Infineon Technologies Ag

Siemens Aktiengesellschaft

Infineon Technologies Richmond, LP

Ulrich Mantz

Alexander Michaelis

Oliver Genz

Pierre-Yves Guittet

Venkatachalam C Jaiprakash

Thomas Hecht

Shoaib Hasan Zaidi

Stefan Jakschik

Uwe Wellhausen

Uwe Schröder

Eckhard Marx

Peter Weidner

Christopher Gould

Andreas Orth

Harald Bloess

Peter Reinig

Harald Bloeβ

Targets or test structures used for measurements in semiconductor devices having long lines exceeding design rule limitations are divided into segments. In one embodiment, the segments have periodicity in a direction parallel to the length of the lines. In another embodiment, the segments of test structures in adjacent lines do not have periodicity in a direction parallel to the length of the lines. The lack of periodicity is achieved by staggering segments of substantially equal lengths in adjacent lines, or by dividing the lines into segments having unequal lengths. The test structures may be formed in scribe line regions or die regions of a semiconductor wafer.

Targets for measurements in semiconductor devices

In order to measure a surface profile of a sample, an imprint of the surface profile to be examined is produced in a transfer material. The sample contains processed semiconductor material and is in particular a patterned semiconductor wafer or part of a patterned semiconductor wafer. The transfer material is deformable and curable under suitable ambient conditions. The transfer material may be a thermoplastic material or a material which is deformable as desired after application on a substrate and cures in one case by means of irradiation with photons having a suitable wavelength or alternatively heating. The transfer material may be configured in such a way that the imprint produced is the same size as or alternatively of smaller size than the surface profile. The imprint produced is subsequently measured by known methods.

Method and apparatus for measuring a surface profile of a sample

A method for the characterization of a film arranged in a plurality of regions on a substrate forms a respective optical measurement at each of a multiplicity of measurement sites in order to determine a respective measurement result, the measurement result being correlated with a film thickness on the substrate. Measurement results that satisfy a predetermined condition, which is satisfied for a measurement result that has been determined at a measurement site within one of the plurality of regions are selected. The film is characterized on the basis of the selected measurement results.

Method for the characterization of a film

The present invention relates to a method for the depth-resolved characterization of a layer of a carrier. This involves firstly producing a cutout in the layer of the carrier with a sidewall and subsequently removing carrier material adjoining the sidewall with the aid of an ion beam. During the removal process, images of the sidewall are recorded and material compositions of the removed carrier material are determined as well. A depth-resolved characterization of the layer of the carrier is carried out on the basis of a correlation of the determined material compositions of the removed carrier material with the recorded images of the sidewall, layer depths being assigned to the material compositions of the removed carrier material with the aid of the images of the sidewall. The invention furthermore relates to an apparatus for carrying out this method.

Method and apparatus for the depth-resolved characterization of a layer of a carrier

The present invention relates to a method for determining the depth of a buried structure in a semiconductor wafer. According to the invention, the layer behavior of the semiconductor wafer which is brought about by the buried structure when the semiconductor wafer is irradiated with electromagnetic radiation in the infrared range and arises as a result of the significantly longer wavelengths of the radiation used in comparison with the lateral dimensions of the buried structure is utilized to determine the depth of the buried structure by spectrometric and/or ellipsometric methods.

Method for determining the depth of a buried structure

The invention relates to a method for noninvasively characterizing embedded micropatterns which are hidden under the surface of a wafer down to 100 &#x3bc;m. The micropatterns are identified with reference micropatterns from a previously produced reference library with the aid of their specific ellipsometric parameters.

Noninvasive method for characterizing and identifying embedded micropatterns

An apparatus and method for measuring feature sizes having form birefringence. The method includes providing a surface having surface features thereon; radiating the surface features with light having a first wavelength and a first polarization; measuring a reflected polarization of light having the first wavelength reflected from the surface features; rotating the surface features by rotating the surface to measure the reflected polarization of the reflected light having the first wavelength at least one new rotated position; radiating the surface features with light having a second wavelength and the first polarization; measuring a reflected polarization of light having the second wavelength reflected from the surface features; rotating the surface features by rotating the surface to measure the reflected polarization of the reflected light having the second wavelength at least one new rotated position; and correlating the reflected polarization from the light having the first and second polarizations to surface feature sizes.

Optical measurement system and method

An in-situ method for measuring the endpoint of a resist recess etch process for DRAM trench cell capacitors to determine the buried plate depth on a semiconductor wafer thereof, including: placing an IR device on the etch chamber; illuminating the surface of a semiconductor wafer during etching to a resist recess depth with IR radiation from the IR device; detecting reflection spectra from the illuminated surface of the semiconductor wafer with an IR detector; performing a frequency analysis of the reflection spectra and providing a corresponding plurality of wave numbers in response thereto; and utilizing calculating device coupled to the IR detector to calculate the resist recess depth at the illuminated portion of the wafer from the plurality of wave numbers corresponding to the reflection spectra.

In-situ method for measuring the endpoint of a resist recess etch process

A system for measuring surface features having form birefringence in accordance with the present invention includes a radiation source for providing radiation incident on a surface having surface features. A radiation detecting device is provided for measuring characteristics of the incident radiation after being reflected from the surface features. A rotating stage rotates the surface such that incident light is directed at different angles due to the rotation of the rotating stage. A processor is included for processing the measured characteristics of the reflected light and correlating the characteristics to measure the surface features. A method for measuring feature sizes having form birefringence, in accordance with the present invention includes the steps of providing a surface having surface features thereon, radiating the surface features with light having a first polarization, measuring a reflected polarization of light reflected from the surface features, rotating the surface features by rotating the surface to measure the reflected polarization of the reflected light at least one new rotated position and correlating the reflected polarization to surface feature sizes.

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Dresden, Germany

Ulrich Mantz