Kla Tencor Corporation

Kla Corporation

Kla-tencor Technologies Corporation

Containerless Research, Inc.

Kla Corporal

Shankar Krishnan

David Y Wang

Johannes D De Veer

Guorong Vera Zhuang

Andrei V Shchegrov

Kevin A Peterlinz

Noam Sapiens

Haiming Wang

Hidong Kwak

Leonid Poslavsky

Thaddeus Gerard Dziura

Klaus Flock

Stilian Pandev

Xuefeng Liu

Lawrence D Rotter

Lanhua Wei

Alexander Buettner

Kerstin Purrucker

Jun Wang

Shing Lee

Walter Dean Mieher

Gregory Brady

Walter H Johnson, Iii

Muzammil A Arain

Yang Zhou

Mikhail M Sushchik

John F Lesoine

Lansheng Dong

Haixing Zou

Hai-Yang You

Haijing Peng

Malik Sadiq

Catalin Filip

Chunxia Li

Changfei Yan

Rui Ni

Gary Janik

Daniel C Wack

Alexander Kuznetsov

Joshua Butler

Murali K Narasimhan

Jianou Shi

Torsten Rudolf Kaack

Derrick A Shaughnessy

Robert D Tas

Jonathan M Madsen

Liequan Lee

Dawei Hu

Kevin O'Brien

Paul Aoyagi

Paul C Nordine

Carlos L Ygartua

Prateek Jain

Mengmeng Ye

Giampietro Bieli

Jagadish Kalyanam

Walter H Johnson

Phillip Atkins

Daniel Scott Hampton

Yaolei Zheng

Fabio A Faccini

D Scott Hampton

James Rix

Christopher M Pohlhammer

Michael P Green

Alex Zheng

G Vera Zhuang

Haixing Zhou

David Lidsky

David C S Wu

Emily Chiu

Phillip R Atkins

Lie-Quan Rich Lee

David Wei-Chuan Wu

Noam Sapien

Kevin Pterlinz

The system includes a light source configured to emit light along an illumination path; a projection optical assembly disposed in the illumination path; a target disposed in the illumination path and configured to reflect the light along a collection path; a collection optical assembly disposed in the collection path; a detector disposed in the collection path and configured to detect the light reflected from the target and generate an output signal based on the detected light; and a processor in electronic communication with the detector and configured to generate a measurement of the target based on the output signal. The projection optical assembly defines a first numerical aperture at the target and the collection optical assembly defines a second numerical aperture at the target, and the first numerical aperture is slightly larger than the second numerical aperture for measurements of thick films and high aspect ratio structures.

Measurement of thick films and high aspect ratio structures

Methods and systems for performing spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements of semiconductor structures with reflective collection relay optics having demagnification from the spectrometer slit to the detector are presented herein. The demagnification effectively increases the NA at the detector and reduces the measurement spot size at the wafer imaged onto the detector. In this manner, the demagnification maintains high spectral resolution at the detector, particularly in the ultraviolet wavelength range, e.g., 120-400 nanometers, while maintaining a small collection NA at the wafer, e.g., collection NA less than 0.05. The small collection NA enables high fringe contrast, signal fidelity, and sensitivity, when measuring thick, multiple layer stacks, e.g., 200-300 layers.

Optics for measurement of thick films and high aspect ratio structures

A Cassegrain or quasi-Cassegrain structure objective lens is used in a polar MOKE metrology system. The quasi-Cassegrain reflective objective lens includes a primary concave mirror and a secondary mirror. The primary concave mirror has a wider diameter than the secondary mirror and defines an aperture through which the laser beam is configured to be transmitted toward the secondary mirror. The secondary mirror can be convex, concave, or have a flat surface.

Reflective compact lens for magneto-optic Kerr effect metrology system

A monolithic optical retarder formed from a monolithic prism may include an input face for receiving a light beam, an output face aligned with an optical axis of the light beam prior to entering the input face, and three or more reflection faces. The three or more reflection faces may be oriented to provide an optical path for the light beam from the input face to the output face via reflection by the three or more reflection faces, where the monolithic optical retarder imparts a selected optical retardation on the light beam based on total internal reflection on at least one of the reflection faces. Further, the input face, the output face, and the three or more reflection faces may be oriented such that an optical axis of the light beam exiting the output face is equal to the optical axis of the light beam entering the input face.

Monolithic optical retarder

A metrology system may receive a model for measuring one or more selected attributes of a target including features distributed in a selected pattern based on regression of spectroscopic scatterometry data from a scatterometry tool for a range of wavelengths. The metrology system may further generate a weighting function for the model to de-emphasize portions of the spectroscopic scatterometry data associated with wavelengths at which light captured by the scatterometry tool when measuring the target is predicted to include undesired diffraction orders. The metrology system may further direct the spectroscopic scatterometry tool to generate scatterometry data of one or more measurement targets including fabricated features distributed in the selected pattern. The metrology system may further measure the selected attributes for the one or more measurement targets based on regression of the scatterometry data of the one or more measurement targets to the model weighted by the weighting function.

Scatterometry modeling in the presence of undesired diffraction orders

A metrology system for characterizing a sample formed from a first wafer and a second wafer bonded at an interface with a metrology target near the interface may include a metrology tool and a controller. The metrology tool may include one or more illumination sources and an illumination sub-system to direct illumination from the one or more illumination sources to the metrology target, a detector, and a collection sub-system to collect light from the sample. The light collected from the sample may include light from the metrology target and light from a top surface of the first wafer, and the collection sub-system is may direct the light from the metrology target to the detector. The controller may execute program instructions causing the one or more processors to generate estimates of one or more parameters associated with the sample based on data received from the detector.

Overlay metrology on bonded wafers

A system includes a light source, a Fourier transform infrared reflectometer (FTIR) spectrometer, and broadband reflectometer optics. The system is configured to measure polarized light and unpolarized reflectivities in a wavelength range from 2 &#x3bc;m to 20 &#x3bc;m. The light source can be a laser-driven light source. The spectroscopic reflectometer can include a single channel or two channels.

Multi-environment polarized infrared reflectometer for semiconductor metrology

Methods and systems for performing high throughput spectroscopic measurements of semiconductor structures at mid-infrared wavelengths are presented herein. A Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometer includes one or more measurement channels spanning a wavelength range between 2.5 micrometers and 12 micrometers. The FTIR spectrometer measures a target at multiple different angles of incidence, azimuth angles, different wavelength ranges, different polarization states, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, illumination light is provided by a laser sustained plasma (LSP) light source to achieve high brightness and small illumination spot size. In some embodiments, FTIR measurements are performed off-axis from the direction normal to the surface of the wafer. In some embodiments, a Stirling cooler extracts heat from the detector of an FTIR spectrometer. In another aspect, measurements performed by one or more spectrometer measurement channels are combined with measurements performed by a mid-infrared FTIR spectrometer channel to characterize high aspect ratio structures.

Mid-infrared spectroscopy for measurement of high aspect ratio structures

Methods and systems for performing spectroscopic measurements of semiconductor structures including ultraviolet, visible, and infrared wavelengths greater than two micrometers are presented herein. A spectroscopic measurement system includes a combined illumination source including a first illumination source that generates ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared wavelengths (wavelengths less than two micrometers) and a second illumination source that generates mid infrared and long infrared wavelengths (wavelengths of two micrometers and greater). Furthermore, the spectroscopic measurement system includes one or more measurement channels spanning the range of illumination wavelengths employed to perform measurements of semiconductor structures. In some embodiments, the one or more measurement channels simultaneously measure the sample throughout the wavelength range. In some other embodiments, the one or more measurement channels sequentially measure the sample throughout the wavelength range.

Methods and systems for measurement of thick films and high aspect ratio structures

A metrology system may include one or more casings that fit within an interior cavity of a sample transport device, an illumination source within one of the one or more casings, one or more illumination optics within one of the one or more casings for directing illumination from the illumination source to a sample located in the interior cavity of the sample transport device, one or more collection optics within one of the one or more casings for light from the sample in response to the illumination from the illumination source, and one or more detectors within one of the one or more casings for generating metrology data based on at least a portion of the light collected by the one or more collection optics.

Sample transport device with integrated metrology

A laser beam is directed through a transmissive axicon telescope or a reflective axicon telescope such as in a magneto-optic Kerr effect metrology system. With the transmissive axicon telescope, a Gaussian beam profile is directed through a first axicon lens and a second axicon lens. The first axicon lens and second axicon lens transfer the Gaussian beam profile of the laser beam to a hollowed laser ring. The laser beam with a hollowed laser ring can be directed through a Schwarzschild reflective objective. With the reflective axicon telescope, the laser beam is directed through two conical mirrors that are fully reflective. One of the conical mirrors defines a central hole that the laser beam passes through.

Magneto-optic Kerr effect metrology systems

Methods and systems for evaluating the performance of multiple patterning processes are presented. Patterned structures are measured and one or more parameter values characterizing geometric errors induced by the multiple patterning process are determined. In some examples, a single patterned target and a multiple patterned target are measured, the collected data fit to a combined measurement model, and the value of a structural parameter indicative of a geometric error induced by the multiple patterning process is determined based on the fit. In some other examples, light having a diffraction order different from zero is collected and analyzed to determine the value of a structural parameter that is indicative of a geometric error induced by a multiple patterning process. In some embodiments, a single diffraction order different from zero is collected. In some examples, a metrology target is designed to enhance light diffracted at an order different from zero.

Measurement of multiple patterning parameters

Methods and systems for matching measurement spectra across one or more optical metrology systems are presented. The values of one or more system parameters used to determine the spectral response of a specimen to a measurement performed by a target metrology system are optimized. The system parameter values are optimized such that differences between measurement spectra generated by a reference system and the target system are minimized for measurements of the same metrology targets. Methods and systems for matching spectral errors across one or more optical metrology systems are also presented. A trusted metrology system measures the value of at least one specimen parameter to minimize model errors introduced by differing measurement conditions present at the time of measurement by the reference and target metrology systems. Methods and systems for parameter optimization based on low-order response surfaces are presented to reduce the compute time required to refine system calibration parameters.

Metrology system calibration refinement

Apparatus and methods for performing optically based film thickness measurements of highly absorbing films (e.g., high-K dielectric films) with improved measurement sensitivity are described herein. A highly absorbing film layer is fabricated on top of a highly reflective film stack. The highly reflective film stack includes one or more nominally identical sets of multiple layers of different, optically contrasting materials. The highly reflective film stack gives rise to optical resonance in particular wavelength ranges. The high reflectance at the interface of the highly absorbing film layer and the highly reflective film stack increases measured light intensity and measurement sensitivity. The thickness and optical dispersion of the different material layers of the highly reflective film stack are selected to induce optical resonance in a desired wavelength range. The desired wavelength range is selected to minimize absorption by the highly absorbing film under measurement.

Optical measurement of a highly absorbing film layer over highly reflective film stacks

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Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

Shankar Krishnan