Apparatus and method for thick wafer measurement

• US 5,386,119 A
• Filed: 03/25/1993
• Issued: 01/31/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: ADE Corporation (KLA Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Hughes Aircraft Company (Rtx Corporation)
• Inventors: Ledger, Anthony
• Primary Examiner(s): FIELDS, CAROLYN
• Application Number:
  US08/037,069
• Time in Patent Office: 677 Days
• Field of Search: 250/341, 356/355
• US Class Current: 250/341.8
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 11/0675 using interferometry

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 (I_s (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.

Claims

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.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

for each area, sampling the magnitude of the signal burst at a plurality of selected spaced apart sample points in proximity to the detected discrete length; and

comparing the sampled magnitudes of the signal burst to signal magnitudes corresponding to similarly spaced apart samples of a plurality of known thickness semiconductor layers for matching one of the plurality of known layer thickness samples to the signal burst sample points for determining the thickness.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein, for each area, the step of comparing comprises the steps of:

comparing a plurality of groups of stored samples of known thickness layers to the signal burst sample points; and

finding a group of stored samples that more closely matches the signal burst sample points than any other group.

4. A method for determining thickness of a semiconductor layer, comprising the steps of:

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.

5. Apparatus comprising:

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.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the Michelson interferometer comprises:

a beamsplitter, responsive to the IR source signal, for providing a first reflected signal along an axis and for providing a transmitted signal along the variable optical path length axis;

a stationary mirror, responsive to the first reflected signal along the axis and to the reflection of the IR source from the semiconductor layer along the axis, for providing a second reflected signal along the axis;

a movable mirror, responsive to the transmitted signal along the variable optical path length axis and to the reflection of the IR source from the semiconductor layer along the variable optical path length axis, for providing a third reflected signal along the variable optical path length axis; and

wherein

the beamsplitter combines the second reflected signal along the axis and the third reflected signal along the variable optical path length axis, for providing the images of the IR signal at various lengths of the variable optical path length axis.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, further comprising lens means, responsive to the images of the IR signal at the various lengths of the optical path, for providing a collimated image signal to the first means.

8. The apparatus of claim 5, further comprising means for illuminating the plurality of areas at the same time.

9. The apparatus of claim 5, further comprising:

an aperture, responsive to the combined image of the IR source signal and its reflection, for passing a selected portion of the combined image;

a lens for focusing the selected portion of the combined image of the IR source signal and its reflection; and

an infrared camera for recording the focused portion of the combined image of the IR source and its reflection, the recorded image being provided to the second means.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising a frame grabber, responsive to the images recorded in the camera, for providing the recorded images to the second means.

11. The apparatus of claim 5, further comprising means for providing a signal having a magnitude indicative of the length of the variable optical path length, and wherein the second means is responsive to the length signal for correlating each length of the optical path to the combined image of the IR source signal and its reflection.

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:

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.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the actuator is responsive to a command signal for causing the variable optical path length of the Michelson interferometer to vary.

13. Apparatus for determining thickness of a semiconductor layer, comprising:

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.