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Method of inspecting planarity of wafer surface after etchback step in integrated circuit fabrication

  • US 5,420,796 A
  • Filed: 12/23/1993
  • Issued: 05/30/1995
  • Est. Priority Date: 12/23/1993
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A method of controlling an integrated circuit fabrication process, comprising the steps of:

  • (a) performing a first step of integrated circuit fabrication on a wafer comprising the step of;

    forming a first set of one or more material layers on said wafer; and

    (b) performing a second sequence of integrated circuit fabrication steps on said wafer comprising the steps of;

    scanning a predetermined area of said wafer'"'"'s surface with an atomic force microscope;

    gathering surface height data from the atomic force microscope representing height with respect to position;

    generating from the gathered surface height data at least one signal indicative of surface planarity;

    comparing the at least one signal with predefined planarity criteria to determine if said forming step produced a surface that meets said predefined planarity criteria,

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