Method and system of measuring semiconductor device and method of fabricating semiconductor device using the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9991174-B2
Application number	US-201414520477-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 22, 2014
Priority date	Jan 17, 2014
Publication date	Jun 5, 2018
Grant date	Jun 5, 2018

Abstract

The measurement method may include obtaining first measurement data from a recess region formed in a semiconductor substrate, obtaining second measurement data from a conductive pattern filling a portion of the recess region, calculating a first volume of the recess region from the first measurement data, calculating a second volume of the conductive pattern from the second measurement data, and calculating a measurement target parameter using a difference between the first and second volumes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of fabricating a semiconductor device, comprising: forming a device isolation layer on a substrate to define an active pattern, wherein the active pattern is a portion of the substrate that is penetrating through the device isolation laver;
etching the substrate and the device isolation layer to form a trench crossing the active pattern, wherein the trench is formed in the substrate;
obtaining a first measurement data from the trench using a scanning electron microscope and an optical scatterometry instrument, the scanning electron microscope including a first chuck and the optical scatterometry instrument including a second chuck, the obtaining the first measurement data including measuring a width of the trench and measuring a depth of the trench;
forming a gate pattern in the trench, wherein the gate pattern fills a lower region of the trench and exposes an upper region of the trench;
obtaining a second measurement data from the gate pattern using an X-ray fluorescence analysis instrument;
obtaining a first volume of the trench using the first measurement data;
obtaining a second volume of the gate pattern using the second measurement data;
obtaining a measurement target parameter using a difference between the first and second volumes, wherein the measurement target parameter is a distance between a top surface of the gate pattern and a top surface of the substrate; and
examining whether the measurement target parameter is within an allowed range.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein
the first measurement data is obtained using a non-destructive testing method,
the width of the trench is measured by the scanning electron microscope (SEM)instrument, and
the depth of the trench is measured by the optical scatterometry instrument.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the obtaining the second measurement data comprises measuring mass of an element contained in the gate pattern.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the second measurement data is obtained using a non-destructive testing method, and
the mass of the element contained in the gate pattern is measured by the X-ray fluorescence analysis instrument.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the obtaining the measurement target parameter comprises operating a calculation module included in a computer system,
the calculation module is configured to calculate the first volume, the second volume, and the measurement target parameter, the first volume being calculated by multiplying the width of the trench, the depth of the trench, and a first constant, the second volume being calculated by multiplying the mass of the element contained in the gate pattern by a second constant, and the measurement target parameter being calculated by dividing a third volume, which is obtained by subtracting the second volume from the first volume, by multiplication of the width of the trench and the first constant.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the obtaining of the measurement target parameter further comprises operating a verification module included in the computer system,
the verification module is configured to determine the first and second constants to reduce an error between the measurement target parameter calculated by the calculation module and reference data.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the forming of the gate pattern comprises:
forming a gate layer on the substrate to fill the trench; and
etching the gate layer,
wherein if the examining determines the measurement target parameter is smaller than the allowed range, repeating the etching the gate layer.

8. A method of determining a physical parameter of a semiconductor device under manufacture, comprising:
performing non-destructive measuring of at least a first physical parameter and a second physical parameter of structures in the semiconductor device under manufacture using a scanning electron microscope, an optical scatterometry instrument, and an X-ray fluorescence analysis instrument, each of the scanning electron microscope, the optical scatterometry instrument, and the X-ray fluorescence analysis instrument including a separate chuck configured to support the semiconductor device, the first physical parameter including a measurement of a recess region, and the second physical parameter including a measurement of a conductive pattern filling a portion of the recess region; and
determining a third physical parameter of the structures based on data generated from the performing of the non-destructive measuring.

Assignees

• Leem Choonshik
• Lee Jihye
• Kim Deokyong
• Chin Soobok
• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Leem Choonshik
• Lee Jihye
• Kim Deokyong
• Chin Soobok

Classifications

• H10P74/203 Primary

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

• G01B2210/56

  Measuring geometric parameters of semiconductor structures, e.g. profile, critical dimensions or trench depth · CPC title

• G01N21/95684

  Patterns showing highly reflecting parts, e.g. metallic elements · CPC title

• G01N21/95607

  using a comparative method · CPC title

• G01N21/9501

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