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:
Nov. 04, 2014
Filed:
Feb. 19, 2013
Kla-tencor Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
Jonathan M. Madsen, Los Altos, CA (US);
Andrei V. Shchegrov, Campbell, CA (US);
Michael Bakeman, San Jose, CA (US);
Thaddeus Gerard Dziura, San Jose, CA (US);
Alexander Kuznetsov, Mountain View, CA (US);
Bin-Ming (Benjamin) Tsai, Saratoga, CA (US);
KLA-Tencor Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
Abstract
Methods and systems for enhancing metrology sensitivity to particular parameters of interest are presented. Field enhancement elements (FEEs) are constructed as part of a specimen to enhance the measurement sensitivity of structures of interest present on the specimen. The design of the FEEs takes into account measurement goals and manufacturing design rules to make target fabrication compatible with the overall device fabrication process. Measurement of opaque materials, high-aspect ratio structures, structures with low-sensitivity, or mutually correlated parameters is enhanced by the addition of FEEs. Exemplary measurements include critical dimension, film thickness, film composition, and optical scatterometry overlay. In some examples, a target element includes different FEEs to improve the measurement of different structures of interest. In other examples, different target elements include different FEEs. In some other examples, field enhancement elements are shaped to concentrate an electric field in a thin film deposited over the FEE.