Local shape deviation in a semiconductor specimen

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11686571-B2
Application number	US-202117465753-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 2, 2021
Priority date	Sep 2, 2021
Publication date	Jun 27, 2023
Grant date	Jun 27, 2023

Abstract

There is provided a system and method of a method of detecting a local shape deviation of a structural element in a semiconductor specimen, comprising: obtaining an image comprising an image representation of the structural element; extracting, from the image, an actual contour of the image representation; estimating a reference contour of the image representation indicative of a standard shape of the structural element, wherein the reference contour is estimated based on a Fourier descriptor representative of the reference contour, the Fourier descriptor being estimated using an optimization method based on a loss function specifically selected to be insensitive to local shape deviation of the actual contour; and performing one or more measurements representative of one or more differences between the actual contour and the reference contour, the measurements indicative of whether a local shape deviation is present in the structural element.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computerized system of detecting a local shape deviation of a structural element in a semiconductor specimen, the system comprising a processing and memory circuitry (PMC) configured to:
obtain an image comprising an image representation of the structural element;
extract, from the image, an actual contour of the image representation;
estimate a reference contour of the image representation indicative of a standard shape of the structural element, wherein the reference contour is estimated based on a Fourier descriptor representative of the reference contour, the Fourier descriptor being estimated using an optimization method based on a loss function specifically selected to be insensitive to presence of local shape deviation of the actual contour; and
perform one or more measurements representative of one or more differences between the actual contour and the reference contour, the measurements being indicative of whether a local shape deviation is present in the structural element.

2. The computerized system according to claim 1 , wherein the structural element has a shape selected from a group comprising: an ellipse, an oval, a rectangle, or a combination thereof.

3. The computerized system according to claim 1 , wherein the local shape deviation is represented by a local distortion of the actual contour having a relatively substantial deviation with respect to the standard shape of the structural element.

4. The computerized system according to claim 1 , wherein the semiconductor specimen is a memory device or a logic device.

5. The computerized system according to claim 1 , wherein the actual contour is extracted using an edge detection method.

6. The computerized system according to claim 1 , wherein the loss function is Welsch loss function.

7. The computerized system according to claim 1 , wherein the PMC is configured to estimate a reference contour by: extracting a first sequence of points from the actual contour, transforming the sequence of points to a Fourier series characterized by a set of Fourier coefficients, optimizing values of a subset of Fourier coefficients selected from the set of Fourier coefficients to minimize the loss function, the subset of Fourier coefficients with the optimized values constituting a Fourier descriptor of the reference contour, and performing an inverse Fourier transform using the Fourier descriptor, giving rise to a second sequence of points constituting the reference contour.

8. The computerized system according to claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more measurements is indicative of a difference between a radius of the actual contour and a corresponding radius of the reference contour.

9. The computerized system according to claim 1 , wherein the PMC is further configured to apply a deviation threshold to the one or more measurements and report presence of a local shape deviation upon at least one measurement of the one or more measurements passing the deviation threshold.

10. The computerized system according to claim 1 , wherein the local shape deviation is caused by a physical effect during a fabrication process of the semiconductor specimen, which, upon being detected, affects one or more electrical measurements of the semiconductor specimen.

11. A computerized method of detecting local shape deviation of a structural element in a semiconductor specimen, the method performed by a processing and memory circuitry (PMC) and comprising:
obtaining an image comprising an image representation of the structural element;
extracting, from the image, an actual contour of the image representation;
estimating a reference contour of the image representation indicative of a standard shape of the structural element, wherein the reference contour is estimated based on a Fourier descriptor representative of the reference contour, the Fourier descriptor being estimated using an optimization method based on a loss function specifically selected to be insensitive to presence of local shape deviation of the actual contour; and
performing one or more measurements representative of one or more differences between the actual contour and the reference contour, the measurements being indicative of whether a local shape deviation is present in the structural element.

12. The computerized method according to claim 11 , wherein the structural element has a shape selected from a group comprising: an ellipse, an oval, a rectangle, or a combination thereof.

13. The computerized method according to claim 11 , wherein the local shape deviation is represented by a local distortion of the actual contour having a relatively substantial deviation with respect to the standard shape of the structural element.

14. The computerized method according to claim 11 , wherein the actual contour is extracted using an edge detection method.

15. The computerized method according to claim 11 , wherein the loss function is a Welsch loss function.

16. The computerized method according to claim 11 , wherein the estimating a reference contour comprises: extracting a first sequence of points from the actual contour, transforming the sequence of points to a Fourier series characterized by a set of Fourier coefficients, optimizing values of a subset of Fourier coefficients selected from the set of Fourier coefficients to minimize the loss function, the subset of Fourier coefficients with the optimized values constituting a Fourier descriptor of the reference contour, and performing an inverse Fourier transform using the Fourier descriptor, giving rise to a second sequence of points constituting the reference contour.

17. The computerized method according to claim 11 , wherein each of the one or more measurements is indicative of a difference between a radius of the actual contour and a corresponding radius of the reference contour.

18. The computerized method according to claim 11 , further comprising applying a deviation threshold to the one or more measurements and reporting presence of a local shape deviation upon at least one measurement of the one or more measurements passing the deviation threshold.

19. The computerized method according to claim 11 , wherein the local shape deviation is caused by a physical effect during a fabrication process of the semiconductor specimen, which, upon being detected, affects one or more electrical measurements of the semiconductor specimen.

20. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium tangibly embodying a program of instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method of detecting a local shape deviation of a structural element in a semiconductor specimen, the method comprising:
obtaining an image comprising an image representation of the structural element;
extracting, from the image, an actual contour of the image representation;
estimating a reference contour of the image representation indicative of a standard shape of the structural element, wherein the reference contour is estimated based on a Fourier descriptor representative of the reference contour, the Fourier descriptor being estimated using an optimization method based on a loss function specifically selected to be insensitive to presence of local shape deviation of the actual contour; and
performing one or more measurements representative of one or more differences between the actual contour and the reference contour, the measurements being indicative of whether a local shape deviation is present in the structural element.

Assignees

• Applied Materials Israel Ltd

Inventors

• Kris Roman
• Ben-Harush Ilan
• Bistritzer Rafael
• Vereschagin Vadim
• Sommer Elad
• Klebanov Grigory
• Thamarassery Arundeepth
• Geva Jannelle Anna
• Gutterman Gal Daniel
• Frishman Einat
• Levin Sahar

Classifications

• H10P74/203

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

• G01B11/24 Primary

  for measuring contours or curvatures · CPC title

• G06T7/001 Primary

  using an image reference approach · CPC title

• G01B9/02084

  Processing in the Fourier or frequency domain when not imaged in the frequency domain · CPC title

• G01B9/02043 Primary

  Imaging of the Fourier or pupil or back focal plane, i.e. angle resolved imaging · CPC title