Thin film thickness measuring method and apparatus, and method and apparatus for manufacturing a thin film device using the same
First Claim
1. A method of measuring thickness of a film formed on a specimen, comprising the steps of:
- placing a predetermined point of said specimen at a measuring position;
illuminating said predetermined point with light;
detecting light reflected from said predetermined point by the illumination;
determining from the detected light whether or not a thickness measurement of said film formed on said predetermined point is possible;
measuring the thickness of said film formed on said predetermined point of said specimen, when the thickness measurement is determined possible;
measuring a thickness of said film formed on a position around said predetermined point when the thickness measurement is determined impossible; and
outputting information of thickness distribution of said film formed on said specimen, wherein said position around said predetermined point is measured using information of a spectral distribution waveform of the reflected light from several points in the vicinity of said predetermined point.
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Abstract
This invention aims to measure film thickness and film thickness distribution to high precision in a wide range of transparent films. As one example, in a CMP process, the film thickness of an outermost surface layer formed on a step pattern of an actual product can be measured so that high precision film thickness control can be performed. To achieve an increase of processing throughput, the film thickness of an optically transparent film formed on an actual device pattern is controlled to high precision by incorporating a film thickness measuring unit, which performs frequency analysis of a spectral distribution, in a polishing apparatus. As a result, an increase of processing throughput is realized. To perform the high precision measurement, the frequency analysis is performed on the spectral distribution waveform of interference light from white light due to the film, and an absolute value of film thickness is computed from the relation of the phase of frequency components in the waveform and film thickness.
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Citations
10 Claims
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1. A method of measuring thickness of a film formed on a specimen, comprising the steps of:
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placing a predetermined point of said specimen at a measuring position;
illuminating said predetermined point with light;
detecting light reflected from said predetermined point by the illumination;
determining from the detected light whether or not a thickness measurement of said film formed on said predetermined point is possible;
measuring the thickness of said film formed on said predetermined point of said specimen, when the thickness measurement is determined possible;
measuring a thickness of said film formed on a position around said predetermined point when the thickness measurement is determined impossible; and
outputting information of thickness distribution of said film formed on said specimen, wherein said position around said predetermined point is measured using information of a spectral distribution waveform of the reflected light from several points in the vicinity of said predetermined point. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A method of measuring thickness of a film formed on a specimen, comprising the steps of:
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illuminating a measuring point on a specimen on which a pattern is formed and is covered with a film with light;
detecting light reflected from a surface of film formed on said specimen and light reflected from a surface of said pattern covered with said film;
determining from a spectral distribution waveform of the reflected light whether or not a thickness measurement of said film formed on said measuring point is possible;
searching for another measuring point by detecting light reflected from a point around said measuring point when said measuring point is determined impossible during the thickness measurement of said film;
measuring a thickness of said film formed on said another measuring point; and
outputting information of a thickness distribution of said film on said specimen. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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Specification