METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MONITORING AN ETCH PROCESS

• US 20120291952A1
• Filed: 08/02/2012
• Published: 11/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: John M. Yamartino, Lei Lian, Matthew Fenton Davis
• Original Assignee: John M. Yamartino, Lei Lian, Matthew Fenton Davis
• Inventors: Davis, Matthew Fenton, Yamartino, John M., Lian, Lei
• Application Number:
  US13/564,963
• Publication Number:
  US 20120291952A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 156/345.25
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70625 Dimensions, e.g. line width, critical dimension [CD], profile, sidewall angle or edge roughness
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32935 Monitoring and controlling tubes by information coming from the object and/or discharge
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32963 End-point detection
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/31116 by dry-etching
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/31138 by dry-etching
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/31144 using masks
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 22/20 Sequence of activities consisting of a plurality of measurements, corrections, marking or sorting steps
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/00 Indexing scheme for arrangements or methods for connecting or disconnecting semiconductor or solid-state bodies as covered by H01L24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/0002 Not covered by any one of groups H01L24/00, H01L24/00 and H01L2224/00

Abstract

A method and apparatus for monitoring an etch process. The etch process may be monitored using measurement information (e.g., critical dimensions (CD), layer thickness, and the like) provided ex-situ with respect to the etch process in combination with in-situ monitoring (e.g., spectroscopy, interferometry, scatterometry, reflectometry, and the like) performed during the etch process. The ex-situ measurement information in combination with the in-situ monitoring may be used to monitor for example, an endpoint of an etch process, an etch depth profile of a feature formed on a substrate, fault detection of an integrated circuit manufacturing process, and the like.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring an etch process, comprising:

at least one reactor to perform an etch process;

at least one metrology module to provide pre-etch measurement information to the at least one etch reactor; and

at least one substrate robot, wherein the at least one reactor comprises an etch process measuring module for monitoring an etch process endpoint in the etch reactor.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one etch reactor is a plasma reactor.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one metrology module uses a non-destructive optical measuring technique.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the etch process measuring tool uses an interferometric measuring technique.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the etch process measuring tool further comprises:

a source of a radiation to illuminate a region on the substrate; and

an interferometer.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the source of radiation provides radiation substantially perpendicular to the substrate.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the source of radiation provides radiation at wavelengths in a range from about 200 to 800 nm.

8. The system of claim 5 wherein the source of radiation modulates an intensity of the radiation at a frequency of about 10 Hz.

9. An in-situ metrology tool, comprising:

at least one plasma reactor to perform wafer processing;

at least one measurement module, coupled to the at least plasma reactor, for measuring at least one of a thickness of a layer on a substrate and a critical dimension; and

at least one plasma state monitoring module, coupled to the at least one plasma reactor, for monitoring a plasma state within the at least one plasma reactor.

10. The tool of claim 9 wherein the thickness measurement module uses an interferometric measuring technique.

11. The tool of claim 9 wherein the critical dimension measurement module uses a non-destructive optical measuring technique.

12. The tool of claim 9 wherein the plasma state monitoring module usages an optical electromagnetic emission measuring technique.

13. The tool of claim 9 wherein the plasma reactor is a plasma etch reactor.

14. A method of processing data collected by an in-situ metrology tool of a semiconductor wafer processing system, comprising:

examining data representing signal intensity versus time as collected by the in-situ metrology tool; and

selecting, based on the data, a time window for performing a Discrete Fourier Transformation upon at least one portion of the data.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

if the data representing signal intensity versus time indicate decreasing peak to peak periods, reduce the time window; and

if the data representing signal intensity versus time data indicate increasing peak to peak periods, increase the time window.