Kla Tencor Corporation

Kla Corporation

Kla-tencor Technologies Corporation

Dieter Mueller

Daniel Ivanov Kavaldjiev

Prasanna Dighe

George J Kren

Rainer Schierle

Ady Levy

Mark Davis Smith

Pradeep Vukkadala

Cedric Affentauschegg

Kyle A Brown

Shouhong Tang

David Reese Peale

Brian L Haas

Alexander Buettner

Jason Saito

Dengpeng Chen

Xiaomeng Shen

Steve Zamek

Dong Chen

Brian Haas

A controller is configured to perform at least a first characterization process prior to at least one discrete backside film deposition process on a semiconductor wafer; perform at least an additional characterization process following the at least one discrete backside film deposition process; determine at least one of a film force or one or more in-plane displacements for at least one discrete backside film deposited on the semiconductor wafer via the at least one discrete backside film deposition process based on the at least the first characterization process and the at least the additional characterization process; and provide at least one of the film force or the one or more in-plane displacements to at least one process tool via at least one of a feed forward loop or a feedback loop to improve performance of one or more fabrication processes.

Process-induced displacement characterization during semiconductor production

A system for analyzing a sample includes an illumination source with a plurality of transmitting optical fibers optically coupled to the illumination source and a detector with a plurality of receiving optical fibers optically coupled to the detector. The system further includes a plurality of probes coupled to respective ones of the plurality of transmitting optical fibers and respective ones of the plurality of receiving optical fibers. The plurality of probes are configured to illuminate respective portions of a surface of the sample and configured to receive illumination reflected, refracted, or radiated from the respective portions of the surface of the sample. The system may further include one or more switches and/or splitters configured to optically couple respective ones of the plurality of transmitting optical fibers to the illumination source and/or configured to optically couple respective ones of the plurality of receiving optical fibers to the detector.

Multi-spot analysis system with multiple optical probes

A method of using removable opaque coating for accurate optical topography measurements on top surfaces of transparent films includes: depositing a highly reflective coating onto a top surface of a wafer, measuring topography on the highly reflective coating, and removing the highly reflective coating from the wafer. The highly reflective coating includes an organic material. The highly reflective coating comprises a refractive index value between one and two. The highly reflective coating comprises a complex wavelength greater than one at six-hundred and thirty-five nanometers. The highly reflective coating reflects at least twenty percent of incident light. The highly reflective coating when deposited maintains an underlayer pattern topography at a resolution of forty by forty micrometers. The highly reflective coating does not cause destructive stress to the wafer.

Removable opaque coating for accurate optical topography measurements on top surfaces of transparent films

A system for inspecting specimens such as semiconductor wafers is provided. The system provides scanning of dual-sided specimens using a diffraction grating that widens and passes nth order (n&#x3e;0) wave fronts to the specimen surface and a reflective surface for each channel of the light beam. Two channels and two reflective surfaces are preferably employed, and the wavefronts are combined using a second diffraction grating and passed to a camera system having a desired aspect ratio. The system preferably comprises a damping arrangement which filters unwanted acoustic and seismic vibration, including an optics arrangement which scans a first portion of the specimen and a translation or rotation arrangement for translating or rotating the specimen to a position where the optics arrangement can scan the remaining portion(s) of the specimen. The system further includes means for stitching scans together, providing for smaller and less expensive optical elements.

Grazing and normal incidence interferometer having common reference surface

An interferometer system and method may be used to measure substrate thickness or shape. The system may include two spaced apart reference flats having that form an optical cavity between two parallel reference surfaces. A substrate holder may be configured to place the substrate in the cavity with first and second substrate surfaces substantially parallel with corresponding first and second reference surfaces such that a space between the first or second substrate surface is three millimeters or less from a corresponding one of the reference surfaces or a damping surface. Interferometer devices may be located on diametrically opposite sides of the cavity and optically coupled thereto. The interferometers can map variations in spacing between the substrate surfaces and the reference surfaces, respectively, through interference of light optically coupled to and from to the cavity via the interferometer devices.

Method and apparatus for measuring shape or thickness information of a substrate

A system and method for in-line inspection of specimens such as semiconductor wafers is provided. The system provides scanning of sections of specimens having predetermined standardized characteristics using a diffraction grating that widens and passes nth order (n&#x3e;0) wave fronts to the specimen surface and a reflective surface for the transmitted light beam. Light energy is transmitted in a narrow swath across the portion of the surface having the standardized features. The wavefronts are combined using a second diffraction grating and passed to a camera system having a desired aspect ratio.

Copper CMP flatness monitor using grazing incidence interferometry

Runout characterization is performed on a moving body by positioning a light source and optical sensor at a nominal distance from the moving body, with a beam directed from the light source against a surface of the moving body. The reflected light is detected at a sampling rate with the optical sensor as the moving body moves, and a data stream of the measurements over time is stored. In the case where an interferometer is used as the optical sensor, relative distance measurements are made. The data stream is analyzed to detect repeating signatures in the data stream, where the signatures represent features on the surface of the moving body. At least one of the features is selected as a reference, and the data stream is processed into segments based on the reference, where each segment represents one period of motion of the moving body. The data segments are overlaid on top of each other to produce ordered sets of data points within the segments. Each ordered set of data points is individually averaged and reported as repeatable runout. The average of each ordered set of data points is subtracted from the data points of each set to produce normalized ordered sets of data points. The variances within the normalized ordered sets of data points are reported as a measure of the non-repeatable runout of the moving body.

Runout characterization

Reduced coherence symmetric grazing incidence differential interferometer

A system and method for in-line inspection of specimens such as semiconductor wafers is provided. The system provides scanning of sections of specimens having predetermined standardized characteristics using a diffraction grating that widens and passes nth order (n>0) wave fronts to the specimen surface and a reflective surface for the transmitted light beam. Light energy is transmitted in a narrow swath across the portion of the surface having the standardized features. The wavefronts are combined using a second diffraction grating and passed to a camera system having a desired aspect ratio.

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Cupertino, CA, United States of America

Dieter Mueller