Optical measurement system and method for measuring critical dimension of nanostructure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9995648-B2
Application number	US-201514850425-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 10, 2015
Priority date	Nov 10, 2014
Publication date	Jun 12, 2018
Grant date	Jun 12, 2018

Abstract

Provided is an optical measurement system. The optical measurement system includes: an optical module which includes an optical system and which is configured to illuminate a sample and register a defocused image of a nanostructured surface of the sample, an optical system parameter control module configured to set optical parameters of the optical system, an optical transfer function (OTF) measurement module configured to measure an OTF, a defocused image calculation module configured to calculate the defocused image based on the measured OTF and the optical parameters, and a critical dimension (CD) evaluation module configured to compare the registered defocused image with the calculated defocused image of the nanostructured surface of the sample and to output a CD value of the nanostructured surface.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An optical measurement system comprising:
an optical module comprising an optical system, and the optical module being configured to illuminate a sample and to register a defocused image of a nanostructured surface of the sample;
an optical system parameter control module configured to set at least one optical parameter of the optical system;
an optical transfer function (OTF) measurement module which is implemented by at least one processor and configured to measure an OTF;
a defocused image calculation module which is implemented by at least one processor and configured to calculate the defocused image based on the measured OTF and the at least one optical parameter; and
a critical dimension (CD) evaluation module which is implemented by the at least one processor and configured to compare the registered defocused image with the calculated defocused image and to output a CD value of the nanostructured surface of the sample.

2. The optical measurement system of claim 1 , wherein the OTF measurement module is further configured to analyze interferograms that correspond to an illumination light aberrated by the optical measurement system and a reference light.

3. The optical measurement system of claim 1 , wherein the OTF measurement module is further configured to measure the OTF based on the registered defocused image of the nanostructured surface of the sample.

4. The optical measurement system of claim 1 , wherein the optical system parameter control module is further configured to set at least one parameter of the optical measurement system and at least one parameter of the OTF measurement module, wherein the at least one parameter of the optical measurement system comprises at least one from among a spectrum and a polarization of a light source, a numerical aperture of an objective lens, a full range and a step size of defocusing of the sample, and a magnification of the optical measurement system.

5. The optical measurement system of claim 1 , wherein the defocused image calculation module is further configured to calculate the image by using at least one of a Rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA) method, a finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method, a finite elements method (FEM), and a scattering matrix.

6. The optical measurement system of claim 1 , wherein the CD evaluation module is further configured to find a defocused image that matches a registered defocused image from a defocused image library calculated in advance for different CD values.

7. The optical measurement system of claim 1 , wherein when an accuracy of the output CD value of the nanostructured surface of the sample fails to satisfy a predetermined minimum accuracy, the defocused image calculation module is further configured to repeat an image calculation by using a smaller CD step size until the accuracy of the CD value satisfies the predetermined minimum accuracy.

8. The optical measurement system of claim 1 , wherein the OTF measurement module is further configured to measure a phase factor of the OTF and to separately measure an amplitude factor of the OTF.

9. An optical measurement method comprising:
setting at least one optical parameter of the optical measurement system of claim 1 ;
measuring an optical transfer function (OTF) of the optical measurement system;
registering a defocused image of a nanostructured surface of a sample at at least one sample position along an optical axis of an optical system based on the optical measurement system;
calculating a defocused image based on the measured OTF in a preset critical dimension (CD) value range; and
evaluating an accuracy of a CD of the nanostructured surface of the sample by comparing the registered defocused image with the calculated defocused image.

10. The optical measurement method of claim 9 , wherein the measuring the OTF comprises analyzing interferograms that correspond to an illumination light aberrated by the optical measurement system and a reference light.

11. The optical measurement method of claim 9 , wherein the measuring the OTF comprises measuring the registered defocused image of the nanostructured surface of the sample.

12. The optical measurement method of claim 9 , wherein the at least one parameter of the optical measurement system comprises at least one from among a spectrum and a polarization of a light source, a numerical aperture of an objective lens, a full range and a step size of defocusing of the sample, and a magnification of the optical measurement system.

13. The optical measurement method of claim 9 , wherein the evaluating the accuracy of the CD is performed based on an arithmetic difference between the registered defocused image and the calculated defocused image as a measure of a CD value that corresponds to the nanostructured surface of the sample.

14. The optical measurement method of claim 9 , wherein the evaluating the accuracy of the CD is performed based on a focus metric function as a measure of a CD value that corresponds to the nanostructured surface of the sample.

15. The optical measurement method of claim 9 , wherein the evaluating the accuracy of the CD comprises finding a defocused image that matches a registered defocused image from a defocused image library calculated in advance for different CD values.

16. The optical measurement method of claim 9 , wherein, when an accuracy of the output CD value of the nanostructured surface of the sample fails to satisfy a predetermined minimum accuracy, the calculating the defocused image is repeated by using a smaller CD step size, and
the evaluating the accuracy of the CD is repeated until the accuracy of the CD value satisfies the predetermined minimum accuracy.

17. The optical measurement method of claim 9 , wherein the measuring the OTF comprises measuring a phase factor of the OTF and separately measuring an amplitude factor of the OTF.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Shchekin Alexey
• Riabko Maksim
• Koptyaev Sergey
• Medvedev Anton

Classifications

• G01M11/005 Primary

  Testing of reflective surfaces, e.g. mirrors · CPC title

• G01M11/0271

  by using interferometric methods · CPC title

• G03F7/70625

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

• G01B2210/56

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

• G01N21/9501

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