The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 19, 2020
Filed:
Mar. 28, 2018
Imec Vzw, Leuven, BE;
Christopher Ausschnitt, Heverlee, BE;
Vincent Truffert, Woluwe Saint Pierre, BE;
IMEC VZW, Leuven, BE;
Abstract
A method and apparatus is disclosed for monitoring critical dimensions in a pattern of 1-dimensional and/or 2-dimensional features, produced on a substrate in a process step that is part of or related to a manufacturing process for producing a semiconductor device, the process step being performed in accordance with a predefined pattern design, wherein one or more metrology targets () are added to the pattern design. The targets comprise one or more versions of an asymmetric metrology mark, each version of the mark comprising a uniform portion () and a periodic portion (), the latter comprising a regular array of parallel line-shaped features or an array of 2-dimensional features. The design width of the features is situated in a range situated around a nominal design width w. A position-related parameter S is defined that is essentially proportional to the design widths in the range. Determination of the shift δS of the S parameter with respect to a pre-defined process operating point, allows to assess the critical dimension of the features produced by the process step.