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:
Dec. 26, 2017
Filed:
Apr. 03, 2015
Kla-tencor Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
Barak Bringoltz, Rishon LeTzion, IL;
Ofer Zaharan, Jerusalem, IL;
Amnon Manassen, Haifa, IL;
Nadav Carmel, Mevasseret-Zion, IL;
Victoria Naipak, Barak, IL;
Alexander Svizher, Haifa, IL;
Tzahi Grunzweig, Timrat, IL;
Daniel Kandel, Aseret, IL;
KLA-Tencor Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
Abstract
Methods and metrology modules and tools are provided, which minimize an estimated overlay variation measure at misalignment vector values obtained from a derived functional form of an overlay linear response to non-periodic effects. Provided methods further quantifying target noise due to the non-periodic effects using multiple repeated overlay measurements of the target cells, calculating an ensemble of overlay measurements between the cells over the multiple measurement repeats and expressing the target noise as a statistical derivative of the calculated overlay measurements. Sub-ensembles may be selected to further characterize the target noise. Various outputs include optimized scanning patterns, target noise metrics and recipe and target optimization.