Scanning electron microscopy system and pattern depth measurement method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11545336-B2
Application number	US-201917043140-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 5, 2019
Priority date	Apr 6, 2018
Publication date	Jan 3, 2023
Grant date	Jan 3, 2023

Abstract

A scanning electron microscopy system that includes a primary electron beam radiation unit configured to irradiate a first pattern of a substrate having a second pattern formed in a peripheral region of the first pattern, a detection unit configured to detect back scattered electrons emitted from the substrate, an image generation unit configured to generate an electron beam image corresponding to a strength of the back scattered electrons, a designating unit configured to designate a depth measurement region in which the first pattern exists on the electron beam image, and a processing unit configured to obtain an image signal of the depth measurement region and a pattern density in the peripheral region where the second pattern exists, and to estimate a depth of the first pattern based on the obtained image signal of the depth measurement region and the pattern density in the peripheral region.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A pattern depth measurement method comprising:
an irradiation step of irradiating a first pattern of a substrate having a second pattern formed in a peripheral region of the first pattern with a primary electron beam;
a detection step of detecting back scattered electrons emitted from the substrate irradiated with the primary electron beam in the irradiation step;
an image generation step of generating an electron beam image corresponding to a strength of the back scattered electrons detected in the detection step;
a designation step of designating a depth measurement region in which the first pattern exists on the electron beam image generated in the image generation step; and
a processing step of obtaining an image signal of the depth measurement region and a pattern density in the peripheral region where the second pattern exists, and estimating a depth of the first pattern in the depth measurement region based on the obtained image signal of the depth measurement region and the pattern density in the peripheral region.

2. The pattern depth measurement method according to claim 1 , wherein
the first pattern in the depth measurement region and the second pattern in the peripheral region are concave patterns formed in the substrate.

3. The pattern depth measurement method according to claim 1 , wherein
a pattern density in the peripheral region is a proportion of a solid in the substrate in the peripheral region.

4. The pattern depth measurement method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a storing step of storing in advance in a database a relationship among an image signal of the depth measurement region, a depth of the first pattern in the depth measurement region, and a pattern density in the peripheral region, wherein
the processing step obtains the depth of the first pattern in the depth measurement region corresponding to the image signal of the obtained depth measurement region and the pattern density in the peripheral region with reference to the database.

5. The pattern depth measurement method according to claim 4 , wherein
in the storing step, a relationship between a depth of the first pattern in the depth measurement region and a pattern density in the peripheral region for each of a plurality of types of the first pattern is stored in advance in the database.

Assignees

• Hitachi High Tech Corp

Inventors

• Nishihata Takahiro
• Osaki Mayuka
• Yamamoto Takuma
• Hamaguchi Akira
• Iida Yusuke

Classifications

• H01J37/244

  Detectors; Associated components or circuits therefor · CPC title

• H01J37/3026

  Patterning strategy · CPC title

• G01B15/02

  for measuring thickness · CPC title

• H01J37/28 Primary

  with scanning beams {(H01J37/268, H01J37/292, H01J37/2955 take precedence)} · CPC title

• H01J2237/24475

  Scattered electron detectors · CPC title