Optical measurement system and method for measuring critical dimension of nanostructure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9360662-B2
Application number	US-201213656180-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 19, 2012
Priority date	Oct 20, 2011
Publication date	Jun 7, 2016
Grant date	Jun 7, 2016

Abstract

An optical measurement system for measuring a critical dimension having a nanostructured surface including a nanostructure formed on a plane. The optical measurement system includes an image recording module including a microscope optical system which records a defocused image having an nonuniform degree of defocusing with respect to the nanostructured surface, an optical scheme parameter control module which sets and outputs to the microscope optical system optical scheme parameters for the microscope optical system, an image calculation module which receives receiving the optical scheme parameters set by the optical scheme parameter control module and calculates an image of the nanostructured surface, and a comparison module which compares the defocused image recorded by the image recording module and the image calculated by the image calculation module.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An optical measurement system for measuring a critical dimension of a nanostructured surface, the optical measurement system comprising:
an image recording module comprising a microscope optical system which records a defocused image having a nonuniform degree of defocusing with respect to the nanostructured surface;
an optical scheme parameter control module which sets and outputs to the microscope optical system optical scheme parameters for the microscope optical system;
an image calculation module which receives the optical scheme parameters and calculates an image of the nanostructured surface; and
a comparison module which compares the defocused image recorded by the image recording module and the image calculated by the image calculation module;
wherein the microscope optical system comprises an objective lens, wherein a normal of the nanostructured surface of the sample is inclined by an angle θwith respect to an optical axis of the objective lens; and
wherein the predetermined angle θsatisfies a condition:
α<θ<2α,

wherein α≈d 2 /λD, wherein λis a center wavelength of an illumination spectrum of the microscope optical system, d is a spatial resolution of the objective lens, and D is a maximum character size of the nano structure.

2. The optical measurement system of claim 1 , wherein the optical scheme parameter control module is configured to perform at least one of measuring and modifying the optical scheme parameters.

3. The optical measurement system of claim 1 , wherein the microscope optical system uses a Kohler illumination method.

4. The optical measurement system of claim 1 , wherein the image calculation module calculates an image by using a rigorous coupled waves analysis method and a finite-difference time-domain method.

5. The optical measurement system of claim 1 , wherein the microscope optical system further comprises a light source, a polarizer, an amplitude mask, a beam splitter, and an image sensor.

6. The optical measurement system of claim 5 , wherein the optical scheme parameters comprise at least one of: a frequency of an illumination spectrum irradiated by the light source, a polarization axis direction of the polarizer, a size of an opening of the amplitude mask, a shape of an opening of the amplitude mask, a location of an opening of the amplitude mask, a numerical number of the objective lens, and an angle of inclination of the nanostructured surface with respect to an optical axis of the objective lens.

7. The optical measurement system of claim 5 , wherein a bandwidth of the illumination spectrum is 100 nm or less and a wavelength range is 350 nm-700 nm.

8. The optical measurement system of claim 5 , wherein the amplitude mask is disposed on a surface that is optically conjugated with a back focal plane of the objective lens.

9. The optical measurement system of claim 8 , wherein the size of an opening formed in the amplitude mask satisfies a condition:
0.1<(NAill/NA)<0.8,
wherein NAill is a numerical number of illumination and NA is a numerical number of the objective lens.

10. The optical measurement system of claim 5 , wherein a numerical number of the objective lens is between 0.4 and 0.9.

11. The optical measurement system of claim 5 , wherein the optical scheme parameter control module comprises:
a spectrometer;
an amplitude mask positioning system which determines a position of the amplitude mask;
a charge-coupled device camera which measures a size and a shape of the opening of the amplitude mask; and
a nanostructured surface positioning system which determines an angle of inclination of a normal of the nanostructured surface with respect to a normal of the objective lens.

12. A method of measuring a critical dimension (CD) having a nanostructured surface including a nanostructure formed on a plane, the method comprising:
selecting an optical scheme parameter of a microscope optical system which records an image of the nanostructured surface;
recording a defocused image having a nonuniform degree of defocusing with respect to the nanostructured surface by using the microscope optical system;
calculating an image of the nanostructured surface within a predetermined CD range according to the selected optical scheme parameter; and
determining an estimated value of a CD by comparing the calculated image with the recorded defocused image;
wherein the a normal of the nanostructured surface of the sample is inclined by a predetermined angle θwith respect to an optical axis of an objective lens included in the microscope optical system; and
wherein the predetermined angle θsatisfies a condition:
α<θ<2α,

wherein α≈d 2 /λD, wherein λ, is a center wavelength of an illumination spectrum of the microscope optical system, d is a spatial resolution of the objective lens, and D is a maximum character size of the nano structure.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the recording the defocused image comprises using a bright field technology.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein, the calculating of the image of the nanostructured surface comprises using a rigorous coupled waves analysis method and a finite-difference time-domain method.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein, the determining of the estimated value of the CD comprises using an optimization technique for calculating a CD value when an absolute value between a measured image and a calculated image is minimum.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein, the determining of the estimated value of the CD comprises comparing images from a library of calculated images with the recorded defocused image step-by-step.

17. The method of claim 12 , wherein, the determining of the estimated value of the CD comprises extracting, for each of the calculated image and the measured image, a focus metric curve depending on a degree of defocusing and a topology of the nanostructure and comparing the extracted focus metric curves with each other.

18. The method of claim 12 , wherein the optical scheme parameter comprises at least one of: a frequency of an illumination spectrum irradiated by a light source, a polarization axis direction of a polarizer, a size of an opening of an amplitude mask, a shape of the opening of the amplitude mask, the location of the opening of the amplitude mask, a numerical number of the objective lens, and an angle of inclination of the nanostructured surface with respect to an optical axis of the objective lens.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein a bandwidth of the illumination spectrum is 100 nm or less and a wavelength range is 350 nm-700 nm.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein the size of the opening of the amplitude mask satisfies a condition:
0.1<(NAill/NA)<0.8,
wherein NAill is a numerical number of illumination and NA is a numerical number of the objective lens.

21. The method of claim 18 , wherein a numerical number of the objective lens is between 0.4 and 0.9.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Koptyaev Sergey Nikolaevich
• Ryabko Maxim Vladimirovich
• Rychagov Michael Nikolaevich

Classifications

• B82Y35/00

  Methods or apparatus for measurement or analysis of nanostructures · CPC title

• H04N7/18

  Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast · CPC title

• Y10S977/881

  Microscopy or spectroscopy, e.g. sem, tem · CPC title

• G02B21/365 Primary

  Control or image processing arrangements for digital or video microscopes (G02B21/361, G02B21/362 take precedence) · CPC title

• G03F7/70625 Primary

  Dimensions, e.g. line width, critical dimension [CD], profile, sidewall angle or edge roughness · CPC title