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:
Jun. 26, 2007
Filed:
Mar. 01, 2005
Ramkumar Subramanian, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Calvin T. Gabriel, Cupertino, CA (US);
Bhanwar Singh, Morgan Hill, CA (US);
Ramkumar Subramanian, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Calvin T. Gabriel, Cupertino, CA (US);
Bhanwar Singh, Morgan Hill, CA (US);
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Austin, TX (US);
Abstract
Systems and methods are described that facilitate verifying that bottom apertures in tapered vias are open and free of obstruction. Scatterometry can be employed to monitor tapered via formation during and/or after a dry etch process on a photoresist bilayer. Information regarding critical dimensions at the bottoms of tapered vias can be analyzed to assess whether bottom apertures exhibit a minimum acceptable diameter that is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold tolerance. Via apertures with dimensions below the threshold tolerance and/or regions of a wafer evincing unacceptable frequent occurrences of faulty via apertures are considered occluded, or suspect, and a corrective re-etch can be performed thereon.