Automation of sample plan creation for process model calibration

James Oberschmidt; Amr Abdo; Tamer Desouky; Mohamed Al-Imam; Azalia Krasnoperova; Ramya Viswanathan

doi:10.1117/12.846276

3 March 2010 Automation of sample plan creation for process model calibration

James Oberschmidt, Amr Abdo, Tamer Desouky, Mohamed Al-Imam, Azalia Krasnoperova, Ramya Viswanathan

Proceedings Volume 7640, Optical Microlithography XXIII; 76401G (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.846276
Event: SPIE Advanced Lithography, 2010, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

The process of preparing a sample plan for optical and resist model calibration has always been tedious. Not only because it is required to accurately represent full chip designs with countless combinations of widths, spaces and environments, but also because of the constraints imposed by metrology which may result in limiting the number of structures to be measured. Also, there are other limits on the types of these structures, and this is mainly due to the accuracy variation across different types of geometries. For instance, pitch measurements are normally more accurate than corner rounding. Thus, only certain geometrical shapes are mostly considered to create a sample plan. In addition, the time factor is becoming very crucial as we migrate from a technology node to another due to the increase in the number of development and production nodes, and the process is getting more complicated if process window aware models are to be developed in a reasonable time frame, thus there is a need for reliable methods to choose sample plans which also help reduce cycle time. In this context, an automated flow is proposed for sample plan creation. Once the illumination and film stack are defined, all the errors in the input data are fixed and sites are centered. Then, bad sites are excluded. Afterwards, the clean data are reduced based on geometrical resemblance. Also, an editable database of measurement-reliable and critical structures are provided, and their percentage in the final sample plan as well as the total number of 1D/2D samples can be predefined. It has the advantage of eliminating manual selection or filtering techniques, and it provides powerful tools for customizing the final plan, and the time needed to generate these plans is greatly reduced.

Citation Download Citation

James Oberschmidt, Amr Abdo, Tamer Desouky, Mohamed Al-Imam, Azalia Krasnoperova, and Ramya Viswanathan "Automation of sample plan creation for process model calibration", Proc. SPIE 7640, Optical Microlithography XXIII, 76401G (3 March 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.846276

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available