Dose mapping to compensate for out-of-plane distortion using substrate curvature.

Abstract

The method may include generating a residual curvature map of a substrate based on measurements of the surface of the substrate. The method may include generating a dose map for processing the substrate using a patterning energy source based on the residual curvature map, and applying the dose map to process the substrate using the patterning energy source.

Description

Summary of the Invention

[0001] Cross - reference to Related Applications

[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 341,797, filed May 13, 2022, entitled "DOSE MAPPING USING SUBSTRATE CURVATURE TO COMPENSATE FOR OUT - OF - PLANE DISTORTION", and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 425,060, filed November 14, 2022, entitled "DOSE MAPPING USING SUBSTRATE CURVATURE TO COMPENSATE FOR OUT - OF - PLANE DISTORTION", which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

[0002] Technical Field

[0002] Embodiments of this disclosure relate to stress control in a substrate, and more specifically, to stress compensation for reducing out - of - plane distortion in a substrate.

[0003] Background Art

[0003] Devices (such as integrated circuits, memory devices, and logic devices) can be fabricated on a substrate (such as a semiconductor wafer) by a combination of deposition processes, etching, ion implantation, annealing, and other processes. In many cases, the entire fabrication of a device and its associated circuits can involve hundreds of steps, including dozens of lithography steps. In particular, in lithography - related steps, it may be necessary to align a given mask for fabricating structures at a given region or level with existing structures.

[0004]

[0004] One common concern with regard to manufacturing such devices and structures on substrates such as semiconductor wafers is the generation and progression of in-plane strain (IPD). This IPD strain affects the overlay of a layer relative to the reference layer beneath it. IPD is a complex quantity influenced by both out-of-plane strain (OPD) of the wafer and the alignment scheme used in photolithography. OPD is a basic wafer quantity, and the signature of residual OPD is important for the possible overlap. For example, a common type of OPD is global wafer curvature, which can result from the accumulation of stress in the wafer as a result of the processing steps in many cases.

[0005]

[0005] Furthermore, device processing may generate complex patterns of OPDs on the wafer after some given stage of processing, which may have an effect on subsequent processing steps. In certain cases, complex patterns of OPDs may cause overlapping errors in the subsequent lithography masking process.

[0006]

[0006] Embodiments of the present disclosure are provided in relation to the matters described above and other matters. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0007] [Figure 1A] The operating principle of the embodiments of this disclosure is shown. [Figure 1B] The operating principle of the embodiments of this disclosure is shown. [Figure 1C] The operating principle of the embodiments of this disclosure is shown. [Figure 2A] This embodiment of the present disclosure shows the representation of the OPD of a wafer at a certain stage of processing. [Figure 2B] This embodiment of the present disclosure shows the representation of the OPD of a wafer at a certain stage of processing. [Figure 2C] This embodiment of the present disclosure shows the representation of the OPD of a wafer at a certain stage of processing. [Figure 2D]This embodiment of the present disclosure shows the representation of the OPD of a wafer at a certain stage of processing. [Figure 2E] This embodiment of the present disclosure shows the representation of the OPD of a wafer at a certain stage of processing. [Figure 2F] This embodiment of the present disclosure shows the representation of the OPD of a wafer at a certain stage of processing. [Figure 2G] This is the resulting IPD when using the HOWA3 alignment scheme on a scanner. [Figure 3A] This describes one step of determining a dose map for processing a substrate to compensate for the substrate's OPD according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 3B] One step of determining a dose map for processing a substrate to compensate for substrate OPD according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. [Figure 3C] One step of determining a dose map for processing a substrate to compensate for substrate OPD according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. [Figure 3D] One step of determining a dose map for processing a substrate to compensate for substrate OPD according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. [Figure 4A] One step of determining a dose map for processing a substrate to compensate for substrate OPD according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. [Figure 4B] One step of determining a dose map for processing a substrate to compensate for substrate OPD according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. [Figure 4C] One step of determining a dose map for processing a substrate to compensate for substrate OPD according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. [Figure 5A] One step of determining a dose map for processing a substrate to compensate for substrate OPD according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. [Figure 5B] One step of determining a dose map for processing a substrate to compensate for substrate OPD according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. [Figure 5C]One step of determining a dose map for processing a substrate to compensate for substrate OPD according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. [Figure 5D] One step of determining a dose map for processing a substrate to compensate for substrate OPD according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. [Figure 6A] A diagram of an ion implantation apparatus consistent with various embodiments of this disclosure is shown. [Figure 6B] A diagram of an ion implantation apparatus consistent with various embodiments of this disclosure is shown. [Figure 7] An exemplary process flow is shown. [Figure 8] Another exemplary process flow is shown. [Figure 9] Further illustrative process flows are shown. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0008]

[0015] This book will now provide a more comprehensive description of the embodiments of this disclosure, with reference to the accompanying drawings illustrating some of the embodiments. The subject matter of this disclosure may be embodied in many different forms, and such forms should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments described herein. Rather, the provision of these embodiments will make this disclosure comprehensive and complete, fully conveying the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art. Throughout the drawings, similar numbers refer to similar elements.

[0009]

[0016] The embodiments described in this book relate to techniques and apparatus for improved out-of-plane strain control in a substrate and for controlling the impact of OPD on substrate processing steps (such as device manufacturing) related thereto. In the embodiments of this book, a new technique can be used to determine a dose map applied to a compensation layer of a substrate by a patterning energy source so as to better correct the OPD and thereby reduce or minimize in-plane strain (IPD) that affects device manufacturing and other patterning procedures. Non-limiting examples of the patterning energy source include an ion beam or a laser beam that can be scanned with respect to the main surface of the substrate.

[0010]

[0017] In various embodiments detailed in this book, a substrate (often referred to as a "wafer") can be measured to determine a substrate OPD map. This OPD map can then be used to extract a spherical OPD, the entity of which is defined as a paraboloid that best fits the measured OPD. Further calculations are performed to extract a spherical substrate curvature component corresponding to this paraboloid, while the residual OPD is used to extract local substrate curvature or the remaining substrate curvature.

[0011]

[0018] Figures 1A to 1C illustrate the operating principles of embodiments of the present disclosure. Referring to Figure 1A, a three-dimensional graph showing the wafer surface in a Cartesian coordinate system is illustrated. Specifically, the graph in Figure 1A shows a nominally circular and flat wafer shape, where the XY plane represents the nominal principal plane of the wafer, or similarly, the ideal plane of the flat platen supporting the wafer. The units shown in the XY plane may, for example, be millimeters. The Z axis represents the perpendicular to the principal plane of the substrate, and therefore any location on the substrate that is not in the XY plane where z=0 can be considered to represent the OPD. Note that the Z axis is dimensionless and normalized to "1". In semiconductor wafer processing, stress accumulation during the manufacturing of layers and devices can introduce stresses that tend to impart spherical curvature to the substrate (e.g., the parabolic shape shown in Figure 1B). This shape can be associated with biaxial tensile or compressive stresses. In some non-limiting examples, OPD levels can reach maximum values ​​in the range of several hundred micrometers (e.g., 100 μm, 200 μm, 300 μm, 400 μm).

[0012]

[0019] According to embodiments of this disclosure, the OPD represented by the wafer shape in Figure 1A can be compensated in a series of steps. In a first step shown in Figure 1B, the bulk of the OPD can be compensated using a uniform stress compensation layer added to the back surface of the substrate opposite to the front surface of the substrate on which the device is manufactured. The graph in Figure 1B shows the spatial distribution in the XY plane of the amount of strain or deformation (represented along the Z axis) of the wafer that may be generated by the uniform stress compensation layer. Again, since the relative amount of deformation along the Z axis is normalized, in the graph of Figure 1, the maximum deformation is at the center of the wafer. The step in Figure 1B can help compensate for relatively large spherical OPDs that develop and propagate in the wafer, such as those represented by the parabolic shape in Figure 1B. The shape of such OPDs may be symmetrical with respect to the Z axis, and the stress can be reduced symmetrically as a whole by the step in Figure 1B. Thus, the spherical curvature of the wafer can be significantly reduced after the step shown in Figure 1B is applied.

[0013]

[0020] Referring to Figure 1C, a graph is shown illustrating an example of a residual OPD pattern that can be superimposed on the pattern in Figure 1B. Depending on the die layout on the wafer and the nature of other patterning features, even after removing spherical OPD patterns like those shown in Figure 1B, complex "residual" OPD patterns may exist that are not necessarily symmetrical and may be more localized. Thus, embodiments of this document address this phenomenon by applying a so-called dose map to a patterning energy source (such as a scannable ion beam, electron beam, or laser beam). As will be discussed later, the patterning energy source may be applied non-uniformly to the substrate (for example, within an existing compensation layer) to remove the residual OPD pattern.

[0014]

[0021] Figures 2A to 2F show different representations of the OPD of a wafer at various stages of processing according to embodiments of the present disclosure. In these examples, as with Figure 1A, the units of the X and Y axes in Figures 2A, 2C, and 2E, which represent, for example, a 300 mm wafer, are given in millimeters. The unit along the Z axis is nm. Thus, these graphs present a three-dimensional representation of the wafer surface, where the Z-axis coordinate of an ideally flat wafer is constant (e.g., 0) across the entire XY plane.

[0015]

[0022] In the example in Figure 2A, the wafer surface is represented by a three-dimensional array of points. This wafer surface may be characterized as having a parabolic shape and having a Z-axis coordinate ranging from -150,000 nm to +150,000 nm (equal to a maximum OPD of 300,000 nm, or 300 μm). A very generalized side section view of a minute portion of the substrate in Figure 2A (in some embodiments, this substrate may be silicon) is shown in Figure 2B. In this example, the front surface is represented by the top surface in the figure, which may or may not have additional device layers, but these are omitted for simplification. The surface shown in Figure 2A may represent the wafer surface before processing to reduce the OPD according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0016]

[0023] Referring to Figure 2C, the wafer surface corresponding to the wafer in Figure 2B is shown after a process in which a stress compensation layer (see Figure 2D) is deposited on the back side of the wafer. The stress compensation layer can be deposited by known equipment such as a physical vapor deposition (PVD) apparatus, a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) apparatus, or other film deposition systems according to various non-limiting embodiments. Examples of materials suitable for the stress compensation layer include layers containing silicon nitride, silicon oxide, silicon oxynitride, any combination of Si-ONC, or other known materials. At this point, the wafer surface may be characterized as having an irregular shape, where the absolute value of the OPD is greatly reduced, and the maximum value of the OPD is only a few micrometers.

[0017]

[0024] At this stage of processing, the deposition of the stress compensation layer can be said to have removed the spherical signature of the stress state across the wafer (which generates a generally regular parabolic shape on the wafer on a vertical scale of several hundred micrometers). For example, by depositing a uniform stress compensation layer to cover the surface of the wafer, the average shape of the wafer can be expected to be modified according to the well-known Stoney equation, which relates changes in substrate curvature to the stress properties of the layer in contact with the substrate. According to embodiments of this disclosure, the thickness and stress state of the stress compensation layer can be selected to reduce the spherical curvature of the wafer according to the initial level of curvature (see Figure 2A). Furthermore, as will be discussed later, the spherical curvature can be modeled using various possible models to provide a basis for determining suitable stress compensation layer properties necessary to remove the spherical curvature. Thus, in the examples of Figures 2C and 2D, a stress compensation layer with a suitable thickness, a suitable modulus, and a suitable stress state can be selected to remove almost all of the spherical curvature component that causes the maximum OPD of the 300 mm substrate in Figure 2A. Therefore, in Figure 2C, the remaining pattern can be described as an irregular OPD, which represents residual curvature that can result from artifacts such as die placement or certain device or circuit structures present on the front of the wafer. This irregular OPD pattern can lead to undesirable IPD in various regions of the substrate, causing problems such as increased overlap mismatch in subsequent substrate patterning.

[0018]

[0025] According to embodiments of Figures 2E and 2F, the residual curvature shown by the substrate in Figure 2C can be removed, reduced, or modified by performing exposure to the patterning energy source described above. In a particular example shown in Figure 2F, an injection procedure for generating an injection layer in the stress compensation layer has already been performed, and this injection procedure may involve a non-uniform direct write injection process. In this context, a “direct write” process (including a “direct write injection process”) may refer to a process that uses the relative motion of an ion beam without the use of a mask to generate a non-uniform pattern of ion doses on the substrate surface. This non-uniform injection process can locally adjust the curvature of the wafer to reduce the OPD as shown in Figure 2F. In other embodiments, a direct write process involving exposure to electrons or photons (such as a laser beam) may be used to locally adjust the curvature of the wafer. As detailed below, the patterning process for locally adjusting the substrate curvature may be performed using a dose map calculated based on measured values ​​of the initial surface of the wafer before the stress compensation layer is deposited. It should be noted that the OPD correction applied to modify the residual curvature in Figure 2C using a suitable dose map may be replaced by an IPD correction across the entire wafer, as shown in Figure 2G. This figure shows a two-dimensional map in the xy plane, which indicates the intensity and direction of the IPD correction for a 300 mm wafer, depending on the x,y coordinates on the wafer.

[0019]

[0026] Figures 3A to 5C illustrate a series of steps applied according to embodiments of the present disclosure to determine a dose map for processing a substrate to compensate for substrate OPD. Specifically, the steps shown in Figures 3A-5C illustrate an approach to eliminate residual curvature on the substrate surface.

[0020]

[0027] Figures 3A to 3C show details for determining the spherical curvature of the substrate in order to generate a spherical curvature map. Figure 3A shows a three-dimensional representation of the wafer surface before the extraction of the spherical curvature component, which is broadly described in relation to Figures 2A-2E. Figure 3B shows a two-dimensional representation of the surface in Figure 3A, where the surface is substantially generally parabolic. The range of OPD shown in this figure in this example is illustrative only, as will be recognized to those skilled in the art, and can vary over a wide range. Although it is intended to remove the spherical curvature using a blanketing process to deposit a blanket film on the back of the substrate, process variations do not always allow this to be done. Therefore, residual components of spherical curvature may still remain on the wafer. This spherical curvature still has a parabolic OPD signature, but in the curvature map, the curvature appears to be substantially uniform across the wafer.

[0021]

[0028] Figure 3C shows a spherical curvature map representing the curvature values ​​corresponding to the x,y coordinates across the entire wafer surface. The unit k is the reciprocal km. According to various non-limiting embodiments of this disclosure, spherical curvature can be modeled based on a Gaussian curvature model or a mean curvature model. This modeling may be based on the use of two principal planes of curvature that are orthogonal to each other and extend perpendicular to the tangent plane of the surface, as shown in Figure 3D. In the Gaussian model, the product of the maximum curvature and the minimum curvature is obtained, where κ is given by the following equation: κ = κ1κ2 Equation (1) In the average model, the average value of the principal curvatures (maximum and minimum curvatures) is obtained, where κ is given by the following equation: κ = 1 / 2(κ1 + κ2) Equation (2) As shown in Figure 3C, the spherical curvature is nearly uniform throughout the wafer.

[0022]

[0029] Figure 4A shows a three-dimensional representation of the residual wafer surface after extracting the parabolic term of the OPD, corresponding to the same wafer in which the spherical surface was shown in Figure 3A. Figure 4B shows a two-dimensional representation of the surface in Figure 4A, where the OPD pattern is rather complex.

[0023]

[0030] Figure 4C shows a residual curvature map for the surfaces of Figures 4A and 4B, representing the curvature values ​​corresponding to the x,y coordinates across the entire wafer surface. According to embodiments of this disclosure, the procedure for modeling spheroidal curvature outlined above may be used to generate the residual curvature map of Figure 4C based on the OPD map of Figure 4B.

[0024]

[0031] As shown in Figure 4, the residual curvature pattern exhibits a complex set of features. Generally, the curvature is relatively low across most of the wafer, while a donut-shaped region of negative curvature exists towards the center of the wafer. In some areas of the wafer (such as along the periphery), the curvature is positive, and along the donut-shaped region, the curvature is negative.

[0025]

[0032] The residual curvature map in Figure 4C can be considered an unprocessed residual curvature map, which is further processed to generate a final curvature map used to generate a dose map. The dose map may then be used to process the wafer in Figure 3A to remove residual curvature features, thereby eliminating or reducing the IPD caused by such features. Figure 5A shows an ion beam profile that may be used for actual wafer implantation. This profile is used to create a blur kernel, which should be applied to the residual curvature map in Figure 4C to attenuate the effects of high spatial frequencies on the ion implanter during blur kernel processing. This profile may then be used to generate a blurred residual curvature map, as shown in Figure 5B. The blurred residual curvature map in Figure 5B presents the same qualitative patterns of positive and negative curvature regions as the unblurred residual curvature map, but the width of the regions is slightly wider and the curvature values ​​in the regions are slightly different. This blurred curvature map may be more suitable for implementation using patterning energy sources (such as scan ion beams) given that ion beams are of finite size.

[0026]

[0033] Referring here to Figure 5C, a filtered residual curvature map is illustrated. Since the positive terms cannot be affected by the ion beam, the filtered residual curvature map is generated by filtering the blurred residual curvature map in Figure 5B and removing all positive curvature terms. As a result, two main linear regions with relatively high negative curvature remain, along with some regions with low negative curvature that protrude from these linear regions. This map may then be converted, for example, into a dose map for a scannable ion beam, where the total ion dose to be applied across the entire two-dimensional surface (xy plane) of the wafer is based on the features of the curvature map in Figure 5C. Therefore, the ion dose pattern of a suitable dose map may exhibit features that have the same shape as the features of the curvature map.

[0027]

[0034] Figure 5D presents an exemplary ion dose map based on the curvature map of Figure 5C, which exhibits a qualitatively similar pattern to the curvature map of Figure 5C. In this example, two parallel linear regions in the dose map, corresponding to the linear regions with high curvature in the filtered curvature map, accept substantially higher doses than the overall "background" region. For example, the background region, which spans most of the wafer surface, accepts relative ion doses within the range of 15%, while the linear regions accept relative ion doses ranging from approximately 50% to 85%.

[0028]

[0035] Figure 6A shows a schematic top view of an ion implantation system for controlling the OPD of a substrate according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. This ion implantation system (referred to as the ion implanter 300) represents a process chamber including an ion source 304 for generating an ion beam 308 and a series of beamline components. The ion source 304 may include a chamber for receiving a gas flow and generating ions. The ion source 304 may also include a power supply and extraction electrode assembly (not shown) located near its chamber. The beamline components may include, for example, an analytical magnet 320, a mass-resolved slit (MRS) 324, an operating / focusing component 326, and an end station 330 including a substrate holder 331.

[0029]

[0036] The ion implanter 300 further includes a beam scanner 336 positioned between the MRS 324 and the end station 330 along the beamline 338. The beam scanner 336 may be configured to receive the ion beam 308 as a spot beam and scan the ion beam 308 along a high-speed scanning direction, for example, parallel to the X-axis in the Cartesian coordinate system shown in the figure. It should be noted that while the ion beam 308 is scanned back and forth along the X-axis, the substrate 332 may be scanned along the Y-axis, so that a given ion treatment can be applied to a given area of ​​the substrate 332. The ion implanter 300 may also have further components (not shown for clarity) known in the art, such as collimators, for guiding the ions of the ion beam 308 to the substrate 332 along a series of parallel trajectories after scanning, as proposed in Figure 6A. In various embodiments, the ion beam may be scanned at several different Hz frequencies (10 Hz, 100 Hz, up to several thousand Hz, or higher). For example, the beam scanner 336 may scan the ion beam 308 using a magnetic scanning element or an electrostatic scanning element, as is known in the art.

[0030]

[0037] By rapidly scanning the ion beam 308 across the high-speed scanning direction, for example, by reciprocating along the X-axis, the ion beam 308, configured as a spot beam, can deliver a target ion dose to any given region of the substrate in the xy-plane. Suitable ions for the ion beam 308 may include, according to some non-limiting embodiments, any ion species capable of inducing stress changes at a suitable ion energy, such as phosphorus, boron, argon, and indium BF2, and the ion energy is customized strictly according to the ion species used. To implement a dose map, the scanning speed of the ion beam along the x-axis may be adjusted according to the dose map to deliver different amounts of ion doses to different locations on the substrate 332. Generally, the ion beam 308 may be scanned reciprocating between both ends of the substrate for any suitable number of scans until the target dose identified by the dose map is received in the reachable region of the substrate 332, and the substrate may also be scanned in a direction perpendicular to the beam scanning direction.

[0031]

[0038] For example, the ion implanter 300 may further include a controller 340 connected to the beam scanner 336 and also to the substrate holder 331 to coordinate the operation of the beam scanner 336. As further shown in Figure 6A, the ion implanter 300 may also include a user interface 342, similarly connected to the controller 340. The user interface 342 may be embodied as a display and may further include a user selection device (including a touchscreen, a screen display menu, buttons, knobs, and other devices known in the art). According to various embodiments, the user interface 342 may send commands to the controller 340 to generate a suitable implantation pattern that can implement a dose map suitable for the substrate 332.

[0032]

[0039] Furthermore, as shown in Figure 6B, the controller 340 may include a processor 352 (such as a known type of microprocessor, a dedicated processor chip, a general-purpose processor chip, or a similar device). The controller 340 may further include a memory or memory unit 354 coupled to the processor 352, the memory unit 354 containing a dose-map routine 356. The dose-map routine 356 may operate on the processor 352 to manage the scanning of the ion beam 308 and the substrate 332 in order to impart a calculated dose-map to the substrate 332. The memory unit 354 may include an article of manufacture. In one embodiment, the memory unit 354 may include some non-temporary computer-readable or machine-readable medium (such as an optical, magnetic, or semiconductor memory device). This storage medium may store various types of computer-executable instructions for implementing one or more of the logic flows described herein. Examples of computer-readable or machine-readable storage media may include any tangible medium capable of storing electronic data (including volatile or non-volatile memory, removable or non-removable memory, erasable or non-erasable memory, writable or non-writable memory, etc.). Examples of computer-executable instructions may include any suitable type of code (e.g., source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, object-oriented code, visual code, etc.). Embodiments are not limited to this context.

[0033]

[0040] Referring here to Figure 7, a process flow 700 according to a part of an embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated. In block 702, an initial substrate surface map is received. The substrate surface map can represent the three-dimensional coordinates of a set of points on the substrate surface, and a map of OPDs corresponding to the x,y coordinates, where the OPD is represented by the z coordinate of a given surface point with respect to a reference x,y plane.

[0034]

[0041] In block 704, a spherical curvature map is generated from the initial substrate surface map using the model. In some examples, the spherical curvature map may correspond to a surface modeled as a paraboloid using an average model or a Gaussian model, as detailed above.

[0035]

[0042] In block 706, the residual surface is extracted based on the initial substrate surface map and the spherical curvature map. The residual surface may include residual or localized regions of the OPD in various x,y portions of the substrate.

[0036]

[0043] In block 708, a residual curvature map is generated based on the residual surface. The residual curvature map may plot the curvature in inverse length, depending on the x,y location on the substrate in question.

[0037]

[0044] In block 710, a blurred residual curvature map is generated from the residual curvature map using a blur kernel. The blurred residual curvature map may present qualitative patterns of the same curvature region as the residual curvature map, but the region may be wider and the curvature values ​​may differ from those of the unblurred residual curvature map. This blurring can be used to reveal size effects, such as the beam size of the scan energy source used to implement the Dose map based on the residual curvature map.

[0038]

[0045] In block 712, any positive curvature components in the blurred residual curvature map are removed, and a filtered residual curvature map is generated.

[0039]

[0046] In block 714, a dose map for processing the substrate is generated based on the filtered residual curvature map. This dose map can qualitatively present a pattern similar to the filtered residual curvature map, where the relative dose is increased in the x,y region where the curvature is relatively high.

[0040]

[0047] Referring here to Figure 8, a process flow 800 according to a part of an embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated. In block 802, the flow continues from block 704. Specifically, a stress compensation layer deposition recipe is generated based on a spherical curvature map of a given substrate. From this recipe, several parameters can be specified, including the type of layer, deposition conditions, and layer thickness.

[0041]

[0048] In block 804, a back layer is deposited on a given substrate based on a stress compensation layer deposition recipe.

[0042]

[0049] Referring now to Figure 9, a process flow 900 according to a part of an embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated. In block 902, the flow proceeds from block 714, and the dose map detailed in process flow 700 is received by a patterning energy tool (such as an ion implanter).

[0043]

[0050] In block 904, the flow proceeds from block 804, and a substrate with a back layer based on a stress compensation layer deposition recipe is received within the patterning energy tool.

[0044]

[0051] In block 906, a dose map is applied to the back layer using a patterning energy source (such as a scan ion beam) from the patterning energy tool.

[0045]

[0052] The embodiments described in this book offer a variety of advantages. First, the approach described in this book allows for more precise advancement of subsequent devices (e.g., subsequent lithography steps requiring low plane distortion). Second, the approach described in this book more accurately reduces areas of high plane distortion by targeting residual areas with high substrate curvature for processing at higher energies.

[0046]

[0053] This disclosure is not limited in scope by the specific embodiments described herein. In fact, from the foregoing description and accompanying drawings, various other embodiments and modifications of this disclosure will be obvious to those skilled in the art, in addition to the embodiments described herein. Therefore, such other embodiments and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this disclosure. Furthermore, although this disclosure is described herein in the context of a specific implementation in a specific environment for a specific purpose, those skilled in the art will recognize that the usefulness is not limited to this context and that this disclosure can be usefully implemented in any number of environments for any number of purposes. Therefore, the claims described below should be interpreted in light of the entire scope and essence of this disclosure as described herein.

Claims

1. It is a method, To generate a residual curvature map of the substrate based on measurements of the substrate surface, Based on the initial substrate surface map of the out-of-plane distortion of the substrate surface, a spherical curvature map is modeled. The process involves extracting the spherical curvature map from the initial substrate surface map to generate the residual curvature map, This includes generating a residual curvature map of the substrate, Based on the residual curvature map, a dose map is generated for processing the substrate using a patterning energy source. To process the substrate using the patterning energy source, the dose map is applied. Methods that include...

2. By extracting the spherical curvature map from the initial substrate surface map, an unprocessed residual curvature map is generated, and the method is Applying blur kernel processing to the aforementioned unprocessed residual curvature map. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising applying a filter to remove positive curvature from the residual curvature map in order to generate the residual curvature map.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the substrate curvature represented by the spherical curvature map can be removed by performing a blanket processing step.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the blanket processing step includes depositing a stress compensation layer on the back side of the substrate.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the stress compensation layer includes a layer containing silicon nitride, silicon oxide, silicon oxynitride, or any combination of Si-O-N-C.

7. Applying the aforementioned dose map Exposing the stress compensation layer on the back side of the substrate to the patterning energy source, To transfer the dose map to the substrate, the patterning energy source is scanned across the entire stress compensation layer in a certain pattern without using a mask. The method according to claim 1, including the method described in claim 1.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the patterning energy source includes an ion beam, an electron beam, or a laser beam.

9. It is a method, Receiving a substrate surface map of the substrate, which includes a map of the out-of-plane distortion of the substrate, Modeling a spherical curvature map from the aforementioned substrate surface map, The process involves generating a residual curvature map after extracting the spherical curvature map from the substrate surface map, Based on the residual curvature map, a dose map is generated for processing the substrate using a patterning energy source. To process the substrate using the patterning energy source, the dose map is applied. Methods that include...

10. By extracting the spherical curvature map from the substrate surface map, an unprocessed residual curvature map is generated, and the method is Using the beam profile of the aforementioned patterning energy source, a blur kernel is created, The blur kernel is applied to the unprocessed residual curvature map to generate a blurred residual curvature map. The method according to claim 9, further comprising:

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising applying a filter to remove positive curvature from the blurred residual curvature map.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein the substrate curvature represented by the spherical curvature map can be removed by performing a blanket processing step.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the blanket processing step includes depositing a stress compensation layer on the back side of the substrate.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the stress compensation layer includes a layer containing silicon nitride, silicon oxide, silicon oxynitride, or any combination of Si-O-N-C.

15. Applying the aforementioned dose map Exposing the stress compensation layer on the back side of the substrate to the patterning energy source, To transfer the dose map to the substrate, the patterning energy source is scanned across the entire stress compensation layer in a certain pattern without using a mask. The method according to claim 9, including the method described in claim 9.

16. The method according to claim 9, wherein the patterning energy source includes an ion beam, an electron beam, or a laser beam.

17. It is a method, Receiving a substrate surface map of a substrate, wherein the substrate surface map includes a map of the substrate's OPD based on a set of measured out-of-plane strains (OPDs), Using the model, a spherical curvature map is generated from the substrate surface map, Based on the substrate surface map and the spherical curvature map, the residual surface is extracted. Based on the aforementioned residual surface, an untreated residual curvature map is generated, A dose map is generated based on the aforementioned unprocessed residual curvature map, To process the substrate using a patterning energy source, the dose map is applied. Methods that include...

18. The dose map is generated based on the aforementioned unprocessed residual curvature map. Using the beam profile of the aforementioned patterning energy source, a blur kernel is created, The blur kernel is applied to the unprocessed residual curvature map to generate a blurred residual curvature map. Apply a filter to remove positive curvature from the blurred residual curvature map. The method according to claim 17, including the method described in claim 17.

19. The method according to claim 17, wherein the model includes a Gaussian curvature model or a mean curvature model.

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