Development of beam-tilt angle calibration method for CD-SEM

Katsumi Setoguchi; Hidetoshi Morokuma; Atsushi Miyamoto; Maki Tanaka

doi:10.1117/12.602010

10 May 2005 Development of beam-tilt angle calibration method for CD-SEM

Katsumi Setoguchi, Hidetoshi Morokuma, Atsushi Miyamoto, Maki Tanaka

Proceedings Volume 5752, Metrology, Inspection, and Process Control for Microlithography XIX; (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.602010
Event: Microlithography 2005, 2005, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

An image processing technique for estimating the incidence angle of an electron beam (beam-tilt angle) of a critical dimension scanning electron microscope (CD-SEM) has been developed. The estimation and correction of the error of the beam-tilt angle are indispensable for high precision measurement of CD and/or three-dimensional profiles of semi-conductor device patterns. In this technique, a pyramidal-shaped crystal sample made by anisotropic etching is used for calibration. From the top-down and tilted views of the sample, x and y directional beam-tilt angles relative to the top-down view are estimated simultaneously, with the geometrical variations of the pyramid ridge lines detected by image processing. Exact positioning of the sample is not required because the inclination and rotation of the sample towards the wafer surface are estimated separately from the beam-tilt angles. Evaluation of 40 sample images, including 4 directional tilt angles, indicated that deviations of the estimated x and y beam-tilt angles were 0.13 and 0.12 degree respectively (3 sigma). It will also be shown that the technique is robust against characteristic SEM image distortion and low S/N. This technique has achieved high precision and quantitative estimation for the beam-tilt angles, and will provide a method for high precision measurement of CD and three-dimensional profile for semi-conductor process monitoring and control in the future.

Citation Download Citation

Katsumi Setoguchi, Hidetoshi Morokuma, Atsushi Miyamoto, and Maki Tanaka "Development of beam-tilt angle calibration method for CD-SEM", Proc. SPIE 5752, Metrology, Inspection, and Process Control for Microlithography XIX, (10 May 2005); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.602010

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