CD-AFM reference metrology at NIST and SEMATECH

Ronald Dixson; Joseph Fu; Ndubuisi Orji; William Guthrie; Richard Allen; Michael Cresswell

doi:10.1117/12.601972

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10 May 2005 CD-AFM reference metrology at NIST and SEMATECH

Ronald Dixson, Joseph Fu, Ndubuisi Orji, William Guthrie, Richard Allen, Michael Cresswell

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Proceedings Volume 5752, Metrology, Inspection, and Process Control for Microlithography XIX; (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.601972
Event: Microlithography 2005, 2005, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and SEMATECH have been working together to improve the traceability of critical dimension atomic force microscope (CD-AFM) dimensional metrology in semiconductor manufacturing. A major component of this collaboration has been the implementation of a Reference Measurement System (RMS) at SEMATECH using a current generation CD-AFM. An earlier tool, originally used at SEMATECH, has now been installed at NIST. Uncertainty budgets were developed for pitch, height, and CD measurements using both tools. At present, the standard uncertainties are approximately 0.2 % for pitch measurements and 0.4% for step height measurements. Prior to the current work, CD AFM linewidth measurements were limited to a standard uncertainty of about 5 nm. However, this limit can now be significantly reduced. This reduction results from the completion of the NIST/SEMATECH collaboration on the development of single crystal critical dimension reference materials (SCDDRM). A new generation of these reference materials was released to SEMATECH Member Companies during late 2004. The SEMATECH RMS was used to measure the linewidths of selected features on the distributed specimens. To reduce the uncertainty in tip width calibration, a separate transfer experiment was performed in which samples were measured by CD-AFM and then sent for high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). In this manner, CD-AFM could be used to transfer the HRTEM width information to the distributed samples. Consequently, we are now able to reduce the limit on the standard uncertainty (k = 1) of CD-AFM width measurements to 1 nm.

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Ronald Dixson, Joseph Fu, Ndubuisi Orji, William Guthrie, Richard Allen, and Michael Cresswell "CD-AFM reference metrology at NIST and SEMATECH", Proc. SPIE 5752, Metrology, Inspection, and Process Control for Microlithography XIX, (10 May 2005); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.601972

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