Kla-tencor Technologies Corporation

Kla Tencor Corporation

Kenneth Krzeczowski

Matthew Lent

Niles MacDonald

Mehran Naser-Ghodsi

Chris Huang

Sergey D Lopatin

Mehran Nasser-Ghodsi

Rudy Flores Garcia

Ming Lun Yu

Garrett Pickard

Stanislaw Marek Borowicz

Tzu-Chin Chuang

Ye Yang

Mathew H Lent

Structural modification using electron beam activated chemical etch (EBACE) is disclosed. A target or portion thereof may be exposed to a gas composition of a type that etches the target when the gas composition and/or target are exposed to an electron beam. By directing an electron beam toward the target in the vicinity of the gas composition, an interaction between the electron beam and the gas composition etches a portion of the target exposed to both the gas composition and the electron beam. Structural modifications of the target may be conducted by means of etching due to interaction between the electron beam and gas composition.

Structural modification using electron beam activated chemical etch

Etch selectivity enhancement during electron beam activated chemical etch (EBACE) is disclosed. A target or portion thereof may be exposed to a gas composition of a type that etches the target when the gas composition and/or target are exposed to an electron beam. By directing an electron beam toward the target in the vicinity of the gas composition, an interaction between the electron beam and the gas composition etches a portion of the target exposed to both the gas composition and the electron beam. Selectivity of etching of the target due to interaction between the electron beam and gas composition may be enhanced in a number of ways.

Etch selectivity enhancement in electron beam activated chemical etch

A method of imaging using an electron beam. An incident electron beam is focused onto the specimen surface, a scattered electron beam is extracted from the specimen surface, and a plurality of dark field signals are detected using a detection system. An interpolated dark field signal is generated using the plurality of dark field signals. In addition, a bright field signal may be detected using the detection system, and a final interpolated signal may be generated using the interpolated dark field signal and the bright field signal. User input may be received which determines a degree of interpolation between two adjacent dark field signals so as to generate the interpolated dark field signal and which determines an amount of interpolation between the interpolated dark field signal and the bright field signal so as to generate a final interpolated signal. Other embodiments, aspects and features are also disclosed.

Apparatus and method for e-beam dark imaging with perspective control

Methods and apparatus for imaging a structure and a related processor-readable medium are disclosed. A surface of a substrate (or a portion thereof) is exposed to a gas composition. The gas composition includes one or more components that etch the substrate upon activation by interaction with a beam of electrons. A beam of electrons is directed to one or more portions of the surface of the substrate that are exposed to the gas composition to etch the one or more portions. A plurality of images is obtained of the one or more portions at different instances of time as the one or more portions are etched. A three-dimensional model of one or more structures embedded within the one or more portions of the substrate is generated from the plurality of images.

Three-dimensional imaging using electron beam activated chemical etch

A method for improving throughput in review of images from a charged particle beam microscopy tool and a charged particle beam microscopy tool are disclosed.

Charged particle microscopy using super resolution

One embodiment relates to a method of behind-the-lens dark-field imaging using a scanning electron microscope apparatus. An incident beam is focused onto a specimen surface using an immersion objective lens, and the incident beam is deflected so as to scan the incident electron beam over a field of view of the specimen surface. A secondary electron beam is detected using a segmented detector to obtain a set of pixel data for each segment of the detector. Scan-dependent movement of the secondary electron beam over the segmented detector is compensated for by processing using a dynamic centering algorithm to generate a set of virtual pixel data for each segment of a virtual detector. At least one set of the virtual pixel data is used to generate a dark field image. Other embodiments, aspects, and features are also disclosed.

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Scotts Valley, CA, United States of America

Kenneth Krzeczowski