the structure to variations of the focus setting, the aberration setting introducing a type of optical aberration other than or in addition to focus aberration; and
configuring the lithographic apparatus for patterning a plurality of substrates based on the determined focus setting, wherein the configuring of the lithographic apparatus comprises setting of a further optical aberration setting different from the aberration setting associated with the enhanced sensitivity of the measurement to variations of the focus setting.

Assignees

• Asml Netherlands Bv

Inventors

• Van Der Logt Léon Maria Albertus
• Segers Bart Peter Bert
• Van Gorp Simon Hendrik Celine
• Luijten Carlo Cornelis Maria
• Staals Frank

Classifications

• H10P76/00

  Manufacture or treatment of masks on semiconductor bodies, e.g. by lithography or photolithography · CPC title

• G03F7/706837

  Data analysis, e.g. filtering, weighting, flyer removal, fingerprints or root cause analysis · CPC title

• G03F7/70641 Primary

  Focus · CPC title

• G03F7/705 Primary

  Modelling or simulating from physical phenomena up to complete wafer processes or whole workflow in wafer productions · CPC title

• G03F7/70783

  Handling stress or warp of chucks, masks or workpieces, e.g. to compensate for imaging errors or considerations related to warpage of masks or workpieces due to their own weight · CPC title