Method and system for monitoring etch process

Abstract

A method and system for monitoring an etching process. The etch process can be monitored using metrology information, such as critical dimensions or layer thicknesses, etc. The metrology information is provided by ex-situ and in-situ monitoring of the etch process performed during the etch process, such as spectroscopic analysis, interferometry, scatterometry, and reflectometry. Off-site measurement information and on-site monitoring can be used to monitor, for example, an end point of an etch process, a feature of the etch depth profile formed on a substrate, and error detection of an integrated circuit process.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to semiconductor substrate processing systems, and more particularly to a method and system for monitoring an etch process. Background technique [0002] In order to increase the computing speed, electronic devices (such as transistors, capacitors, etc.) in many integrated microelectronic circuits have become smaller and smaller. Methods of fabricating such devices include forming a patterned mask, such as a photoresist mask, on a layer of material on a substrate, and then etching the layer of material using the patterned mask as an etch mask. The etch mask is usually a replica of the structure to be formed (ie, the etched structure) of the underlying material layer (or other layers). Therefore, the etched mask has the same topographic dimension as the structure to be formed in the underlying layer. [0003] Traditionally, the minimum width of the pattern of an etched mask, such as lines, columns, openings, spaces betwee...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

In particular, process variation for the etch process reduces the dimensional accuracy of the formed features and creates a wide statistical range for the size of a group or batch of features formed on a substrate. Distribution (statistical distribution) (that is, a large standard deviation σ)

Images