Impact of averaging of CD-SEM measurements on process stability in a full volume DRAM production environment

Thomas Marschner; Uwe Kramer; Anice Lee; Christian Stief

doi:10.1117/12.598426

10 May 2005 Impact of averaging of CD-SEM measurements on process stability in a full volume DRAM production environment

Thomas Marschner, Uwe Kramer, Anice Lee, Christian Stief

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 5752, Metrology, Inspection, and Process Control for Microlithography XIX; (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.598426
Event: Microlithography 2005, 2005, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

In our work we investigate the influence of averaging varying numbers of measurement structures on process stability and CD uniformity. Measurements are performed on an Applied Materials VeritySEM CD-SEM system which provides the possibility to measure several lines or contact hole structures and to yield the average and 3 sigma value of all measured structures. We show that averaging significantly improves the single tool precision up to 30%. Additionally, a long term pilot test has shown that the range of the CD distribution of selected production layers is significantly decreased reducing the contribution of the measurement to the total CD budget resulting in a yield enhancement. Further, we discuss the influence of averaging on the contribution of short-range random CD variations for CD uniformity measurements. This is done by investigating the distribution of the CD difference between adjacent structures across the wafer. We show that increased averaging significantly reduces the contribution of random CD variations to the CD budget.

Citation Download Citation

Thomas Marschner, Uwe Kramer, Anice Lee, and Christian Stief "Impact of averaging of CD-SEM measurements on process stability in a full volume DRAM production environment", Proc. SPIE 5752, Metrology, Inspection, and Process Control for Microlithography XIX, (10 May 2005); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.598426

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