Method and apparatus to determine a patterning process parameter using an asymmetric optical characteristic distribution portion
First Claim
1. A method of determining a parameter of a patterning process, the method comprising:
- obtaining a representation of radiation, redirected by a structure having geometric symmetry at a nominal physical configuration, detected by an optical measurement machine with respect to a pupil of the optical measurement machine, wherein the detected representation of the radiation was obtained by illuminating a substrate with a radiation beam such that a beam spot on the substrate was filled with the structure and the detected representation of the radiation comprises a symmetric optical characteristic distribution portion and an asymmetric optical characteristic distribution portion; and
determining, by a hardware computer system, a value of the patterning process parameter based on optical characteristic values from the asymmetric optical characteristic distribution portion of the detected radiation representation with higher weight than that of another portion of the detected radiation representation, the asymmetric optical characteristic distribution portion arising from a different physical configuration of the structure than the nominal physical configuration.
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Abstract
A method of determining a parameter of a patterning process, the method including: obtaining a detected representation of radiation redirected by a structure having geometric symmetry at a nominal physical configuration, wherein the detected representation of the radiation was obtained by illuminating a substrate with a radiation beam such that a beam spot on the substrate was filled with the structure; and determining, by a hardware computer system, a value of the patterning process parameter based on optical characteristic values from an asymmetric optical characteristic distribution portion of the detected radiation representation with higher weight than another portion of the detected radiation representation, the asymmetric optical characteristic distribution arising from a different physical configuration of the structure than the nominal physical configuration.
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Citations
29 Claims
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1. A method of determining a parameter of a patterning process, the method comprising:
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obtaining a representation of radiation, redirected by a structure having geometric symmetry at a nominal physical configuration, detected by an optical measurement machine with respect to a pupil of the optical measurement machine, wherein the detected representation of the radiation was obtained by illuminating a substrate with a radiation beam such that a beam spot on the substrate was filled with the structure and the detected representation of the radiation comprises a symmetric optical characteristic distribution portion and an asymmetric optical characteristic distribution portion; and determining, by a hardware computer system, a value of the patterning process parameter based on optical characteristic values from the asymmetric optical characteristic distribution portion of the detected radiation representation with higher weight than that of another portion of the detected radiation representation, the asymmetric optical characteristic distribution portion arising from a different physical configuration of the structure than the nominal physical configuration. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A computer program product comprising a computer non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions recorded thereon, the instructions, when executed by a computer system, configured to cause the computer system to at least:
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obtain a representation of radiation, redirected by a structure having geometric symmetry at a nominal physical configuration, detected by an optical measurement machine with respect to a pupil of the optical measurement machine, wherein the detected representation of the radiation was obtained by illuminating a substrate with a radiation beam such that a beam spot on the substrate was filled with the structure and the detected representation of the radiation comprises a symmetric optical characteristic distribution portion and an asymmetric optical characteristic distribution portion; and determine a value of the patterning process parameter based on optical characteristic values from the asymmetric optical characteristic distribution portion of the detected radiation representation with higher weight than that of another portion of the detected radiation representation, the asymmetric optical characteristic distribution portion arising from a different physical configuration of the structure than the nominal physical configuration. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method of determining a patterning process parameter of a patterning process, the method comprising:
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obtaining a representation of radiation, redirected by a structure having geometric symmetry at a nominal physical configuration, detected by an optical measurement machine, wherein the detected representation of the radiation was obtained by illuminating a substrate with a radiation beam such that a beam spot on the substrate was filled with the structure and the detected representation of the radiation comprises a symmetric optical characteristic distribution portion and an asymmetric optical characteristic distribution portion; and determining, by a hardware computer system, a value of the patterning process parameter based on optical characteristic values from the asymmetric optical characteristic distribution portion of the detected radiation representation with different weight than that of another portion of the detected radiation representation, wherein the asymmetric optical characteristic distribution portion arises from a different physical configuration of the structure than the nominal physical configuration and the value of the patterning process parameter is determined using a summation for a plurality of pixels of the detected radiation representation of an optical characteristic value for each pixel multiplied by an associated weighting for that pixel. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21)
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22. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions recorded thereon, the instructions, when executed by a computer system, configured to cause the computer system to at least:
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obtain a representation of radiation, redirected by a structure having geometric symmetry at a nominal physical configuration, detected by an optical measurement machine, wherein the detected representation of the radiation was obtained by illuminating a substrate with a radiation beam such that a beam spot on the substrate was filled with the structure and the detected representation of the radiation comprises a symmetric optical characteristic distribution portion and an asymmetric optical characteristic distribution portion; and determine a value of the patterning process parameter based on optical characteristic values from the asymmetric optical characteristic distribution portion of the detected radiation representation with different weight than that of another portion of the detected radiation representation, wherein the asymmetric optical characteristic distribution portion arises from a different physical configuration of the structure than the nominal physical configuration and the value of the patterning process parameter is determined using a summation for a plurality of pixels of the detected radiation representation of an optical characteristic value for each pixel multiplied by an associated weight for the pixel. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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Specification