8 March 2024 Cross-evaluation of critical dimension measurement techniques
Timothée Choisnet, Abdelali Hammouti, Vincent Gagneur, Jérôme Reche, Guido Rademaker, Guillaume Freychet, Guillaume Jullien, Julien Ducoté, Patrice Gergaud, Delphine Le Cunff
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

Critical dimension control is essential in the semiconductor industry and becomes more challenging as photolithography limits keep getting pushed to reach technological nodes smaller than 10 nm. To ensure the quality and control of the processes, it becomes necessary to explore new metrology techniques. In this sense, critical dimension small-angle x-ray scattering (CDSAXS) has been identified as a potential candidate for determining the average shape of a line grating with a sub-nanometric precision. We benchmark the CDSAXS results obtained at the synchrotron to the optical critical dimension, critical dimension scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy measurements collected from industrial metrology tools either at the manufacturing line or in the characterization laboratory. Emphasis is placed on the impact of the use of independent model for each technique and the benefits of unifying it in a unique model. We also discuss the differences between all of these multi-scale and multi-physics techniques, question our capacity to compare them, and eventually correlate the results obtained on several samples.

© 2024 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)
Timothée Choisnet, Abdelali Hammouti, Vincent Gagneur, Jérôme Reche, Guido Rademaker, Guillaume Freychet, Guillaume Jullien, Julien Ducoté, Patrice Gergaud, and Delphine Le Cunff "Cross-evaluation of critical dimension measurement techniques," Journal of Micro/Nanopatterning, Materials, and Metrology 23(1), 014002 (8 March 2024). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JMM.23.1.014002
Received: 29 June 2023; Accepted: 8 February 2024; Published: 8 March 2024
Advertisement
Advertisement
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission  Get copyright permission on Copyright Marketplace
KEYWORDS
Critical dimension metrology

Transmission electron microscopy

Cadmium

Lithography

Semiconducting wafers

Silicon

Synchrotrons

Back to Top