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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.:

US 11761880 B1

PDFFull Text
Date of Patent:
Sep. 19, 2023

Filed:

Aug. 05, 2019

Process-induced distortion prediction and feedforward and feedback correction of overlay errors

Applicant:

Kla-tencor Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);

Inventors:

Pradeep Vukkadala, Newark, CA (US);

Haiguang Chen, Mountain View, CA (US);

Jaydeep K. Sinha, Livermore, CA (US);

Sathish Veeraraghavan, Santa Clara, CA (US);

Assignee:

KLA Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);

Attorney:

Suiter Swantz pc llo

Primary Examiner:

Michael P Nghiem

Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01N 19/08 (2006.01); C23C 14/54 (2006.01); G01L 1/00 (2006.01); G01L 5/00 (2006.01); G03F 7/20 (2006.01); H01L 21/66 (2006.01); G03F 7/00 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G01N 19/08 (2013.01); C23C 14/54 (2013.01); G01L 1/00 (2013.01); G01L 5/0047 (2013.01); G03F 7/705 (2013.01); G03F 7/70633 (2013.01); G03F 7/70783 (2013.01); H01L 22/12 (2013.01); H01L 22/20 (2013.01);
Abstract

Systems and methods for prediction and measurement of overlay errors are disclosed. Process-induced overlay errors may be predicted or measured utilizing film force based computational mechanics models. More specifically, information with respect to the distribution of film force is provided to a finite element (FE) model to provide more accurate point-by-point predictions in cases where complex stress patterns are present. Enhanced prediction and measurement of wafer geometry induced overlay errors are also disclosed.

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