Semiconductor device models including re-usable sub-structures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9553033-B2
Application number	US-201514594917-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 12, 2015
Priority date	Jan 15, 2014
Publication date	Jan 24, 2017
Grant date	Jan 24, 2017

Abstract

Methods and tools for generating measurement models of complex device structures based on re-useable, parametric models are presented. Metrology systems employing these models are configured to measure structural and material characteristics associated with different semiconductor fabrication processes. The re-useable, parametric sub-structure model is fully defined by a set of independent parameters entered by a user of the model building tool. All other variables associated with the model shape and internal constraints among constituent geometric elements are pre-defined within the model. In some embodiments, one or more re-useable, parametric models are integrated into a measurement model of a complex semiconductor device. In another aspect, a model building tool generates a re-useable, parametric sub-structure model based on input from a user. The resulting models can be exported to a file that can be used by others and may include security features to control the sharing of sensitive intellectual property with particular users.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A metrology system comprising:
an illumination source configured to provide an amount of illumination light to one or more metrology targets;
a detector configured to receive an amount of collected light from the one or more metrology targets in response to the amount of illumination light;
one or more computer systems configured to:
receive an amount of measurement data associated with the detected light; and
determine one or more parameters of a measurement model of the one or more metrology targets based on a fitting of the measurement model to the amount of measurement data, wherein the measurement model includes a first re-useable, parametric model of a first sub-structure of the one or more metrology targets; and

a metrology model building tool comprising computer-readable instructions stored on a non-transitory, computer-readable medium, the computer-readable instructions comprising:
code for causing the one or more computer systems to receive an indication of a selection of the first re-useable, parametric model by a first user to describe at least a portion of the one or more metrology targets, wherein the first re-useable, parametric model includes multiple geometric elements and is fully defined by a first set of independent parameter values; and
code for causing the one or more computer systems to receive an indication of a selection of the first set of independent parameter values.

2. The metrology system of claim 1 , wherein the measurement model of the one or more metrology targets is fully described by the first re-useable, parametric model.

3. The metrology system of claim 1 , the computer-readable instructions further comprising:
code for causing the one or more computer systems to receive an indication of a selection of a second re-usable, parametric model by the first user to describe a sub-structure of the one or more metrology targets, wherein the second re-useable, parametric model includes multiple geometric elements and is fully defined by a second set of independent parameter values;
code for causing the one or more computer systems to receive an indication of a selection of the second set of independent parameter values;
code for causing the one or more computer systems to determine a first measurement model of the one or more metrology targets based at least in part on a combination of the first and second re-useable, parametric models; and
code for causing the one or more computer systems to store the first measurement model in a memory.

4. The metrology system of claim 1 , wherein the selection of the first set of independent parameter values that define the first re-useable, parametric model is made by the first user.

5. The metrology system of claim 1 , the computer-readable instructions further comprising:
code for causing the one or more computer systems to receive an output file generated by a process simulation tool; and
code for causing the one or more computer systems to determine the first set of independent parameter values from the output file.

6. The metrology system of claim 1 , wherein a plurality of discretization points of the first re-useable, parametric model of the first sub-structure are aligned with a plurality of discretization points of the second re-useable, parametric model of the second sub-structure within a floating point precision of the one or more computer systems.

7. The metrology system of claim 1 , the computer-readable instructions further comprising:
code for causing the one or more computer systems to receive an indication of a selection of the first re-useable, parametric model by a second user to describe a first sub-structure of a second semiconductor device;
code for causing the one or more computer systems to receive an indication of a selection of a third re-usable, parametric model by the second user to describe a second sub-structure of the second semiconductor device, wherein the third re-useable, parametric model is fully defined by a third set of independent parameter values;
code for causing the one or more computing systems to determine a second measurement model based at least in part on a combination of the first and third re-useable, parametric models; and
code for causing the one or more computing systems to store the second measurement model in a memory.

8. The metrology system of claim 1 , the computer-readable instructions further comprising:
code for causing the one or more computing systems to receive an indication of a selection of the first measurement model of the one or more metrology targets;
code for causing the one or more computing systems to receive an indication of a selection of a third re-usable, parametric model, wherein the third re-useable, parametric model is fully defined by a third set of independent parameter values;
code for causing the one or more computing systems to determine a second measurement model based at least in part on a combination of the first measurement model and the third re-useable, parametric model; and
code for causing the one or more computing systems to store the second measurement model in a memory.

9. The metrology system of claim 1 , the computer-readable instructions further comprising:
code for causing the one or more computing systems to hide a portion of a sub-structure of the one or more metrology targets from display to the first user.

10. The metrology system of claim 1 , wherein the first re-useable, parametric model of at least a portion of the one or more metrology targets includes geometric features and interrelationships among geometric features that are specific to a particular measurement application.

11. A metrology system comprising:
an illumination source configured to provide an amount of illumination light to one or more metrology targets;
a detector configured to receive an amount of collected light from the one or more metrology targets in response to the amount of illumination light;
one or more computer systems configured to:
receive an amount of measurement data associated with the detected light; and
determine one or more parameters of a measurement model of the one or more metrology targets based on a fitting of the measurement model to the amount of measurement data, wherein the measurement model includes a first re-useable, parametric model of at least a portion of the one or more metrology targets; and

a metrology model building tool comprising computer-readable instructions stored on a non-transitory, computer-readable medium, the computer-readable instructions comprising:
code for causing a computer to receive an indication of a selection by a user of a plurality of primitive geometric modeling elements;
code for causing the computer to receive an indication from the user indicating a desired position of each of the plurality of primitive geometric modeling elements with respect to the other primitive geometric modeling elements;
code for causing the computer to receive an indication from the user indicating a desired parameterization of the plurality of primitive geometric modeling elements;
code for causing the computer to determine the first re-usable, parametric model based on a combination of the plurality of primitive geometric elements, wherein the first re-useable, parametric model is fully defined by a set of independent parameters associated with the desired parameterization; and
code for causing the computer to store the first re-useable, parametric model in a memory.

12. The metrology system of claim 11 , wherein the determining of the first re-usable, parametric model involves generating a set of constraint relationships that fully in

Assignees

• Kla Tencor Corp

Inventors

• Iloreta Jonathan
• Laffin Matthew A
• Poslavsky Leonid
• Kaack Torsten
• Zhao Qiang
• Lee Lie-Quan

Classifications

• H10P74/203 Primary

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

• H01L22/12 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H10P74/27

  Structural arrangements therefor · CPC title

• G01N2021/213

  Spectrometric ellipsometry · CPC title

• G01N21/9501

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