The present application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. JP 2007-100029 filed on Apr. 6, 2007, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference into this application.
The present invention relates to a semiconductor wafer inspection apparatus using an electron beam, in particular, to a method and an apparatus enhancing accuracy of control of a charged state of a sample surface and a method and an apparatus for adjustment of an electron optical system using the same.
When inspecting a sample such as a semiconductor wafer using an electron beam inspection apparatus, a pattern shape image or an electrical defect image is obtained by controlling an accumulation amount of charges (hereinafter referred to as charging) to a pattern portion formed over a surface of the wafer. In particular, when the defect image is to be obtained, a contrast image (hereinafter referred to as a potential contrast image) caused by charged potential difference generated between a defect part and a normal part is required, and therefore, charge accumulation amount control (charging control) being uniform and having high accuracy is necessary. In order to perform charging control by electron beam irradiation, grounding of the wafer or voltage application to the wafer is necessary. However, if the wafer surface is covered with an insulation film such as an oxide, the insulation film is charged in excess if the grounding is insufficient, and distortion of the pattern shape image by charging and poor contrast of the potential contrast image are caused. Therefore, it is necessary to ground the wafer, and as a method thereof, a method of grounding the wafer by contacting a ground electrode to the wafer surface and preventing excess charging is conventionally known. For example, when the ground electrode is made to contact with the wafer surface, a contact resistance generated between the wafer covered with the insulation film and the ground electrode becomes a problem. However, there are a method of reducing a contact resistance value by carrying a constant current (surface activation current) between the ground electrode and the wafer as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-13049 (Patent Document 1), and an antistatic method in which an electron beam is irradiated to a portion to be unnecessary in the wafer surface, local charging is generated to cause breakdown at a peripheral edge portion of the wafer, grounding to a portion of the breakdown is made, and as a result, the contact resistance is reduced as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 3-194915 (Patent Document 2).
The wafer as an inspection sample varies in a type and a coverage amount of the insulation film according to a process thereof, and therefore, the contact resistance value has to be managed according to the type of the wafer. This is because a charging amount of the wafer surface is determined by a ratio between a resistance value of the wafer surface and the contact resistance value between the ground electrode and the wafer. In Patent document 1, it is described that the contact resistance value between the ground electrode and the wafer is preferable to be smaller than or equal to 20 MΩ. However, in actual inspection, as described above, the ratio between the resistance value of the wafer surface irradiated with the electron beam and the contact resistance value between the ground electrode and the wafer is important. In high speed inspection by a large current electron beam performed in the semiconductor wafer inspection apparatus addressed in the present invention, even if the contact resistance value is small, the charged state at the wafer surface changes depending on the resistance value of the wafer surface, and as a result, the distortion of the pattern shape image by charging and the poor contrast of the potential contrast image may occur. Thus, it is necessary to control an optical condition of an electron optical system and a voltage applied to a charging control electrode normally arranged immediately above the sample so that the charged state of an observation region becomes optimum according to the ratio between the resistance value of the wafer surface irradiated with the electron beam and the contact resistance value between the ground electrode and the wafer.
As described above, in the method disclosed in Patent Document 1, only the contact resistance value between the ground electrode and the wafer is managed, and therefore, control which is important in the actual inspection, that is, control of the resistance value between the ground electrode and the wafer according to the resistance value of the wafer surface including an inspection region having the pattern portion formed is not performed, and thereby, problems such as potential fluctuation at the wafer surface and non-uniform potential in the surface caused by variation in the surface resistance value and lack of reduction of the contact resistance value occur.
Also in the method disclosed in Patent Document 2, since a method of reducing the contact resistance by electron beam irradiation outside the inspecting region is employed, management of the contact resistance value obtained in comparison with the resistance value of the wafer surface is not performed in the same manner as Patent Document 1, and therefore, there are problems similar to those of Patent Document 1.
In order to solve the above problems, the present invention comprises a means for measuring a contact resistance value between the wafer and the ground electrode, a means for inputting wafer information related to the wafer surface resistance value, and a means (charging control electrode) for controlling the optical condition of the electron optical system and the charged state of the wafer surface by comparing the contact resistance value and the wafer surface resistance value, and thereby, an optimum inspection condition of the wafer can be determined easily, and the stable pattern shape image and the stable defect image of the wafer can be obtained.
According to the present invention, management of the resistance value between the wafer surface and the ground electrode and control of charging of the wafer surface by the management can be performed, and the stable pattern shape image and the stable defect image can be obtained.
The inspection apparatus using an electron beam is mainly composed of a sample chamber 102 keeping an electron optical system vacuum, and holding and moving a sample 101 such as a wafer, a control computer 103, an optical system control unit 104 and a power source unit 105. Here, a configuration of the electron optical system comprises an electron source 101, a condenser lens 102, a deflector 103 and an objective lens 104. Note that, although a representative electron optical system configuration is illustrated herein, the present invention is not limited thereto and other electron optical system can be used. The electron beam emitted from an electron source 106 passes through the condenser lens 107, is bent by the deflector 108 and is irradiated on the sample (mainly semiconductor wafer) 101 while being converged by the objective lens 109. An electron optical condition is controlled by the optical system control unit 104 and the power source unit 105. The sample 101 is grounded or has a voltage applied by a sample holder 110 also serving as a ground electrode. The sample holder 110 also serves as a holder for holding the sample 101 simultaneously. In the present embodiment, the sample holder 110 is grounded by a back surface of the sample, but may be grounded by a side surface or an upper surface. Furthermore, a charging control electrode 111 for controlling charging of the sample surface is provided over the upper surface of the sample.
Next, a configuration and a method of measuring the contact resistance value between the sample and the sample holder are described using
V1=I1×(R1+R2);
V2=I2×(R2+R3); and
V3=I3×(R3+R1).
By solving the above equations, the contact resistance values R1, R2 and R3 are independently obtained by the following equations:
R1=(V1/I1−V2/I2+V3/I3)/2;
R2=(V1/I1+V2/I2−V3/I3)/2; and
R3=(−V1/I1+V2/I2+V3/I3)/2.
As apparent from the above, in the present embodiment, the sample holders at three or more locations will suffice, and even if the sample holders of greater number are provided, the contact resistance value between the respective sample holders and the sample can be measured with a similar method.
And, by connecting all of the power sources and the ammeters described in the present embodiment to the control computer 103 of
Next, according to
First, in step 301, information (wafer information) for defining a wafer surface resistance value of the sample 101 to be inspected is inputted from the control computer 103. Items inputted here are a shape of a pattern formed at the surface of the sample 101, density of a pattern, a step name and the like, and information of the wafer surface resistance value estimated in advance based on this information is stored in the control computer 103. By comparing this information stored in advance and the inputted wafer information, the wafer surface resistance value to be inspected is defined. Next, in step 302, the sample 101 is loaded to the sample chamber 102, and in step 303, switching to a mode for measurement of the contact resistance is performed. In step 304, resistance values of the respective sample holders are measured with the method described in detail using
By using the present embodiment, the optical condition of the electron optical system and the application voltage to the charging control electrode necessary for the inspection can be set to a state optimum for the inspection depending on the wafer.
In the first embodiment, the method and the apparatus for setting the optimum inspection condition according to the ratio between the wafer surface resistance value and the contact resistance value is described in detail. However, the contact resistance value between the wafer and the sample holder sometimes becomes very large depending on a type of the wafer and a state of a contact surface. Therefore, there is a possibility that the optimum inspection condition cannot be obtained with optical conditions and application voltages to the charging control electrode prepared in advance. In this case, management and reduction of the contact resistance value are necessary. In the present embodiment, a method of management and reduction of the contact resistance value and an apparatus thereof are described in detail.
Contact resistance value=(V0−V1)/Ir.
A contact portion of the sample 414 can be switched by a switch 419, and the contact resistance value of each ground electrode can be measured. By measuring the absorption current and the sample voltage when the electron beam is irradiated, the contact resistance value between the wafer surface and the ground electrode 15 having an effect on actual inspection can be calculated.
By using the present embodiment, the contact resistance value from the wafer surface to the ground electrode which is important in the inspection can be managed and reduced.
The present invention can be utilized in an inspection apparatus using an electron beam.
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