Hybrid phase unwrapping systems and methods for patterned wafer measurement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9632038-B2
Application number	US-201514808994-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 24, 2015
Priority date	Aug 20, 2014
Publication date	Apr 25, 2017
Grant date	Apr 25, 2017

Abstract

Systems and methods for unwrapping phase signals obtained from interferometry measurements of patterned wafer surfaces are disclosed. A phase unwrapping method in accordance with the present disclosure may calculate a front surface phase map and a back surface phase map of a wafer, subtract the back surface phase map from the front surface phase map to obtain a phase difference map, unwrap the phase difference map to obtain a wafer thickness variation map, unwrap the back surface phase map to obtain a back surface map representing the back surface of the wafer; and add the wafer thickness variation map to the back surface phase map to calculate a front surface map representing the front surface of the wafer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
acquiring at least one image of a front surface of a wafer and at least one image of a back surface of the wafer;
calculating a front surface phase map for the wafer based on the at least one image of the front surface of the wafer;
calculating a back surface phase map for the wafer based on the at least one image of the back surface of the wafer;
subtracting the back surface phase map from the front surface phase map to obtain a phase difference map;
phase unwrapping the phase difference map to obtain a wafer thickness variation map;
phase unwrapping the back surface phase map to obtain a back surface map representing the back surface of the wafer; and
adding the wafer thickness variation map to the back surface phase map to calculate a front surface map representing the front surface of the wafer.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the front surface of the wafer is patterned.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
smoothing the back surface phase map prior to subtracting the back surface phase map from the front surface phase map to obtain the phase difference map.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
performing phase tilt reduction on the phase difference map prior to phase unwrapping the phase difference map to obtain the wafer thickness variation map.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
performing phase filtering on the phase difference map prior to phase unwrapping the phase difference map to obtain the wafer thickness variation map.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
down sampling the phase difference map from a higher resolution to a lower resolution prior to phase unwrapping the phase difference map to obtain the wafer thickness variation map.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
interpolating the wafer thickness variation map from the lower resolution to the higher resolution prior to adding the wafer thickness variation map to the back surface phase map to calculate the front surface map representing the front surface of the wafer.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
performing phase congruency on the wafer thickness variation map prior to adding the wafer thickness variation map to the back surface phase map to calculate the front surface map representing the front surface of the wafer.

9. A system, comprising:
at least one imaging device configured to acquire at least one image of a front surface of a wafer and at least one image of a back surface of the wafer;
at least one processor in communication with the at least one imaging device, the at least one processor configured to:
calculate a front surface phase map for the wafer based on the at least one image of the front surface of the wafer;
calculate a back surface phase map for the wafer based on the at least one image of the back surface of the wafer;
subtract the back surface phase map from the front surface phase map to obtain a phase difference map;
phase unwrap the phase difference map to obtain a wafer thickness variation map;
phase unwrap the back surface phase map to obtain a back surface map representing the back surface of the wafer; and
add the wafer thickness variation map to the back surface phase map to calculate a front surface map representing the front surface of the wafer.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
smooth the back surface phase map prior to subtract the back surface phase map from the front surface phase map to obtain the phase difference map.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
perform phase tilt reduction on the phase difference map prior to phase unwrap the phase difference map to obtain the wafer thickness variation map.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
perform phase filtering on the phase difference map prior to phase unwrap the phase difference map to obtain the wafer thickness variation map.

13. The system of claim 9 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
down sample the phase difference map from a higher resolution to a lower resolution prior to phase unwrap the phase difference map to obtain the wafer thickness variation map.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
interpolate the wafer thickness variation map from the lower resolution to the higher resolution prior to add the wafer thickness variation map to the back surface phase map to calculate the front surface map representing the front surface of the wafer.

15. The system of claim 9 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
perform phase congruency on the wafer thickness variation map prior to add the wafer thickness variation map to the back surface phase map to calculate the front surface map representing the front surface of the wafer.

16. A method, comprising:
acquiring at least one image of a front surface of a patterned wafer and at least one image of a back surface of the patterned wafer;
calculating a front surface phase map for the wafer based on the at least one image of the front surface of the wafer;
calculating a back surface phase map for the wafer based on the at least one image of the back surface of the wafer;
subtracting the back surface phase map from the front surface phase map to obtain a phase difference map;
phase unwrapping the phase difference map to obtain a wafer thickness variation map;
phase unwrapping the back surface phase map to obtain a back surface map representing the back surface of the wafer;
performing phase congruency on the wafer thickness variation map; and
adding the wafer thickness variation map to the back surface phase map to calculate a front surface map representing the front surface of the wafer.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
smoothing the back surface phase map prior to subtracting the back surface phase map from the front surface phase map to obtain the phase difference map.

18. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
performing phase tilt reduction on the phase difference map prior to phase unwrapping the phase difference map to obtain the wafer thickness variation map.

19. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
performing phase filtering on the phase difference map prior to phase unwrapping the phase difference map to obtain the wafer thickness variation map.

20. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
down sampling the phase difference map from a higher resolution to a lower resolution prior to phase unwrapping the phase difference map to obtain the wafer thickness variation map.

21. The method of claim 20 , further comprising:
interpolating the wafer thickness variation map from the lower resolution to the higher resolution prior to adding the wafer thickness variation map to the back surface phase map to calculate the front surface map representing the front surface of the wafer.

Assignees

• Kla Tencor Corp

Inventors

• Chen Haiguang
• Sinha Jaydeep

Classifications

• G06T2207/10056

  Microscopic image · CPC title

• G06T7/0004

  Industrial image inspection · CPC title

• G01N2021/8841

  Illumination and detection on two sides of object · CPC title

• G06T2207/30148

  Semiconductor; IC; Wafer · CPC title

• G01N21/9501 Primary

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