System for in-situ film stack measurement during etching and etch control method
First Claim
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1. A method for monitoring and controlling plasma etching, the method comprising:
- a) loading a substrate into a plasma processing chamber, the substrate comprising a structure which comprises a first layer formed thereupon and a radiation-sensitive material layer formed on top of the first layer;
b) initiating a first plasma etch process in the plasma processing chamber, the first plasma etch process recipe being selected to selectively reduce the thickness of the radiation-sensitive material layer and laterally trim the radiation-sensitive material layer;
c) illuminating the structure on the substrate with an incident light beam, the reflection of the incident light beam from the structure forming a reflected light beam;
d) measuring a first intensity of the reflected light beam;
e) determining the etched thickness of the radiation-sensitive material layer from the measured first intensity of the reflected light beam during the first plasma etch process;
f) determining the amount of lateral recess of the first layer from a previously-established correlation of the amount of lateral recess of the first layer to the etched thickness of the radiation-sensitive material layer;
g) comparing the amount of lateral recess of the first layer to a desired lateral recess of the first layer, and stopping the first plasma etch process if the amount of lateral recess of the first layer is equal to or greater than the desired lateral recess of the first layer, otherwise repeating steps c) through g), thereby forming a trimmed radiation-sensitive material pattern;
h) initiating a second plasma etch process, the second plasma etch process recipe being selected to selectively etch the first layer so as to transfer the trimmed radiation-sensitive material pattern into the first layer;
i) illuminating the structure on the substrate with the incident light beam, the reflection of the incident light beam from the structure forming the reflected light beam;
j) measuring a second intensity of the reflected light beam;
k) determining an etched thickness of the first layer in a region not covered by the radiation-sensitive material layer, from the measured second intensity of the reflected light beam; and
l) comparing the etched thickness of the first layer to a desired etched thickness of the first layer, and stopping the second plasma etch process if the etched thickness of the first layer is greater than or equal to the desired etched thickness of the first layer, otherwise repeating steps j) through l), thereby forming a step in the first layer.
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Abstract
Disclosed is an in-situ optical monitor (ISOM) system and associated method for controlling plasma etching processes during the forming of stepped structures in semiconductor manufacturing. The in-situ optical monitor (ISOM) can be optionally configured for coupling to a surface-wave plasma source (SWP), for example a radial line slotted antenna (RLSA) plasma source. A method is described to correlate the lateral recess of the steps and the etched thickness of a photoresist layer for use with the in-situ optical monitor (ISOM) during control of plasma etching processes in the forming of stepped structures.
27 Citations
10 Claims
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1. A method for monitoring and controlling plasma etching, the method comprising:
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a) loading a substrate into a plasma processing chamber, the substrate comprising a structure which comprises a first layer formed thereupon and a radiation-sensitive material layer formed on top of the first layer; b) initiating a first plasma etch process in the plasma processing chamber, the first plasma etch process recipe being selected to selectively reduce the thickness of the radiation-sensitive material layer and laterally trim the radiation-sensitive material layer; c) illuminating the structure on the substrate with an incident light beam, the reflection of the incident light beam from the structure forming a reflected light beam; d) measuring a first intensity of the reflected light beam; e) determining the etched thickness of the radiation-sensitive material layer from the measured first intensity of the reflected light beam during the first plasma etch process; f) determining the amount of lateral recess of the first layer from a previously-established correlation of the amount of lateral recess of the first layer to the etched thickness of the radiation-sensitive material layer; g) comparing the amount of lateral recess of the first layer to a desired lateral recess of the first layer, and stopping the first plasma etch process if the amount of lateral recess of the first layer is equal to or greater than the desired lateral recess of the first layer, otherwise repeating steps c) through g), thereby forming a trimmed radiation-sensitive material pattern; h) initiating a second plasma etch process, the second plasma etch process recipe being selected to selectively etch the first layer so as to transfer the trimmed radiation-sensitive material pattern into the first layer; i) illuminating the structure on the substrate with the incident light beam, the reflection of the incident light beam from the structure forming the reflected light beam; j) measuring a second intensity of the reflected light beam; k) determining an etched thickness of the first layer in a region not covered by the radiation-sensitive material layer, from the measured second intensity of the reflected light beam; and l) comparing the etched thickness of the first layer to a desired etched thickness of the first layer, and stopping the second plasma etch process if the etched thickness of the first layer is greater than or equal to the desired etched thickness of the first layer, otherwise repeating steps j) through l), thereby forming a step in the first layer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for monitoring and controlling plasma etching, the method comprising:
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a) loading a substrate into a plasma processing chamber, the substrate comprising a structure which comprises a first layer formed thereupon and a radiation-sensitive material layer formed on top of the first layer; b) initiating a first plasma etch process in the plasma processing chamber, the first plasma etch process recipe being selected to selectively reduce the thickness of the radiation-sensitive material layer and laterally trim the radiation-sensitive material layer; c) illuminating the structure on the substrate with an incident light beam, the reflection of the incident light beam from the structure forming a reflected light beam; d) measuring a first intensity of the reflected light beam; e) determining the etched thickness of the radiation-sensitive material layer from the measured first intensity of the reflected light beam during the first plasma etch process; f) determining the amount of lateral recess of the first layer from a previously-established correlation of the amount of lateral recess of the first layer to the etched thickness of the radiation-sensitive material layer; g) comparing the amount of lateral recess of the first layer to a desired lateral recess of the first layer, and stopping the first plasma etch process if the amount of lateral recess of the first layer is equal to or greater than the desired lateral recess of the first layer, otherwise repeating steps c) through g), thereby forming a trimmed radiation-sensitive material pattern; h) initiating a second plasma etch process, the second plasma etch process recipe being selected to selectively etch the first layer so as to transfer the trimmed radiation-sensitive material pattern into the first layer; i) stopping the second plasma etch process after a predetermined time or after an etch endpoint signal is received from an optical emission spectroscopy (OES) device attached to the plasma processing chamber, thereby forming a step in the first layer. - View Dependent Claims (10)
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Specification