Scanning electron microscope and sample observation method

• US 8,519,334 B2
• Filed: 04/20/2011
• Issued: 08/27/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi High-Tech Company Limited (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Inventors: Tadaka, Satoshi, Suzuki, Naomasa, Ban, Naoma, Kato, Tatsuichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Wells, Nikita
• Application Number:
  US13/639,999
• Publication Number:
  US 20130037716A1
• Time in Patent Office: 860 Days
• Field of Search: 250/310, 250/306, 250/307, 250/492.2, 250/492.3
• US Class Current: 250/310
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/2594 Measuring electric fields or potentials
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/281 Bottom of trenches or holes
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/2815 Depth profile
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/026 Means for avoiding or neutralising unwanted electrical charges on tube components
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/28 with scanning beams H01J37/268, H01J37/292, H01J37/2955 take precedence

Abstract

The present invention provides a contact hole observation technology for avoiding a situation in which it is difficult to observe a contact hole as a nonuniform charge is formed in the contact hole due to a tilted electron beam during a process for forming a preliminary charge on a sample. The present invention also provides a scanning electron microscope based on such a contact hole observation technology. During a preliminary charge process, an electron beam is allowed to become incident in a plurality of directions to perform a precharge, thereby reducing a region within the contact hole that is not irradiated with the electron beam. This reduces the number of secondary electrons that become lost on the wall surface of the contact hole, thereby making it possible to acquire information about the bottom of the contact hole. Further, the precharge is processed by dividing a precharge irradiation region into a plurality of ring-shaped regions concentric with an observation region and precharging each of the ring-shaped regions in a plurality of scanning directions.

Claims

1. A scanning electron microscope that scans a sample with a primary electron beam to precharge a region on the sample and detects secondary electrons or backscattered electrons obtained by scanning the precharged region on the sample with the primary electron beam, the scanning electron microscope comprising:

an electrooptical system that scans the sample with the primary electron beam and outputs a signal in accordance with the detected secondary electrons or backscattered electrons; and

a control section that controls the electrooptical system;

wherein the control section controls the electrooptical system so as to scan a precharge region during a precharge in a plurality of directions.

2. The scanning electron microscope according to claim 1, wherein the control section controls the electrooptical system so as to scan the precharge region with the primary electron beam in a plurality of directions that provide different angles of incidence.

3. The scanning electron microscope according to claim 1, wherein the control section two-dimensionally scans an X-Y plane with the primary electron beam and rotates the two-dimensionally scanned region in a plane around the center-of the precharge region.

4. The scanning electron microscope according to claim 1, wherein the direction of the primary electron beam scan performed during the precharge varies at predetermined time intervals.

5. The scanning electron microscope according to claim 1, further comprising:

a display screen that displays a GUI for defining the angle of incidence of the primary electron beam with respect to the sample or the aspect ratio of the sample.

6. A scanning electron microscope that scans a predetermined region on a sample with a primary electron beam to precharge the region and scans a region contained in the precharged region with the primary electron beam to acquire an image of the scanned region, the scanning electron microscope comprising:

an electrooptical system that scans the sample with the primary electron beam; and

a control section that controls the electrooptical system;

wherein the precharge is performed by defining a ring-shaped scanning region containing the predetermined region with respect to the predetermined region and irradiating the scanning region with the primary electron beam while reshaping the scanning region.

7. The scanning electron microscope according to claim 6, further comprising:

a display screen that displays a GUI capable of defining a period of time of charging the ring-shaped scanning region for each outside diameter of the ring-shaped scanning region.

8. The scanning electron microscope according to claim 6, further comprising:

a GUI that defines precharge process conditions;

wherein the GUI includes mode selection means for performing a precharge by using the ring-shaped scanning region.

9. The scanning electron microscope according to claim 6, wherein the control section controls the electrooptical system so as to perform a spiral scan with respect to the defined ring-shaped scanning region.

10. A scanning electron microscope that scans a sample with an electron beam to precharge a region on the sample and acquires an image by scanning a region contained in the precharged region with the electron beam, the scanning electron microscope comprising:

an electrooptical system that scans the sample with the electron beam; and

a control section that controls the electrooptical system;

wherein the control section exercises control so as to perform a scan by rotating a scanning line of the electron beam while the midpoint of the scanning line is in contact with a predetermined circumference.

11. A sample observation method comprising the steps of:

defining a region containing an observation region as a precharge irradiation region;

performing a first precharge by scanning a first ring-shaped region in a plurality of scanning directions, the first ring-shaped region being concentric with the observation region;

performing a second precharge by scanning a second'"'"'ring-shaped region in a plurality of scanning directions, the second ring-shaped region being concentric with the first ring-shaped region and different from the first ring-shaped region in outside diameter; and

observing the observation region, which is completely precharged by repeatedly performing the first precharge and the second precharge.