Kla Corporation

Daniel James Haxton

John Josef Hench

Thaddeus Gerard Dziura

Houssam Chouaib

Dimitry Sanko

Boxue Chen

Christopher Liman

Inkyo Kim

Hyowon Park

Anderson Chou

Nakyoon Kim

Methods and systems for determining random variation in one or more structures on a specimen are provided. One method includes determining characteristic(s) of output generated by an output acquisition subsystem for structure(s) formed on a specimen and simulating the characteristic(s) of the output with initial parameter values for the structure(s). The method also includes determining parameter values of the structure(s) formed on the specimen as the initial parameter values that resulted in the simulated characteristic(s) that best match the determined characteristic(s). The determined parameter values are responsive to random variation in parameter(s) of the structure(s) on the specimen.

Optical and X-ray metrology methods for patterned semiconductor structures with randomness

Methods and systems for measuring physical properties of a specimen by iterative solution of an optimization function including both current and prior measurement information are described herein. In one aspect, a Maximum A Posteriori (MAP) estimation approach is employed to integrate prior measurement information with current measurement information in the optimization function. In some examples, prior measurement information associated with the measurement of a semiconductor structure is available from a number of exogenous sources. In a further aspect, prior measurement information includes current measurements of a semiconductor structure under measurement as part of a multiple pass measurement. Prior statistics are determined based on an initial set of values of parameters of interest. The prior statistics are included in a subsequent MAP analysis of the same measurement data set employed in a first measurement pass. In another aspect, prior statistics are tracked to determine their impact on current measurements.

Methods and systems for measurement of semiconductor structures with multi-pass statistical optimization

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Fremont, CA, United States of America

Daniel James Haxton