The present disclosure relates generally to spectroscopic ellipsometry and, more particularly, to imaging spectroscopic ellipsometry.
Semiconductor manufacturing processes are getting incredibly complicated. For example, as nodes continuously scale in semiconductor devices, logic device fabrication techniques are moving from FinFET to Gate-All-Around (GAA) nanosheet, and will continue the trend from nanosheet to forksheet, from forksheet to complementary FET with 3D “folding” of nFET on top of pFET wire, and so on. As another example, DRAM fabrication techniques may eventually move to 3D-NAND like 3D-DRAM structure at same time that EUV adoption continuously drives down the current 2D-DRAM dimensions.
As a result, increased demands are being placed on metrology tools suitable for characterizing such small and complex structures. Mueller Matrix Spectroscopic Ellipsometry (MMSE) is one of the promising technologies since the Mueller matrix contains the information of polarization states changes after light interacts with the complex 3D structures patterned on the semiconductor wafer. However, traditional MMSE techniques fail to meet throughput and spot size requirements.
There is therefore a need to develop systems and methods to cure the above deficiencies.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system including a first frequency comb source configured to generate a first frequency comb; a second frequency comb source configured to generate a second frequency comb with a different repetition rate than the first frequency comb, where the second frequency comb source is at least one of frequency or phase-locked to the first frequency comb source; an illumination sub-system including one or more illumination lenses to direct an illumination beam including at least one of the first frequency comb or the second frequency comb to a sample; an imaging sub-system including one or more imaging lenses and a detector configured to generate a sequence of images of the sample based on the first frequency comb and the second frequency comb; one or more coding optical elements including at least one of one or more optical retarders or one or more polarizers, where at least one of the one or more coding optical elements is in the illumination sub-system, where at least one of the one or more coding optical elements is in the imaging sub-system, where the one or more coding optical elements encode data associated with one or more transfer matrix elements into the sequence of images of the sample, where the data associated with the one or more transfer matrix elements is encoded into at least one of a spatial domain, a spectral domain, or a time domain of the sequence of images; and a controller including one or more processors configured to execute program instructions causing the one or more processors to generate a transfer matrix dataset including measurements of at least one of the one or more transfer matrix elements associated with the sample based on at least one of spatial, spectral, or temporal analysis of the sequence of images, where the transfer matrix dataset is at least one of spatially, spectrally, or temporally resolved; and generate one or more measurements of the sample based on the transfer matrix dataset.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where generate the transfer matrix dataset including the measurements of at least one of the one or more transfer matrix elements associated with the sample based on at least one of spatial, spectral, or temporal analysis of the sequence of images includes decoding the at least one of the one or more transfer matrix elements from the sequence of images based on at least one of spatial, spectral, or frequency analysis of the sequence of images.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the one or more transfer matrix elements include Mueller matrix elements.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the one or more transfer matrix elements include Jones matrix elements.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the illumination sub-system further includes a beam combiner configured to combine the first frequency comb and the second frequency comb into a single illumination beam, where the one or more imaging lenses of the illumination sub-system direct the single illumination beam to the sample.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the sequence of images correspond to multi-pixel images of the sample, where the transfer matrix dataset includes the measurements of at least one of the one or more transfer matrix elements as a function of wavelength and spatial location on the sample.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the sequence of images correspond to single-pixel images of the sample, where the transfer matrix dataset includes the measurements of at least one of the one or more transfer matrix elements as a function of wavelength for a single spatial location on the sample.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the one or more coding optical elements include a generator in the illumination sub-system, the generator including one or more beam-shearing plates to generate two or more sheared beams with different polarization states, where the one or more illumination lenses of the illumination sub-system direct the two or more sheared beams to a common spot on the sample; and an analyzer in the imaging sub-system, the analyzer including one or more additional beam-shearing plates to shear the two or more sheared beams into additional sheared beams with different polarization states, where the one or more imaging lenses of the imaging sub-system interfere the additional sheared beams on the detector.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where generate the transfer matrix dataset including the measurements of at least one of the one or more transfer matrix elements associated with the sample based on at least one of spectral or spatial frequency analysis of the sequence of images includes generate, for a particular image of the sequence of images, one or more channel images based on a spatial frequency filtering technique; and generate one or more transfer matrix element datasets based on the one or more channel images, where the transfer matrix dataset includes the one or more transfer Matrix element datasets.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the sequence of images includes multi-pixel images, where the one or more transfer matrix element datasets include a sequence of spatially-resolved transfer matrix element images; where generate the transfer matrix dataset including the measurements of at least one of the one or more transfer matrix elements associated with the sample based on at least one of a spatial, spectral, or temporal analysis of the sequence of images further includes extract, for at least some pixels in the sequence of images, spectrally-resolved transfer matrix element data using a temporal frequency analysis technique, where the transfer matrix dataset includes the spectrally-resolved transfer matrix element data.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the one or more coding optical elements include a series of cascaded spectrally-dependent phase retarders to encode the data associated with the one or more transfer matrix elements into the spectral domain of the series of images.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the measurements of at least one of the one or more transfer matrix elements for each location on the sample are decoded by spectral analysis of the sequence of images.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the one or more coding optical elements include one or more rotating optical elements in at least one of the illumination sub-system or the imaging sub-system.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the one or more rotating optical elements include a first rotating quarter waveplate in the illumination sub-system; and a second rotating quarter waveplate in the imaging sub-system, where the first rotating quarter waveplate and the second rotating quarter waveplate rotate at different speeds, where the data associated with the one or more transfer matrix elements is encoded into the time domain of the sequence of images.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the measurements of at least one of the one or more transfer matrix elements for each location on the sample are decoded by temporal frequency analysis of the sequence of images.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the imaging sub-system provides the sequence of images through electro-optical sampling.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the one or more measurements include one or more metrology measurements.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the one or more measurements include one or more inspection measurements.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system including a controller including one or more processors configured to execute program instructions causing the one or more processors to generate a transfer matrix dataset including measurements of one or more transfer matrix elements associated with a sample based on at least one of spatial, spectral or temporal analysis of a sequence of images, where the transfer matrix dataset is at least one of spatially resolved or spectrally resolved, where the sequence of images is generated by a measurement sub-system including a first frequency comb source configured to generate a first frequency comb; a second frequency comb source configured to generate a second frequency comb with a different repetition rate than the first frequency comb, where the second frequency comb source is at least one of frequency or phase-locked to the first frequency comb source; an illumination sub-system including one or more illumination lenses to direct an illumination beam including at least one of the first frequency comb or the second frequency comb to the sample; an imaging sub-system including one or more imaging lenses and a detector configured to generate the sequence of images of the sample based on the first frequency comb and the second frequency comb; and one or more coding optical elements including one or more optical retarders, where the one or more coding optical elements encode data associated with the one or more transfer matrix elements into the sequence of images of the sample, where the data associated with the one or more transfer matrix elements is encoded into at least one of a spatial domain, a spectral domain, or a time domain of the sequence of images; and generate one or more measurements of the sample based on the transfer matrix dataset.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where generate the transfer matrix dataset including the measurements of the one or more transfer matrix elements associated with the sample based on at least one of spatial, spectral, or temporal analysis of the sequence of images includes decoding the one or more transfer matrix elements from the sequence of images based on at least one of spatial, spectral, or frequency analysis of the sequence of images.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the one or more transfer matrix elements include Mueller matrix elements.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the one or more transfer matrix elements include Jones matrix elements.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the illumination sub-system further includes a beam combiner configured to combine the first frequency comb and the second frequency comb into a single illumination beam, where the one or more imaging lenses of the illumination sub-system direct the single illumination beam to the sample.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the sequence of images correspond to multi-pixel images of the sample, where the transfer matrix dataset includes the measurements of the one or more transfer matrix elements as a function of wavelength and spatial location on the sample.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the sequence of images correspond to single-pixel images of the sample, where the transfer matrix dataset includes the measurements of the one or more transfer matrix elements as a function of wavelength for a single spatial location on the sample.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the one or more coding optical elements include a generator in the illumination sub-system, the generator including one or more beam-shearing plates to generate two or more sheared beams with different polarization states, where the one or more illumination lenses of the illumination sub-system direct the two or more sheared beams to a common spot on the sample; and an analyzer in the imaging sub-system, the analyzer including one or more additional beam-shearing plates to shear the two or more sheared beams into additional sheared beams with different polarization states, where the one or more imaging lenses of the imaging sub-system interfere the additional sheared beams on the detector.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where generate the transfer matrix dataset including the measurements of the one or more transfer matrix elements associated with the sample based on at least one of spectral or spatial frequency analysis of the sequence of images includes generate, for a particular image of the sequence of images, one or more channel images based on a spatial frequency filtering technique; and generate one or more transfer matrix element datasets based on the one or more channel images, where the transfer matrix dataset includes the one or more transfer Matrix element datasets.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the sequence of images includes multi-pixel images, where the one or more transfer matrix element datasets include a sequence of spatially-resolved transfer matrix element images; where generate the transfer matrix dataset including the measurements of the one or more transfer matrix elements associated with the sample based on at least one of spatial, spectral, or temporal analysis of the sequence of images further includes extract, for at least some pixels in the sequence of images, spectrally-resolved transfer matrix element data using a temporal frequency analysis technique, where the transfer matrix dataset includes the spectrally-resolved transfer matrix element data.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the one or more coding optical elements include a series of cascaded spectrally-dependent phase retarders to encode the data associated with the one or more transfer matrix elements into the spectral domain of the series of images.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the one or more transfer matrix elements for each location on the sample are decoded by spectral analysis of the sequence of images.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the one or more coding optical elements include one or more rotating optical elements in at least one of the illumination sub-system or the imaging sub-system.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the one or more rotating optical elements include a first rotating quarter waveplate in the illumination sub-system; and a second rotating quarter waveplate in the imaging sub-system, where the first rotating quarter waveplate and the second rotating quarter waveplate rotate at different speeds, where the data associated with the one or more transfer matrix elements is encoded into the time domain of the sequence of images.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the one or more transfer matrix elements for each location on the sample are decoded by temporal frequency analysis of the sequence of images.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the imaging sub-system provides the sequence of images through electro-optical sampling.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the one or more measurements include one or more metrology measurements.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement system, where the one or more measurements include one or more inspection measurements.
In embodiments, the techniques described herein relate to a measurement method including generating a transfer matrix dataset including measurements of one or more transfer matrix elements associated with a sample based on at least one of spatial, spectral, or temporal analysis of a sequence of images of the sample, where the transfer matrix dataset is at least one of spatially, spectrally, or temporally resolved, where the sequence of images is generated by a measurement sub-system including a first frequency comb source configured to generate a first frequency comb; a second frequency comb source configured to generate a second frequency comb with a different repetition rate than the first frequency comb, where the second frequency comb source is at least one of frequency or phase-locked to the first frequency comb source; an illumination sub-system including one or more illumination lenses to direct an illumination beam including at least one of the first frequency comb or the second frequency comb to the sample; an imaging sub-system including one or more imaging lenses and a detector configured to generate the sequence of images of the sample based on the first frequency comb and the second frequency comb; and one or more coding optical elements including one or more optical retarders, where the one or more coding optical elements encode data associated with the one or more transfer matrix elements into the sequence of images of the sample, where the data associated with the one or more transfer matrix elements is encoded into at least one of a spatial domain, a spectral domain, or a time domain of the sequence of images; and generating one or more measurements of the sample based on the transfer matrix dataset.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not necessarily restrictive of the invention as claimed. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the general description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
The numerous advantages of the disclosure may be better understood by those skilled in the art by reference to the accompanying figures.
Reference will now be made in detail to the subject matter disclosed, which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The present disclosure has been particularly shown and described with respect to certain embodiments and specific features thereof. The embodiments set forth herein are taken to be illustrative rather than limiting. It should be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes and modifications in form and detail may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.
Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to systems and methods providing an imaging metrology system with per-pixel transfer matrix spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements. As used herein, a transfer matrix may refer to any type of matrix describing a transformation of properties of light by a sample such as, but not limited to, a Mueller matrix or a Jones matrix. In this way, transfer matrix spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements are generated simultaneously for an entire imaged field (e.g., an image of the sample with one or more detectors located at a field plane conjugate to the sample) with pixel-level resolution to generate an on-the-fly metrology map. The imaged field may be adjusted to encompass a die, a sub-die region, or any selected spot size.
In embodiments, an imaging spectroscopic ellipsometry system includes one or more frequency comb generators to generate two frequency combs with different repetition rates, an imaging sub-system to image a sample with the two frequency combs, and one or more coding optical elements designed to code data associated with transfer matrix elements into images generated with the imaging sub-system in any combination of spatial, spectral, or temporal domains. Accordingly, transfer matrix elements as a function of wavelength (spectroscopic Mueller matrix metrology in the case of Mueller matrices) may be generated for each pixel or combinations of pixels through spectral, spatial, and/or temporal frequency analysis of the images based on the coding induced by the coding optical elements. For example, the coding elements may include a combination of optical retarders and/or polarizers located before and after the sample that code data associated with various transfer matrix elements, or combinations thereof, into the spatial, spectral, and/or temporal domains of the images such that spectroscopic transfer matrix data may be extracted based on corresponding spatial, spectral, and/or temporal techniques during post processing. Further, the imaging spectroscopic ellipsometry system may operate in a reflection mode or a transmission mode.
It is contemplated that the use of dual frequency combs combined with coding optical elements to provide may provide spectroscopic transfer matrix metrology with stationary elements. Put another way, dual frequency combs may provide spectroscopic transfer matrix metrology without requiring moving elements during detection. Such a configuration may thus provide stable and robust measurements. For example, directing dual frequency combs with different repetition rates to a sample may generate temporal beating signals that provide spectroscopic data similar to time-domain spectroscopy or dispersive Fourier transform spectroscopy in the time domain or heterodyne spectrometry in the frequency domain, where each pair of comb teeth contributes to the heterodyne signal at a specific radio frequency (RF) value.
It is further contemplated herein that the coding data associated with transfer matrix elements or combinations thereof into spatial, spectral, and/or temporal domains may be accomplished through numerous techniques within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. As a result, it is to be understood that the specific examples disclosed herein are provided solely for illustrative purposes and should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the present disclosure.
Referring now to
In embodiments, the metrology system 100 includes one or more frequency comb sources 102 to generate two phase-locked frequency combs 104 having different repetition rates, an illumination sub-system 106 to direct at least one of the two frequency combs 104 to a sample 108, an imaging sub-system 110 to collect light emanating from the sample 108, and a detector 112 located at an image plane to generate one or more images of the sample 108 based on the frequency combs 104. As used herein, an image of the sample 108 may refer to any data generated by a detector 112 at a field plane conjugate to the sample 108. Further, the detector 112 may include a single-pixel sensor or a multi-pixel sensor. For example, a single-pixel detector 112 located at a field plane may provide single-pixel image data associated with the sample 108 (e.g., a single-pixel image). As another example, a multi-pixel detector 112 located at a field plane may provide multi-pixel image data associated with the sample 108 (e.g., a multiple-pixel image).
The metrology system 100 may further include one or more coding optical elements 114 to code data associated with transfer matrix elements (e.g., Mueller matrix elements, Jones matrix elements, or the like) representative of the modification of light by the sample 108 into at least one of spatial, spectral, or time domains associated with a sequence of one or more images of the sample 108 captured by the detector 112.
The metrology system 100 may further include a controller 116 with one or more processors 118 configured to execute program instructions stored (e.g., maintained) on memory 120, or a memory device. Further, the controller 116 may be communicatively coupled to any components of the metrology system 100 such as, but not limited to, the detector 112. In this way, the one or more processors 118 of controller 116 may execute any of the various process steps described throughout the present disclosure either directly or indirectly. For example, the controller 116 may perform at least one of a spatial, spectral, or temporal analysis of the sequence of one or more images from the detector 112 to extract transfer matrix data associated with the sample 108. Put another way, the controller 116 may decode the transfer matrix data from the sequence of one or more images that was encoded by the coding optical elements 114. In particular, the controller 116 may generate transfer matrix elements as a function of wavelength (e.g., provide spectroscopic Mueller matrix metrology in the case of Mueller matrices) for each pixel or combinations of pixels. In this way, the controller 116 may generate on-the-fly spectroscopic transfer matrix metrology data for the sample with a spatial resolution associated with an image provided by the imaging sub-system 110.
A transfer matrix may represent how an object (e.g., the sample 108) modifies the polarization state of incident light. For example, the polarization state of light may be characterized by a four-element Stokes vector. A Mueller matrix is a 16-element transfer matrix representing the manipulation of a Stokes vector of light by the object. As another example, a Jones matrix may be a four-element transfer matrix representing a transformation of a Jones vector of incident and exiting light from a sample, where the Jones vector describes the amplitude and phase of the electric field of light in orthogonal directions.
In particular, Mueller matrix spectroscopic ellipsometry (MMSE) is a promising technique that uses collected Mueller matrix data to generate measurements associated with the physical and/or chemical structure of a target. Traditional MMSE techniques generate data associated with Mueller matrix of a target in whole or part based on a sequence of ellipsometry measurements in which the polarization states of incident and collected light are controlled through rotating polarizers and/or waveplates. However, such a technique is unsuitable for high-volume measurements due to a limited spatial resolution associated with the size of an illumination beam as well as a relatively low throughput associated with physical rotation of polarizing elements needed for the series of measurements.
In embodiments, the metrology system 100 generates spectrally and spatially resolved transfer matrix data associated with a sample 108 by encoding data indicative of transfer matrix elements into spatial, spectral, and/or temporal aspects of a series of images generated by the imaging sub-system 110 based on dual frequency combs 104 as an illumination source. In particular, one or more coding optical elements 114 of the metrology system 100 include polarization-manipulating optical elements to encode different polarization states into one or more frequency combs 104 used to image the sample 108 in any combination of spatial, spectral, or temporal domains. These coding optical elements 114 may be located anywhere in the metrology system 100 including in an illumination sub-system 106 to manipulate the frequency combs 104 prior to the sample 108 and/or in an imaging sub-system 110 to manipulate the frequency combs 104 after interaction with the sample 108. Notably, such a configuration may provide data associated with transfer matrix elements without requiring moving parts, which enables substantially higher throughput than existing MMSE techniques.
Broadly, the coding optical elements 114 may include any combination of one o or more polarization-manipulating elements such as, but not limited to waveplates or polarizers. In some embodiments, coding optical elements 114 include a beam-shearing plate (BSP) formed from two (or more) birefringent plates at different orientations to generate a spatially-varying polarization distribution. In some embodiments, coding optical elements 114 include a beam-shearing analyzer (BSA) formed from two (or more) BSPs separated by waveplates to further provide a spatially-varying polarization distribution. A combination of BSPs and/or BSAs to manipulate the polarization of light before and after interaction with the sample 108 may thus provide a spatial encoding of transfer matrix element data into one or more images of the sample 108. In particular, data associated with transfer matrix elements may be encoded into spatial frequencies of the image such that the data associated with specific transfer matrix elements (or combinations thereof) may be extracted using spatial-frequency filtering techniques (e.g., spatial-domain Fourier transform techniques) on an image.
Further, the use of dual frequency combs 104 combined with the coding optical elements 114 to provide may provide encoding of data associated with transfer matrix elements in the spectral and/or temporal domains. For example, the interaction of frequency combs 104 with different repetition rates may generate temporal beating signals that provide spectroscopic data similar to time-domain spectroscopy or dispersive Fourier transform spectroscopy in the time domain or heterodyne spectrometry in the frequency domain, where each pair of comb teeth contributes to the heterodyne signal at a specific radio frequency (RF) value.
In this way, spectrally-resolved data associated with transfer matrix elements (or combinations thereof) may be extracted from a sequence of images using temporal frequency analysis techniques (e.g., temporal Fourier transform techniques). Notably, such temporal frequency analysis may be applied to each pixel of a sequence of images to provide a spatially and spectrally resolved data associated with transfer matrix elements (or combinations thereof). This data may then be used to generate spatially resolved metrology measurements of the physical and/or chemical properties of the sample 108 with a resolution defined the imaging sub-system 110.
In embodiments, the method 122 includes a step 124 of generating a sequence of images of the sample in which data associated with a transfer matrix (e.g., a Mueller matrix, a Jones matrix, or the like) of a sample is coded into at least one of spatial, spectral, or temporal domains of the sequence of images.
In embodiments, the method 122 includes a step 126 of generating a transfer matrix dataset including measurements of one or more elements of the transfer matrix (e.g., transfer matrix elements) based on the sequence of images. For example, the measurements of the transfer matrix elements may be generated based on at least one of spectral or spatial frequency analysis of a sequence of images. The transfer matrix dataset may be spectrally and/or spatially resolved. For example, the transfer matrix data may be formed as a tensor spatially-resolved images associated with values of one or more transfer matrix elements along one dimension and spectrally-resolved data associated with the one or more Mueller matrix elements along another dimension. As an illustration, the transfer matrix data for a Mueller matrix may be written as:
where mmij correspond to individual transfer matrix elements, x and y are spatial coordinates, and λ represents wavelength (or spectral coordinates more generally).
However, it is noted that the transfer matrix data need not be spectrally and spatially resolved in all embodiments. In some embodiments, the transfer matrix data is only spectrally-resolved. For example, such a configuration may be generated with a single-pixel detector that generates single-pixel images. In some embodiments, the transfer matrix data is only spatially resolved. In this configuration, the transfer matrix data may be generated with a single wavelength.
In embodiments, the method 122 includes a step 128 of generating one or more measurements of the sample based on the transfer matrix dataset. Because the Mueller matrix data characterizes how the sample 108 manipulates the light, this transfer matrix data may be the basis of a wide range of measurements. For example, one or more models may relate the transfer matrix data to metrology measurements (e.g., perform a reverse measurement based on the transfer matrix data) such as, but not limited to, overlay measurements, critical dimension (CD) measurements, edge placement error (EPE) measurements, film metrology measurements (e.g., film thickness, refractive index, composition, or the like), local variation (e.g., mean) and/or locality (3-Sigma) measurements, pad measurements, or wafer edge to wafer center uniformity measurements (e.g., overlay, CD, or any other uniformity measurements). As another example, the transfer matrix data may be the basis of inspection measurements for defect identification and/or characterization.
Referring now to
It is noted that
The metrology system 100 may direct one or more of the frequency combs 104 to the sample 108. For example, in some embodiments, two frequency combs 104 are aligned to form a single collinear beam, which is directed to the sample 108. As another example, in some embodiments, a first frequency comb 104 is directed to the sample 108 and interfered with a second frequency comb 104 within the imaging sub-system 110 prior to the detector 112.
The detector 112 may include any sensor or combination of sensors located at an imaging plane suitable for capturing light associated with the frequency combs 104. In some embodiments, the detector 112 is a time-domain detector suitable for capturing time-domain signals in one or multiple pixels. For example, the detector 112 may include, but is not limited to, a photodiode or a photodiode array. Such a configuration may be suitable for generating spatially-resolved transfer matrix data. In some embodiments, the detector 112 is a single-pixel sensor such as, but not limited to, a photodetector. Such a configuration may generate transfer matrix data associated with one location on the sample (e.g., defined by a resolution of the imaging sub-system 110 in combination with a size of the detector 112), but may advantageously provide faster measurement speeds than a two-dimensional sensor. In this way, any references to images generated by a detector 112 herein may refer to single-pixel or multi-pixel images.
In
In
The illumination sub-system 106 and the imaging sub-system 110 may include any combination of optical elements suitable for directing one or more of the frequency combs 104 to the sample 108 and imaging the sample 108 based on the frequency combs 104. For example,
Further,
Various aspects of the temporal and spatial encoding of data associated with the transfer matrix elements are now described in greater detail, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.
In some embodiments, the coding optical elements 114 include a generator 212 in the illumination sub-system 106 and an analyzer 214 in the imaging sub-system 110, where the generator 212 and the analyzer 214 are formed from polarization-manipulating optical elements suitable for coding of input and output Stokes vectors in spatial frequency channels in Fourier space (e.g., spatial frequency space). In this configuration, transfer matrix elements (or combinations thereof) associated with the sample 108 may be deduced from these channels after inverse Fourier transform or other suitable spatial-frequency analysis technique.
The generator 212 and the analyzer 214 may include any components or combinations of components suitable for coding of input and output Stokes vectors in spatial frequency channels in Fourier space. For example, generator 212 and/or the analyzer 214 may be formed from polarization-manipulation components such as, but not limited to, waveplates, BSPs, or BSAs.
In some embodiments, a BSP 302 includes a half-wave plate (HWP) 304 located between a first shearing plate 306 and a second shearing plate 308. For example, the first shearing plate 306 and the second shearing plate 308 may be formed as birefringent plates with optical axes 310 rotated with respect to each other to provide two spatially-separated beams 312. As an illustration
where d is a thickness of the first shearing plate 306 and the second shearing plate 308, no is the ordinary refractive index of the first shearing plate 306 and the second shearing plate 308, and ne is the extraordinary refractive index of the first shearing plate 306 and the second shearing plate 308.
It is contemplated herein that the first shearing plate 306 and the second shearing plate 308 may chosen to provide achromatic performance. For example, the chromatic variation in lateral displacement can be reduced by an order of magnitude across a broadband spectrum. Additionally, the shearing distance (D) of the BSP 302 as illustrated in
In this configuration, the analyzer 214 generates four sheared beams 318 that are focused to a common spot on the sample 108 with the illumination lenses 206 (e.g., F2 in
The analyzer 214 may then shear each of the sheared beams 318 into four additional beams, which results in sixteen sheared beams 402. To avoid overlap of the sheared beams 402, the thickness of the BSPs 302 in the analyzer 214 may be different (e.g., thicker) than the BSPs 302 in the generator 212. For example,
The collection lenses 208 (e.g., F4 in
In this configuration, the input Stokes vector associated with the frequency combs 104 prior to the generator 212 may be written as
where S0,in is the total incident power. The output Stokes vector of the distribution of light at the detector 112 after the analyzer 214 may then be written as:
where BSP1 and BSP2 are birefringent plates in the first BSP 302a, BSP3 and BSP4 are birefringent plates in the second BSP 302b, P1 is the first polarizer 322, P2 is the second polarizer 324, and MM(x,y) represents Mueller matrix data (e.g., transfer matrix data) associated with the sample 108.
It is contemplated herein that the various sheared beams 402 have different polarization states and that each may provide information associated with one or more Mueller matrix elements associated with the sample 108. For instance, each of the various sheared beams 402 may be analogous to polarization configurations that may be generated by a traditional single-beam ellipsometer. However, the systems and methods disclosed herein provide such configurations simultaneously instead of sequentially.
It is further contemplated herein that the Mueller matrix elements associated with the sample 108 may be encoded into various spatial frequency channels within an image of the sample 108 generated using the metrology system 100. For example, an image generated by the detector 112 in
Table 2 depicts the recovery of various Mueller matrix elements (mmij) based on one or more channel images.
In Table 2,
Isn and Irn correspond to the sample's and reference's CHn, and Srn corresponds to the sum of Mueller matrix elements in the nth channel of the reference light.
Taking
Referring now to
In some embodiments, the method 700 includes a step 702 of generating one or more channel images based on a spatial frequency filtering technique applied to an image of the sample 108. In some embodiments, the method 700 includes a step 704 of generate one or more Mueller matrix element datasets (e.g., transfer matrix element datasets) based on the one or more channel images, where the Mueller matrix dataset (e.g., the transfer matrix dataset) includes the one or more Mueller Matrix element datasets.
For example,
In some embodiments, the method 700 includes a step 712 of extracting, for at least some pixels in the sequence of images, spectrally-resolved Mueller matrix element data using a spectral frequency analysis technique. For example,
The Mueller matrix data 718 may then be used to generate one or more measurements 720 of the sample 108 (e.g., in step 128 of the method 122 depicted in
Referring now to
The spectral shifters 802 may include any type of element suitable for shifting and/or broadening the spectra of at least one of the frequency combs 104. For example, a spectral shifter 802 may include, but is not limited to, a non-linear crystal, a photonic crystal fiber, or the like.
In some embodiments, electro-optic sampling (EOS) may be used to shift the detection wavelength relative to the wavelengths of the frequency combs 104. For example, it may be the case that a detector suitable for mid-infrared wavelengths may have various drawbacks relative to a detector suitable for mid-infrared, near-infrared or visible wavelengths such as, but not limited to, relatively slow readout times, high noise, low resolution, high-cost, or a requirement for cryogenic cooling. Accordingly, EOS sampling (e.g., with an EOS detector 112) may allow measurements in a desired wavelength range.
In some embodiments, the coding optical elements 114 include a series of spectrally-dependent phase retarders. For example,
In this configuration, the output Stokes vector may be written as:
The recovery of Mueller matrix elements based on different modulation channels is listed in Table 3 for this configuration, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.
2m13
m23 + m32
In some embodiments, the coding optical elements 114 include one or more rotating elements in the illumination sub-system 106 and the imaging sub-system 110 to provide temporal coding of Mueller matrix data (e.g., transfer matrix data). For example, the coding optical elements 114 may include rotating quarter waveplates and/or polarizers.
As an illustration,
Further, this configuration may provide that Mueller matrix elements are encoded in 25 channels of Fourier expansion coefficients associated with an intensity signal measured by the detector 112. The recovery of the Mueller matrix elements encoded in Fourier expansion coefficients of an intensity signal measured by the detector 112 is described in Table 4. Again, it is contemplated herein that any combination of angular frequencies may be utilized and that selections of different angular frequencies may provide different number of channels. However, some configurations may beneficially prevent harmonic overlaps and/or may provide relatively more efficient coding.
It is to be understood, however, that the depiction of rotating quarter waveplates in
Referring generally to
Additionally, in
The herein described subject matter sometimes illustrates different components contained within, or connected with, other components. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures are merely exemplary, and that in fact many other architectures can be implemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense, any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality is effectively “associated” such that the desired functionality is achieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve a particular functionality can be seen as “associated with” each other such that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective of architectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components so associated can also be viewed as being “connected” or “coupled” to each other to achieve the desired functionality, and any two components capable of being so associated can also be viewed as being “couplable” to each other to achieve the desired functionality. Specific examples of couplable include but are not limited to physically interactable and/or physically interacting components and/or wirelessly interactable and/or wirelessly interacting components and/or logically interactable and/or logically interacting components.
It is believed that the present disclosure and many of its attendant advantages will be understood by the foregoing description, and it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction, and arrangement of the components without departing from the disclosed subject matter or without sacrificing all of its material advantages. The form described is merely explanatory, and it is the intention of the following claims to encompass and include such changes. Furthermore, it is to be understood that the invention is defined by the appended claims.
The present application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119 (e) of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 63/531,473, filed Aug. 8, 2023, entitled DUAL FREQUENCY COMB IMAGING SPECTROSCOPIC ELLIPSOMETER, naming Chao Chang, Jongjin Kim, and David Zimdars as inventors, which is incorporated herein by reference in the entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63531473 | Aug 2023 | US |