Calculation method for local film stress measurements using local film thickness values

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9625823-B1
Application number	US-201113094912-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Apr 27, 2011
Priority date	Jun 17, 2010
Publication date	Apr 18, 2017
Grant date	Apr 18, 2017

Abstract

A system and method for local film stress calculation is disclosed. The method may include specifying a plurality of measurement points on a substrate, the substrate being configured to receive a film deposition; obtaining a local film thickness measurement for each measurement point; obtaining a local wafer shape parameter for each measurement point; and calculating a local film stress value for each measurement point based on the local film thickness measurement and the local wafer shape parameter for each corresponding measurement point. The method may further include specifying a plurality of estimation points on the substrate; obtaining a local wafer shape parameter for each estimation point; calculating an estimated local film thickness for each estimation point; and calculating a local film stress value for each estimation point based on the estimated local film thickness and the local wafer shape parameter for each corresponding estimation point.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
specifying a plurality of discrete measurement points on a substrate, the substrate being configured to receive a film deposition;
measuring a pre-deposition local thickness individually for each of said plurality of discrete measurement points utilizing at least one thickness measurement apparatus;
measuring a pre-deposition local wafer shape parameter individually for each of said plurality of discrete measurement points utilizing at least one wafer shape measurement apparatus;
measuring a post-deposition local film thickness individually for each of said plurality of discrete measurement points utilizing at least one thickness measurement apparatus when a film is deposited on the substrate by a wafer process equipment;
measuring a post-deposition local wafer shape parameter individually for each of said plurality of discrete measurement points utilizing at least one wafer shape measurement apparatus when the film is deposited on the substrate by the wafer process equipment;
calculating, utilizing a computer processor, a local film stress value individually for each of said plurality of discrete measurement points, wherein at least two of said plurality of discrete measurement points have different local film thickness values, and wherein each local film stress value is calculated based on the pre-deposition and post-deposition local film thickness measurements and the pre-deposition and post-deposition local wafer shape parameters obtained for each corresponding measurement point; and
monitoring operations of the wafer process equipment based on the local film stress value calculated for the plurality of discrete measurement points.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing a visual representation of the local film stress value calculated for the plurality of discrete measurement points, wherein the visual representation includes at least one of an x-axis stress contour plot or a y-axis stress contour plot.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
specifying a plurality of discrete estimation points on the substrate;
obtaining a local wafer shape parameter individually for each of said plurality of discrete estimation points;
interpolating an estimated local film thickness individually for each of said plurality of discrete estimation points based on the local film thickness measurements obtained for said plurality of discrete thickness measurement points; and
calculating a local film stress value individually for each of said plurality of discrete estimation points, wherein each local film stress value is calculated based on the estimated local film thickness and the local wafer shape parameter for each corresponding estimation point.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the estimated local film thickness for each discrete estimation point is calculated at least partially based on a local film thickness measurement of a measurement point in proximity to the estimation point.

5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
providing a visual representation of the local film stress value for each of said plurality of discrete measurement points and the local film stress value for each of said plurality of discrete estimation points.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wafer process equipment includes a film deposition equipment.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the local film stress value for each of said plurality of discrete measurement points is calculated utilizing a Stoney's Equation.

8. A method, comprising:
specifying a plurality of discrete thickness measurement points on a substrate, the substrate being configured to receive a film deposition;
specifying a plurality of discrete wafer shape measurement points on the substrate;
measuring a pre-deposition local thickness individually for each of said plurality of discrete thickness measurement points utilizing at least one thickness measurement apparatus;
measuring a pre-deposition local wafer shape parameter individually for each of said plurality of discrete wafer shape measurement points utilizing at least one wafer shape measurement apparatus;
interpolating, utilizing a computer processor, an estimated pre-deposition local thickness measurement for at least one of said plurality of discrete wafer shape measurement points based on the pre-deposition local thickness measurements obtained for said plurality of discrete thickness measurement points;
measuring a post-deposition local film thickness individually for each of said plurality of discrete thickness measurement points utilizing at least one thickness measurement apparatus when a film is deposited on the substrate by a wafer process equipment;
measuring a post-deposition local wafer shape parameter individually for each of said plurality of discrete wafer shape measurement points utilizing at least one wafer shape measurement apparatus when the film is deposited on the substrate by the wafer process equipment;
interpolating, utilizing the computer processor, an estimated post-deposition local film thickness measurement for at least one of said plurality of discrete wafer shape measurement points based on the post-deposition local film thickness measurements obtained for said plurality of discrete thickness measurement points;
calculating, utilizing the computer processor, a local film stress value individually for each of said plurality of discrete wafer shape measurement points, wherein each local film stress value is calculated based on the pre-deposition and post-deposition local film thickness measurements and the pre-deposition and post-deposition local wafer shape parameters obtained for each corresponding wafer shape measurement point; and
monitoring operations of the wafer process equipment based on the local film stress values for the plurality of discrete wafer shape measurement points.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
providing a visual representation of the local film stress value for the plurality of discrete wafer shape measurement points, wherein the visual representation includes at least one of an x-axis stress contour plot or a y-axis stress contour plot.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein said obtaining a pre-deposition local thickness measurement individually for each of said plurality of discrete thickness measurement points comprises obtaining a minimum of 17 discrete local thickness measurements before the film deposition, and wherein said obtaining a post-deposition local film thickness measurement individually for each of said plurality of discrete thickness measurement points comprises obtaining a minimum of 17 discrete local thickness measurements after the film deposition and calculating a thickness differential for each of said plurality of discrete thickness measurement points based on measurements obtained before and after the film deposition.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of discrete wafer shape measurement points includes at least 4 discrete wafer shape measurement points, wherein said obtaining a pre-deposition local wafer shape parameter individually for each of said plurality of discrete wafer shape measurement points comprises obtaining a pre-deposition wafer shape parameter for each of said at least 4 discrete wafer shape measurement points before the film deposition, and wherein said obtaining a post-deposition local wafer shape parameter individually for each of said plurality of discrete wafer shape measurement points comprises obtaining a post-deposition wafer shape parameter for each of said at least 4 discrete wafer shape measurement points after the film deposition and calculating a shape differential for each of sa

Assignees

• Kaack Torsten R
• Poslavsky Leonid
• Tay Yu
• Kla Tencor Corp

Inventors

• Kaack Torsten R
• Poslavsky Leonid
• Tay Yu

Classifications

• H10P74/203

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

• G03F7/70 Primary

  Microphotolithographic exposure; Apparatus therefor (photo-masks G03F1/00) · CPC title

• G01L5/0047 Primary

  measuring forces due to residual stresses · CPC title