Photoresist Morphological Characterization Methods

Abstract

The invention relates to the field of semiconductor manufacture, and discloses a morphology characterization method for photoresist. Inflection points of changes in the sidewall slope of a photoresist exposure area are determined, the sidewall of the photoresist is divided into a plurality of intervals according to the inflection points, an inclination angle of the sidewall of each interval is calculated by measuring the top line width, bottom line width and interval depth of the interval, and the inclination angle of the sidewall and the interval depth of each interval are fitted to obtain the morphology of the photoresist. According to the method, required measurement is top-down overlooked line width measurement, a wafer to be measured is not required to be sliced in a characterization process, profile scanning is not required, the morphology of the sidewall of the photoresist can be accurately characterized without any unrecoverable damage, the method can be used for the capability improvement and verification of a photoresist process, and is also applicable to quality control in a production process, the photoetching quality can be further ensured, and the device integration level and the industrial yield can be effectively improved.

Description

Technical field [0001] The invention relates to the field of semiconductor manufacturing, in particular to the photoresist characterization technology after development in the photolithography process. Background technique [0002] Photolithography plays a vital role in the semiconductor manufacturing process. Its pattern resolution, overlay accuracy, photoresist sidewall morphology, photoresist defects, and photoresist resistance to etching are all directly affected Success or failure of subsequent processes. [0003] In photolithography, the process performance capability of photoresist plays an important role. However, the negative photoresist coating is less sensitive to environmental factors and has low resolution, and is not suitable for small-size, thin-line lithography. With the advancement of integrated circuit manufacturing process and the shrinking of feature size, the integration of integrated circuit chips is getting higher and higher. Can a positive photoresist incl...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0004] In the prior art, the characterization of the photoresist sidewall morphology usually needs to be observed after slicing with a cross-sectional scanning electron microscope and other equipment, which will cause irreversible damage to the sample to be tested.

Images