Apparatus and method for thick wafer measurement
First Claim
1. A method for determining thickness of a semiconductor layer, comprising the steps of:
- combining an input light image of an infrared source with an output reflected light image of the source from the semiconductor layer which input and output light images traverse a variable length image path; and
detecting, for each of a plurality of areas of a surface of the semiconductor, a signal burst in the combined input and output light images at a discrete length in the variable length image path corresponding to the thickness of the semiconductor layer.
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Abstract
The thickness of the entire surface of a thick semiconductor (94) layer on an insulator is determined all at once by dividing the surface into a plurality of pixels, by varying the length of a variable length optical path (110) in a Michelson interferometer (66) having an infrared source (62), illuminating the entire surface of the layer with an image of the IR source during the length variation operation, and by detecting (64) the product of the intensity (Is (z)) from the Michelson interferometer and the reflectivity R(t) of the layer as the path length is varied, such being indicative of the thickness of the layer, and by determining, for each pixel, which one of a plurality of groups of stored reflectance values, for a corresponding plurality of thicknesses, best matches the detected values, thereby providing a thickness map of the semiconductor layer.
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Citations
14 Claims
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1. A method for determining thickness of a semiconductor layer, comprising the steps of:
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combining an input light image of an infrared source with an output reflected light image of the source from the semiconductor layer which input and output light images traverse a variable length image path; and detecting, for each of a plurality of areas of a surface of the semiconductor, a signal burst in the combined input and output light images at a discrete length in the variable length image path corresponding to the thickness of the semiconductor layer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A method for determining thickness of a semiconductor layer, comprising the steps of:
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providing an image of an infrared light source to a beamsplitter in an interferometer having a stationary mirror and a movable mirror that is movable from a first point to a second point; moving the movable mirror from the first point to the second point; providing, as the movable mirror moves, an input light image of the source from the interferometer to surface boundaries of the semiconductor layer for reflection therefrom as reflected, output light; receiving, in response to the output light, as the movable mirror moves, images of the source reflected from the boundaries; determining the thickness of the semiconductor layer for each of a plurality of separate areas of the semiconductor layer according to a discrete position of the movable mirror corresponding to a detection of a signal burst in the reflected output light for each separate area.
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5. Apparatus comprising:
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an infrared (IR) source for providing an IR source signal; a Michelson interferometer having a variable optical path length, responsive to the IR source signal, for providing images of the IR source signal at various lengths of the optical path; first means, responsive to the images of the IR source signal, for combining, for each length of the optical path, the image of the IR source signal and a reflection thereof from a semiconductor layer; and second means, responsive for each length of the optical path to the combined image of the IR source signal and its reflection for each of a plurality of areas of the layer, for providing a layer thickness map signal indicative of the thickness of the layer for each of the plurality of areas. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of determining thickness of a semiconductor layer using a Michelson interferometer and an infrared source, said interferometer having a variable length optical path, comprising the steps of:
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varying the length of the variable length optical path; illuminating a plurality of areas of the semiconductor layer with an image of the infrared source during the varying of the length of the variable length optical path; forming a product of the image of the infrared source and its reflection from the semiconductor layer for each of a plurality of said areas; and determining a thickness map of the semiconductor layer by comparing the products for said areas to a priori values. - View Dependent Claims (14)
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13. Apparatus for determining thickness of a semiconductor layer, comprising:
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an infrared source; a Michelson interferometer, illuminated by the infrared source, for providing an image of the source, said interferometer having a variable length optical path; an actuator for varying the variable length optical path over a path length greater than the thickness of the semiconductor layer times its index of refraction; means for illuminating an entire surface of the semiconductor layer with an image of the infrared source during a period in which the length of the variable length optical path of the Michelson interferometer is being varied; and means for detecting a product of the image and a reflection of the image from the semiconductor layer, said product being indicative of a thickness of the semiconductor layer.
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Specification