Determining metrology-like information for a specimen using an inspection tool

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11221300-B2
Application number	US-202117194173-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 5, 2021
Priority date	Mar 20, 2020
Publication date	Jan 11, 2022
Grant date	Jan 11, 2022

Abstract

Methods and systems for determining metrology-like information for a specimen using an inspection tool are provided. One method includes determining first process information for first feature(s) formed in first area(s) on a specimen from output generated by output acquisition subsystem(s) that include an inspection subsystem. The method also includes determining second process information for second feature(s) formed in second area(s) on the specimen from the output and at least a portion of the first process information. At least a portion of the second process information is a different type of information than the first process information. At least a portion of a design for the second feature(s) is different than a design for the first feature(s), and the first area(s) and the second area(s) are mutually exclusive on the specimen.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system configured for determining information for a specimen, comprising:
one or more output acquisition subsystems configured to generate output responsive to energy detected from a specimen, wherein the one or more output acquisition subsystems comprise an inspection subsystem configured to generate at least a portion of the output responsive to the energy detected from the specimen while the energy is scanned over the specimen; and
one or more computer subsystems configured for:
determining first process information for one or more first features formed in one or more first areas on the specimen from the output; and
determining second process information for one or more second features formed in one or more second areas on the specimen from the output and at least a portion of the first process information, wherein at least a portion of the second process information is a different type of information than the first process information, wherein at least a portion of a design for the one or more second features is different than a design for the one or more first features, and wherein the one or more first areas and the one or more second areas are mutually exclusive on the specimen.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the output used to determine the first process information comprises only the output generated by the inspection subsystem, and wherein the output used to determine the second process information comprises only the output generated by the inspection subsystem.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the output used to determine the first and second process information is generated in the same scan of the specimen.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more output acquisition subsystems further comprise a metrology tool configured to generate at least another portion of the output by performing measurements at measurement points on the specimen, wherein the output used to determine the first process information comprises only the at least another portion of the output, and wherein the output used to determine the second process information comprises the at least the portion of the output.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the output used to determine the first process information is not generated until the one or more second features are formed on the specimen.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the second process information comprises a setting of a process performed on the specimen.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the second process information comprises a characteristic of the one or more second features.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more first areas are selected to capture specimen level variations in the first process information.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more first areas are selected to capture die level variations in the first process information.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more computer subsystems are further configured for detecting defects on the specimen by modifying the at least the portion of the output generated by inspection subsystem with one or more of the first and second process information thereby generating modified output and applying a defect detection method to the modified output.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more computer subsystems are further configured for determining one or more of the first and second process information using an empirically determined relationship.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more computer subsystems are further configured for determining one or more of the first and second process information using a rigorous model.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein determining the second process information comprises interpolation of the first process information from one or more locations of the one or more first areas to one or more locations of the one or more second areas.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein determining the second process information comprises extrapolation of the first process information from one or more locations of the one or more first areas to one or more locations of the one or more second areas.

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more computer subsystems are further configured for selecting the first process information, the one or more first features, the one or more first areas, the one or more second features, and the one or more second areas based on information for a design for the specimen and one or more processes performed on the specimen.

16. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more computer subsystems are further configured for determining one or more methods used for determining the first and second process information based on information for a design for the specimen and one or more processes performed on the specimen.

17. The system of claim 1 , wherein determining the first process information comprises applying a first method to the output, wherein determining the second process information comprises applying a second method to the output and the at least the portion of the first process information, and wherein the first and second methods are different.

18. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more computer subsystems are further configured for performing a single method for determining the first and second process information.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein input to the single method is the output generated for the specimen by the one or more output acquisition subsystems, and wherein output of the single method is the second process information.

20. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more computer subsystems are further configured for determining third process information for one or more third features formed in one or more third areas on the specimen from the output, wherein at least a portion of the first process information is different than the third process information, wherein at least a portion of the design for the one or more first features is different than a design for the one or more third features, wherein the one or more first areas, the one or more second areas, and the one or more third areas are mutually exclusive on the specimen, and wherein the one or more computer subsystems are further configured for determining information for the first process information based on the third process information.

21. The system of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the first and second areas are located in a functional area of a device being formed on the specimen.

22. The system of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the first and second areas are located in a scribe line area between devices being formed on the specimen.

23. The system of claim 1 , wherein the inspection subsystem is further configured as an optical inspection subsystem.

24. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, storing program instructions executable on a computer system for performing a computer-implemented method for determining information for a specimen, wherein the computer-implemented method comprises:
generating output responsive to energy detected from a specimen by one or more output acquisition subsystems, wherein the one or more output acquisition subsystems comprise an inspection subsystem configured to generate at least a portion of the output responsive to the energy detected from the specimen while the energy is being scanned over the specimen;
determining first process information for one or more fi

Assignees

• Kla Corp

Inventors

• Li Shifang

Classifications

• H10P74/20

  characterised by the properties tested or measured, e.g. structural or electrical properties · CPC title

• G01N2021/8854

  Grading and classifying of flaws · CPC title

• G01N2021/8411

  Application to online plant, process monitoring · CPC title

• G01N21/9501 Primary

  Semiconductor wafers (manufacturing processes per se of semiconductor devices implementing a measuring step H10P74/20) · CPC title

• G01N21/93

  Detection standards; Calibrating {baseline adjustment, drift correction} · CPC title