Matching pre-processing and post-processing substrate samples

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12581917-B2
Application number	US-202218262145-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 19, 2022
Priority date	Jan 26, 2021
Publication date	Mar 17, 2026
Grant date	Mar 17, 2026

Abstract

Various embodiments herein relate to systems, methods, and media for matching pre-processing and post-processing substrate samples. In some embodiments, a computer program product for matching pre-processing and post-processing substrate samples is provided, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable on which is provided computer-executable instructions for: receiving a plurality of samples associated with a first set of dimensions characterizing a pre-processed substrate and a plurality of samples associated with a second set of dimensions characterizing a post-processed substrate; receiving an identification of one of the pre-processed dimensions and one of the post-processed dimensions that are to be matched; generating a first probability distribution of samples for the identified pre-processed dimension and a second probability distribution of samples for the identified post-processed dimension; and matching samples of the identified pre-processed dimension to samples of the identified post-processed dimension based on the first probability distribution and the second probability distribution.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A computer program product for matching pre-processing substrate samples and post-processing substrate samples comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium on which is provided computer-executable instructions for:
receiving a plurality of samples associated with a first set of dimensions characterizing a pre-processed substrate and a plurality of samples associated with a second set of dimensions characterizing a post-processed substrate; receiving an identification of one of the pre-processed dimensions and one of the post-processed dimensions that are to be matched; generating a first probability distribution of samples for the identified pre-processed dimension and a second probability distribution of samples for the identified post-processed dimension; and matching samples of the identified pre-processed dimension to samples of the identified post-processed dimension based on the first probability distribution and the second probability distribution.

2 . The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the identification is based on finding a monotonic relationship between values of the one of the pre-processed dimensions and the one of the post-processed dimensions.

3 . The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the first probability distribution and the second probability distribution are each a cumulative distribution function, and wherein a value of the identified pre-processed dimension is matched to a value of the identified post-processed dimension based on the value of the identified pre-processed substrate having a substantially similar probability of occurrence as the value of the identified post-processed dimension in their respective cumulative distribution functions.

4 . The computer program product of claim 1 , further comprising computer-executable instructions for matching values of one or more remaining pre-processed dimensions with values of one or more remaining post-processed dimensions based on the matching samples of the identified pre-processed dimension and the identified post-processed dimension.

5 . The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the identified pre-processed dimension is a pre-processing Critical Dimension (CD) measurement.

6 . The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the identified post-processed dimension is a post-processing Critical Dimension (CD) measurement.

7 . The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein values of the identified pre-processed dimension are generated using a model.

8 . The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the model is an ion confinement model that predicts a path of an ion used to etch two stacked substrate layers.

9 . The computer program product of claim 8 , further comprising computer-executable instructions for:
determining, based on the ion confinement model, whether the ion passed through a joint at which the two substrate layers are stacked; and selecting the identified pre-processed dimension that is to be matched based on the determination of whether the ion passed through the joint.

10 . The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein it is determined that the ion passed through the joint, and wherein the identified pre-processed dimension corresponds to a cross-sectional area that indicates an overlap between the path of the ion and the joint.

11 . The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein the identified post-processed dimension corresponds to an etch volume on a bottom layer of the two substrate layers.

12 . The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein it is determined that the ion did not pass through the joint, and wherein the identified pre-processed dimension corresponds to a cross-sectional area that indicates a difference between the path of the ion and the joint.

13 . The computer program product of claim 12 , wherein the identified post-processed dimension corresponds to a liner loss area of a sidewall.

14 . A computer program product for evaluating semiconductor manufacturing processes comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium on which is provided computer-executable instructions for:
receiving a dataset that comprises a first plurality of samples having pre-processing dimensions matched with a second plurality of samples having post-processing dimensions, wherein the first plurality of samples has been matched with the second plurality of samples based on a first probability distribution of sample values of one of the pre-processing dimensions and a second probability distribution of sample values of one of the post-processing dimensions; identifying a criterion for any given one of the post-processing dimensions that indicates a process failure based on values of the given post-processing dimensions relative to a threshold value; and identifying a potential cause for process failure based on values of a pre-processing dimension matched to the given post-processing dimension.

15 . The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein values of the given post-processing dimension that exceed the threshold value indicate the process failure.

16 . The computer program product of claim 15 , further comprising computer-executable instructions for identifying a modification of values of the pre-processing dimension that generates values of the given post-processing dimension that are below the threshold value.

17 . The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the given post-processing dimension corresponds to a liner loss area of a side wall during etching of two stacked substrate layers.

18 . The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein values of the given post-processing dimension that are below the threshold value indicate the process failure.

19 . The computer program product of claim 18 , further comprising computer-executable instructions for identifying a shift in values of the pre-processing dimension that generates values of the given post-processing dimension that exceed the threshold value.

20 . The computer program product of claim 18 , wherein the given post-processing dimension corresponds to an etch volume during etching of two stacked substrate layers.

21 . The computer program product of claim 20 , wherein the pre-processing dimension corresponds to a critical dimension (CD) of a joint at which the two substrate layers are stacked.

22 . The computer program product of claim 20 , wherein the pre-processing dimension is an angle at which an ion passes through a top layer of the two stacked substrate layers to a bottom layer of the two stacked substrate layers.

23 . The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein at least one of the one of the pre-processing dimensions and the one of the post-processing dimensions are generated by a computational model.

Assignees

• Lam Res Corp

Inventors

• Lu Yu
• Jin Yansha
• Tan Zhongkui
• Tetiker Mehmet Derya

Classifications

• G06T2207/30148

  Semiconductor; IC; Wafer · CPC title

• G06T2207/20228

  Disparity calculation for image-based rendering · CPC title

• G06T2207/20076

  Probabilistic image processing · CPC title

• G06T7/35

  using statistical methods · CPC title

• G06T7/344

  involving models · CPC title