Spectrometer measurement of diffracting structures

• US 7,372,565 B1
• Filed: 09/28/2006
• Issued: 05/13/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Onto Innovation Inc.
• Original Assignee: Nanometrics Incorporated (Onto Innovation Inc.)
• Inventors: Holden, James M., Rovira, Pablo I., Lowe-Webb, Roger R., McGahan, William A., Yarussi, Richard A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Tu T
• Application Number:
  US11/540,990
• Time in Patent Office: 593 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 356/327
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/21 Polarisation-affecting properties G01N21/19 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/4788 Diffraction for sizing particles G01N15/0205
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/4795 spatially resolved investigating of object in scattering medium in vivo A61B
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/956 Inspecting patterns on the surface of objects contactless testing of electronic circuits G01R31/308; testing currency G07D; manufacturing processes per se of semiconductor devices implementing a measuring step H01L22/10

Abstract

A normal incidence reflectometer includes a rotatable analyzer/polarizer for measurement of a diffracting structure. Relative rotation of the analyzer/polarizer with respect to the diffracting structure permits analysis of the diffracted radiation at multiple polarity orientations. A spectograph detects the intensity of the spectral components at different polarity orientations. Because the normal incidence reflectometer uses normally incident radiation and an analyzer/polarizer that rotates relative to the diffracting structure, or vice-versa, the orientation of the diffracting structure does not affect the accuracy of the measurement. Thus, the sample holding stage may use X, Y, and Z, as well as r-θ type movement and there is no requirement that the polarization orientation of the incident light be aligned with the grating of the diffraction structure. A non-linear multivariate regression process is used to adjust the parameters of an optical model, such as rigorous coupled-wave analysis, to provide a match with the measured data.

Claims

1. An apparatus for measuring at least one of height, pitch, sidewall angle, and linewidth of a diffracting structure on a sample, said apparatus comprising:

a metrology device that measures the reflectance of said diffracting structure and at least one underlying layer on said sample at approximately normal incidence, the metrology device comprising;

a broadband radiation source that produces radiation with a plurality of wavelengths;

a polarizing element, said radiation passing through said polarizing element toward said sample, said radiation being approximately normally incident on and diffracted by said diffracting structure and the at least one underlying layer on said sample, a zeroth order diffracted radiation passing through said polarizing element;

a detector that measures the reflectance of the zeroth order diffracted radiation;

and a computer system for analyzing said diffraction to determine said at least one of height, pitch, sidewall angle, and linewidth of said diffracting structure on said sample, said computer system comprising;

at least one computer coupled to said metrology device; and

a computer program executed by said at least one computer, wherein said computer program includes instructions for;

extracting spectral information from the measured reflectance of the zeroth order diffracted radiation;

constructing an optical model simulating said diffracting structure using at least one variable parameter of height, pitch, sidewall angle, and linewidth and a variable parameter of the at least one underlying layer;

calculating spectral information for said optical model; and

curve fitting said calculated spectral information to said extracted spectral information to determine said at least one of height, pitch, sidewall angle, and linewidth of said diffracting structure and the variable parameter of the at least one underlying layer on said sample;

wherein constructing an optical model, calculating spectral information for said optical model, and curve fitting are performed in real-time.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said metrology device measures the reflectance at a plurality of wavelengths and a plurality of orientations between the diffracting structure and the polarizing element, wherein said computer instructions for extracting spectral information from the measured reflectance of the zeroth order diffracted radiation comprise computer instructions for:

curve fitting said measured reflectance for said plurality of wavelengths and said plurality of orientations with;

R(Θ

)=A·

cos⁴(φ

−

Θ

)+B·

sin⁴(φ

−

Θ

)+C·

cos²(φ

−

Θ

)·

sin²(φ

−

Θ

)

where R(Θ

) is the measured reflectance at one wavelengths, Θ

is the polarization orientation of said polarizing element with respect to said diffracting structure, and φ

, A, B, and C are measurable to obtain said spectral information.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said metrology device measures the reflectance at a plurality of wavelengths and a plurality of polarization orientations, wherein said computer instructions for extracting spectral information from the measured reflectance of the zeroth order diffracted radiation comprise computer instructions for directly calculating said spectral information from said measured reflectance.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said computer instructions for curve fitting comprise computer instructions for:

comparing said extracted spectral information and said spectral information for said optical model;

adjusting said at least one variable parameter of said optical model;

recalculating spectral information for said optical model;

comparing said extracted spectral information and said recalculated spectral information for said optical model; and

repeatedly adjusting said at least one variable, recalculating spectral information for said optical model, and comparing said extracted spectral information and said recalculated spectral information for said optical model until an acceptable fit is achieved.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said computer instructions for constructing an optical model and calculating spectral information for said optical model comprise computer instructions for using rigorous coupled-wave analysis.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said computer instructions further comprise searching a library using the extracted spectral information to determine an estimate of at least one of height, pitch, sidewall angle, and linewidth of said diffracting structure on said sample prior to constructing an optical model, calculating spectral information for said optical model, and curve fitting.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein calculating spectral information for said optical model, and curve fitting is performed using a TE component of light.

8. A method of determining one or more of height, pitch, sidewall angle, and linewidth parameters of a diffracting structure on a sample, said method comprising:

producing broadband radiation;

directing said broadband radiation through a polarizing element towards said diffracting structure and at least one underlying layer at approximately normal incidence, said broadband radiation is diffracted by said diffracting structure and the at least one underlying layer to produce at least a zeroth order;

analyzing the diffracted radiation by passing the zeroth order through said polarizing element to produce a diffraction signal;

extracting spectral information from said diffraction signal;

constructing an optical model simulating said diffracting structure using one or more of variable height, pitch, sidewall angle, and linewidth parameters and a variable parameter of the at least one underlying layer;

calculating spectral information from said optical model;

curve fitting said extracted spectral information and said calculated spectral information and adjusting said one or more of variable height, pitch, sidewall angle, and linewidth parameters and the variable parameter of the at least one underlying layer to determine said one or more of height, pitch, sidewall angle, and linewidth parameters of said diffracting structure and the variable parameter of the at least one underlying layer on said sample;

wherein constructing an optical model, calculating spectral information for said optical model, and curve fitting are performed in real-time;

reporting the determined said one or more of height, pitch, sidewall angle, and linewidth parameters of said diffracting structure on said sample.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein curve fitting comprises:

comparing said extracted spectral information and said spectral information for said optical model;

adjusting said one or more of variable height, pitch, sidewall angle, and linewidth parameters and the variable parameter of the at least one underlying layer of said optical model;

recalculating spectral information for said optical model;

comparing said extracted spectral information and said recalculated spectral information for said optical model; and

repeatedly adjusting said one or more of variable height, pitch, sidewall angle, and linewidth parameters and the variable parameter of the at least one underlying layer, recalculating spectral information for said optical model, and comparing said extracted spectral information and said recalculated spectral information for said optical model until an acceptable fit is achieved.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein constructing an optical model and calculating spectral information for said optical model comprises using rigorous coupled-wave analysis.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising searching a library using the extracted spectral information to determine a rough estimation of at least one of height, pitch, sidewall angle, and linewidth of said diffracting structure on said sample prior to constructing an optical model, calculating spectral information for said optical model, and curve fitting.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein calculating spectral information for said optical model, and curve fitting is performed using a TE component of light.

13. A method of determining one or more of height, pitch, sidewall angle, and linewidth parameters of a diffracting structure on a sample, said method comprising:

producing broadband radiation;

directing said broadband radiation through a polarizing element towards said diffracting structure and at least one underlying layer at approximately normal incidence, said broadband radiation diffracting off said diffracting structure and the at least one underlying layer at a zeroth order;

analyzing the diffracted radiation by passing the zeroth order through said polarizing element to produce a diffraction signal;

extracting spectral information from said diffraction signal;

performing a real-time mathematical modeling analysis using non-linear regression with said extracted spectral information to determine a parameter of the at least one underlying layer while determining said one or more of height, pitch, sidewall angle, and linewidth parameters of said diffracting structure on said sample; and

reporting the determined said one or more of height, pitch, sidewall angle, and linewidth parameters of said diffracting structure on said sample.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising searching a library using the extracted spectral information to determine a rough estimation of at least one of height, pitch, sidewall angle, and linewidth of said diffracting structure on said sample prior to performing the real-time mathematical modeling analysis.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein performing the real-time mathematical modeling analysis uses only the TE component of light.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the real-time mathematical modeling analysis is rigorous coupled-wave analysis.

17. A method of determining at least one parameter of a diffracting structure on a sample, said method comprising:

generating polarized broadband light that is incident on a diffracting structure at approximately normal incidence;

analyzing the zeroth order diffracted light from the diffraction grating at a plurality of orientations between the analyzer and the diffraction grating;

generating a reflectance measurement for a plurality of wavelengths using the analyzed zeroth order diffracted light from the diffraction grating at a plurality of orientations to derive measured spectral information; and

searching a library to match the measured spectral information to determine the at least one parameter of the diffracting structure;

reporting the at least one parameter of the diffracting structure.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein searching a library to match the measured spectral information determines an estimate of the at least one parameter of the diffracting structure, the method further comprising improving the determination of the at least one parameter of the diffracting structure using the information derived from searching the library.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein improving the determination of the at least one parameter of the diffracting structure using the information derived from searching the library comprises:

performing a real-time mathematical modeling analysis using non-linear regression with the measured spectral information to increase the accuracy of the determination of the at least one parameter of the diffracting structure.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein performing the real-time mathematical modeling analysis uses only the TE component of light.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein analyzing the zeroth order diffracted light comprises passing the zeroth order diffracted light through a polarizer and detecting the intensity with respect to wavelength.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein generating a reflectance measurement for a plurality of wavelengths using the analyzed zeroth order diffracted light from the diffraction grating at a plurality of orientations comprises

curve fitting the reflectance measurement for said plurality of wavelengths and said plurality of orientations with:

R(Θ

)=A·

cos⁴(φ

−

Θ

)+B·

sin⁴(φ

−

Θ

)+C·

cos²(φ

−

Θ

)·

sin²(φ

−

Θ

)

where R(Θ

) is the reflectance measurement at one wavelengths, Θ

is the polarization orientation of said polarizing element with respect to said diffracting structure, and φ

, A, B, and C are measurable to obtain said spectral information.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein searching a library to match the measured spectral information is performed using both TE and TM components of light.

24. A method comprising:

generating polarized broadband light that is approximately normally incident on a diffracting structure and at least one underlying layer on a sample;

analyzing the zeroth order diffracted light from the diffraction grating and the at least one underlying layer;

detecting the intensity of the analyzed zeroth order diffracted light; and

determining a parameter of the at least one underlying layer while determining at least one of height, pitch, sidewall angle, and linewidth of the diffracting structure on a sample by using the detected intensity of the analyzed zeroth order diffracted light, searching a library and generating spectral information in accordance with;

R(Θ

)=A·

cos⁴(φ

−

Θ

)+B·

sin⁴(φ

−

Θ

)+C·

cos²(φ

−

Θ

)·

sin²(φ

−

Θ

)

where R(Θ

) is the reflectance measurement at one wavelengths, Θ

is the polarization orientation of said polarizing element with respect to said diffracting structure, and φ

, A, B, and C are measurable to obtain said spectral information;

reporting the determined at least one of height, pitch, sidewall angle, and linewidth of the diffracting structure on a sample.