Nanometrology And Super-Resolution Imaging Of Oxide Isolation Structures Using A Confocal Scanning Laser Microscope

Kevin M. Monahan; James Chen

doi:10.1117/12.968365

1 January 1988 Nanometrology And Super-Resolution Imaging Of Oxide Isolation Structures Using A Confocal Scanning Laser Microscope

Kevin M. Monahan, James Chen

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 0921, Integrated Circuit Metrology, Inspection, and Process Control II; (1988) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.968365
Event: Santa Clara Symposium on Microlithography, 1988, Santa Clara, CA, United States

Abstract

A confocal scanning laser microscope (CSLM) has been used to study a variety of oxide isolation techniques including the LOCOS, S-LOCOS, SWAMI, and M-SWAMI structures. The focal plane sensitivity of the confocal microscope was used to deconvolve effects due to refraction, reflection, and interference of 488nm light propagating in these structures. Elementary optical theory due to Fraunhofer and Fizeau was used to rationalize the data and to permit correlation with physical profiles in both the lateral and vertical directions. We found that considerable enhancement of the instrumental precision could be obtained by adjusting the CSLM to operate at 8000X or greater magnification and by using a saturation threshold technique to acquire focal plane data. The signal-to-noise limited measurement capablity of the system appears to be about 0.07μm with standard deviations of 10%. The standard error of the mean over 49 linescan measurements is about one nanometer.

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Kevin M. Monahan and James Chen "Nanometrology And Super-Resolution Imaging Of Oxide Isolation Structures Using A Confocal Scanning Laser Microscope", Proc. SPIE 0921, Integrated Circuit Metrology, Inspection, and Process Control II, (1 January 1988); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.968365

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