This invention is in the field of measurement techniques, and relates to design of test structure and technique for measurement parameters of patterned structures. The present invention is particularly useful for controlling semiconductor manufacturing process.
Line edge roughness (LER) and line width roughness (LWR) refer to the non-smoothness of edges of features printed using lithographical methods or features that have been transferred by different methods, e.g. etching, from such features. As the line width shrinks with advanced technology nodes the relative thickness of LER increases as it becomes a larger fraction of the total line width.
There are several methods for LER measurement, including e.g. SEM images (CD-SEM), AFM scans and various optical methods, e.g. angle-dependent spectral scatterometry, angle-dependent laser scatterometry, spectral ellipsometry, however all measurements suffer from the fact that LER effect has very small values and is stochastic by nature.
In accordance with present invention proposed are new test structure and a measurement method using such test structure that enable better measurement of LER regardless of the measurement tool used.
In order to understand the invention and to see how it may be carried out in practice, several different preferred embodiments will now be described, by way of non-limiting examples only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Proposed technique is based on a fact that lithography is a strongly non-linear process. When exposed to different doses of radiation the photoresist will generally react according to a threshold—it will transform into a chemical state that will later be removed by development depending on whether on not the local amount of radiation is above a certain threshold. This effect is indeed only a part of a more complicated process, involving, among others, also the activation effect of post-exposure-base, however it is still a dominant part of the dynamics of photolithography. If fact, this non-linear effect is usually amplified by resist manufacturers in order to allow smaller line widths to be printed without being affected too much by light scattering, residual fields due to interference etc.
It therefore is the case that around the line edge, where LER happens, there was initially a very strong gradient of the radiation field. Since the photoresist is composed of discrete molecules it is now up to the single molecule to “decide” whether it is above or below the exposure threshold. It would further reasonable to assume that there exists a certain range of “uncertainty” in the radiation field where different molecules will react differently based on other “thermo-dynamical” parameters or even based on quantum statistics. Hence, it would be reasonable to conclude that the amount of LER will depend monotonically on the gradient of the radiation field around the threshold level.
The present invention is based on the above conclusion by attempting to artificially create conditions that are likely to produce larger LER. The test structures considered below are designed in a way that reduces the gradient of the radiation field, hence creating a larger spatial range in which the conditions of the lithography are not strongly defined, i.e. are close to the threshold, allowing statistical and chaotic conditions to create a larger LER.
In order to create a small radiation field gradient, the idea is to use proximity effects, e.g. with sub-resolution features, as used in mask design. The typical situation is presented in
According to the above principles there are several possible designs of test structures that can be utilized in order to enhance the possibility to measure LER. Below are given several examples of using this principle.
(a) Line array—the test site in this case is a line array with alternating thickness of lines, as illustrated in
(b) By combining two test sites, one manufactured using a mask as in shown in
(c)
Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that various modifications and changes can be applied to the embodiments of the invention as hereinbefore exemplified without departing from its scope defined in and by the appended claims.
This application is a U.S. National Phase Application under 35 U.S.C. 371 of PCT International Application No. PCT/IL2009/000233 which has an international filing date of Mar. 1, 2009, and which claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/032,093, filed Feb. 28, 2008, all of which disclosures are hereby incorporated by reference.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/IL2009/000233 | 3/1/2009 | WO | 00 | 10/8/2010 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2009/107143 | 9/3/2009 | WO | A |
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Entry |
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Chengqing Wang, Ronald L. Jones, Eric K. Lin, Wen-li Wu, John S. Villarrubia, Kwang-Woo Choi, James S. Clarke, Bryan J. Rice, Michael J. Leeson, Jeanette Roberts, Robert Bristol, Benjamin Bunday, “Line edge roughness characterization of sub-50nm structures using CD-SAXS: round-robin benchmark results”, Proc. SPIE, Apr. 5, 2007, vol. 6518, 651810 (2007), SPIE, Bellingham WA, USA. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20110037988 A1 | Feb 2011 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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61032093 | Feb 2008 | US |