Semiconductor measurement system and measurement method
By using swing lifting modules and moving modules in the semiconductor measurement system, the full-chip measurement of the wafer to be tested in a small range is achieved, solving the problems of large volume and low production efficiency of existing equipment, and improving measurement accuracy and production efficiency.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- PCT/CN2024/074918
- Authority / Receiving Office
- WO · WO
- Patent Type
- Applications
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Priority Date
- 2023-08-16
- Filing Date
- 2024-01-31
- Publication Date
- 2025-02-20
AI Technical Summary
The existing semiconductor measurement equipment is large in size and takes up a lot of space. The multiple handling of wafers between the equipment affects production efficiency.
Design a semiconductor measurement system, adopting a swing lifting module and a moving module, and by regulating the movement of the support pin, the full-chip measurement of the wafer to be tested in a small range, and the incident light emitted by the measuring head is relative to each other through the rotating table. There is a preset measurement azimuth angle at the point to be measured.
The space volume of the measurement equipment is reduced, the signal-to-noise ratio of the measurement signal is improved, more accurate measurement results are obtained, and the efficiency of chip production is improved.
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Figure CN2024074918_20022025_PF_FP_ABST
Abstract
Description
Semiconductor measurement system and measurement method Technical Field
[0001] The present application relates to the field of semiconductor equipment, and more particularly, to a semiconductor measurement system and measurement method. Background Art
[0002] Chip manufacturing requires hundreds or even thousands of processing steps on wafers. Simultaneously, the production process requires measurement and monitoring to improve chip yield. Semiconductor metrology equipment is a separate, independent set of equipment compared to semiconductor process equipment. Silicon wafers enter the metrology equipment's worktable through loading and unloading ports, where they are measured by metrology probes. These instruments can perform various measurements, including film thickness measurement, critical dimension measurement, pattern overlay measurement, and surface defect detection.
[0003] Conventional semiconductor metrology equipment requires ample space for wafer movement to perform full-wafer metrology. Typically, the wafer's horizontal travel in both the X and Y directions is greater than its diameter. Consequently, existing metrology equipment is bulky, occupying significant space within semiconductor manufacturing plants. Furthermore, wafers must be moved between process equipment and metrology equipment multiple times throughout the production process, which wastes time and impacts chip production efficiency. Solving these technical problems is a challenge for those skilled in the art.
[0004] Summary of the Invention
[0005] The semiconductor measurement system and measurement method provided in this application are designed to solve the problem of how to reduce the volume of the measurement equipment while enabling all test points on the wafer to be measured to perform the required azimuth measurements.
[0006] In the first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a semiconductor measurement system, comprising a body shell enclosing a measurement cavity, and a carrier, a motion module, a plurality of swing-type lifting modules and a probe arranged in the measurement cavity. The carrier is arranged on the motion module and has a bearing surface for carrying the wafer to be measured during the measurement process. The motion module is connected to the carrier and drives the carrier to control the movement of the wafer to be measured. The motion module includes a first motion stage, a second motion stage, a third motion stage and a rotating stage. The first motion stage can move along the X direction in the horizontal plane, the second motion stage can move along the Y direction in the horizontal plane, the third motion stage can move up and down in the vertical direction, and the rotating stage can rotate in the horizontal plane. The swing-type lifting module is directly or indirectly connected to the body shell and is arranged higher than the motion module, including a drive component, a connecting rod, and a support pin. The two ends of the connecting rod are respectively connected to the drive component and the support pin. The connecting rod and the support pin are fixedly arranged orthogonally. The drive component can drive the connecting rod and then drive the support pin to move up and down in the vertical direction and / or swing around the vertical direction, thereby controlling the support pin to approach or move away from the wafer to be tested to achieve the transfer and handover of the wafer to be tested between the support pin and the carrier. The probe performs partitioned optical measurement on the wafer to be tested placed on the carrier to obtain the parameters to be tested.
[0007] Compared with the prior art, the semiconductor measurement system of this embodiment is configured with a swing-type lifting module. When the wafer to be measured needs to be transferred and handed over, the driving component is controlled to drive the support pins to descend and swing toward the carrier to perform the load transfer of the wafer to be measured between the carrier and the support pins. When the wafer to be measured does not need to be transferred and handed over, the driving component drives the support pins to swing away from the carrier and rise to a preset waiting position to avoid and leave a safe distance for the wafer to be measured to move to complete full-wafer measurement, thereby reducing the space occupied by the measurement equipment as a whole, so as to achieve the effect of reducing the volume of the measurement equipment; combined with the motion module, the wafer to be measured can realize X and Y movement in the horizontal plane, vertical lifting movement and rotation movement, so that partition measurement can be performed on the wafer to be measured, thereby reducing the maximum motion range of the motion module in the horizontal plane, further reducing the spatial volume of the measurement equipment, and at the same time ensuring that all measurement points on the wafer to be measured can meet the measurement requirements of different azimuth angles, improving the signal-to-noise ratio of the measurement signal, and obtaining more accurate measurement results.
[0008] In one possible embodiment, the driving assembly includes a housing, a movable part, a guide groove, a supporting member and a driving source. The housing has a chamber extending along a first direction. The movable part is arranged in the chamber, and one end of the movable part is connected to the connecting rod. The guide groove is opened on the movable part or on the housing. The supporting member is used to connect the housing and the movable part and at least one end extends to the guide groove. The supporting member can move relative to each other along the guide groove to guide the movement of the movable part. The driving source is used to drive the movable part and, based on the relative movement of the supporting member in the guide groove, drives the connecting rod and then drives the support pin movable part to move up and down in the vertical direction and / or swing around the vertical direction.
[0009] In a possible implementation, the guide groove includes a turning groove section, and an extension direction of the turning groove section is arranged at an angle to the first direction.
[0010] In a possible implementation, the guide groove is formed on the periphery of the movable part or passes through the base of the movable part, one end of the supporting member is fixedly provided on the housing, and the other end of the supporting member extends into the guide groove.
[0011] In a possible embodiment, the guide groove is formed on the inner wall of the shell or passes through the side wall of the shell, one end of the supporting member is fixedly provided on the movable member, and the other end of the supporting member extends into the guide groove.
[0012] In one possible embodiment, the driving source includes a gas driving system or a liquid driving system, and the gas driving system or the liquid driving system includes a sealing member, which is arranged in the chamber and fixedly connected to the movable part. The sealing member and the shell are combined to form a variable pressure chamber, and the seal and the movable part are driven to move by changing the content of gas or liquid in the variable pressure chamber to regulate the pressure in the variable pressure chamber.
[0013] In a possible implementation, the driving source includes an electric driving system, and the electric driving system includes a motor. The motor is connected to the movable part and drives the movable part to move.
[0014] In a possible implementation manner, a recessed area is provided at the free end of the supporting pin, and the recessed area is used to support the wafer to be tested when the wafer to be tested is being transferred.
[0015] In a possible implementation, the maximum movement range of the first motion platform is L1, and the maximum movement range of the second motion platform is L2, where L1∈[D / 2, D / 2+δ L ],L2∈[D,D+δ L]; D is the diameter of the wafer to be measured, 0<δ L ≤20mm.
[0016] In a possible implementation, the parameters to be measured include at least one of film thickness, pattern critical dimension, pattern overlay, and defect detection measurement on the surface of the wafer to be measured.
[0017] In a possible embodiment, a connection port is provided on one side of the body shell, and the connection port is communicated with the measurement cavity and can be connected to a wafer library interface of semiconductor production equipment.
[0018] In the second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a measurement method, which uses the semiconductor measurement system described in any one of claims 1 to 11 to measure the wafer to be measured, and the measurement method includes a loading stage, a signal acquisition stage, and a unloading stage. The loading stage includes performing a first drive on the connecting rod through the driving component, so that the support pin is higher than the bearing surface and points to the carrier, transferring the wafer to be measured to the support pin, controlling the carrier to rise until it contacts and supports the wafer to be measured with the bearing surface, and allowing the wafer to be measured to detach from the support pin, and performing a second drive on the connecting rod through the driving component, so that the support pin swings away from the carrier and rises to a preset waiting position. The signal acquisition stage includes: based on the probe, collecting the measurement signal of the surface of the wafer to be measured placed on the carrier to obtain the parameter to be measured. The unloading stage includes: performing a third drive on the connecting rod through the driving component, so that the support pin is lower than the lower surface of the wafer to be measured and points to the carrier, controlling the carrier to descend until the carrying surface is separated from the wafer to be measured so that the support pin supports the wafer to be measured, and brings the wafer to be measured out of the measuring chamber, and performing a fourth drive on the connecting rod through the driving component, so that the support pin swings to away from the carrier and rises to a preset waiting position.
[0019] In a possible embodiment, the signal acquisition stage also includes: dividing the wafer to be tested into areas to obtain a relative first semicircular test area and a second semicircular test area; based on the characteristics of the test point, rotating the wafer to be tested through the motion module so that the incident light emitted by the probe has a preset measurement azimuth relative to the test point; using the first motion stage and / or the second motion stage to move each of the test points in the first semicircular test area to the irradiation spot position of the incident light, and collecting the measurement signal of each of the test points; rotating the wafer to be tested 180°, and using the first motion stage and / or the second motion stage to move each of the test points in the second semicircular test area to the irradiation spot position of the incident light, and collecting the measurement signal of each of the test points in the second semicircular test area to perform full-wafer measurement on the wafer to be tested. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0020] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the drawings in the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. It should be understood that the following drawings only show certain embodiments of the present application and therefore should not be regarded as limiting the scope. For ordinary technicians in this field, other relevant drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying any creative work.
[0021] FIG1 is a schematic structural diagram of a semiconductor measurement system of the present application;
[0022] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a swing-type lifting module supporting a wafer to be tested;
[0023] FIG3 is a partial cross-sectional view of the swing-type lifting module;
[0024] FIG4 is an exploded view of the swing lift module;
[0025] FIG5 is a schematic diagram of the swing-type lifting module and the manipulator exchanging support for the wafer to be tested;
[0026] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of the process of loading and unloading stages;
[0027] FIG7 is a schematic diagram of the measurement of the test points and the rotation of the partitions on the surface of the wafer to be tested;
[0028] FIG8 is a schematic diagram of the grating structure of the point to be measured.
[0029] Explanation of the main component symbols: 1. Semiconductor measurement system; 10. Drive assembly; 11. Housing; 111. Chamber; 113. Upper surface opening; 114. Through hole; 12. Connecting rod; 121. Support pin; 1211. Recessed area; 124. Steering groove section; 125. First section; 126. Last section; 13. Abutment; 14. Movable member; 15. Guide groove; 151. Groove side wall; 16. First direction; 17. Seal; 2. Swinging lifting module; 22. Carrier; 23. Probe; 230. Light spot; 231 , polarizer; 232, first rotary compensator; 233, analyzer; 234, second rotary compensator; 235, spectrometer; 236, light source; 24, first moving stage; 25, second moving stage; 26, third moving stage; 27, rotating stage; 28, manipulator; 281, first transmission arm; 282, second transmission arm; 29, body shell; 3, wafer to be tested; 30, point to be tested; 301, grating; 302, incident surface; 31, first semicircular area to be tested; 32, second semicircular area to be tested. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0030] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present application, rather than all the embodiments.
[0031] Some embodiments of the present application are described in detail. In the absence of conflict, the following embodiments and features of the embodiments can be combined with each other.
[0032] Example
[0033] In the first aspect, please refer to FIG1 and FIG2 , the present embodiment provides a semiconductor measurement system 1, which includes a body shell 29 enclosing a measurement chamber, and a carrier 22, a motion module, a plurality of swing-type lifting modules 2 and a probe 23 arranged in the measurement chamber. Among them, the carrier 22 is arranged on the motion module and has a bearing surface for carrying the wafer 3 to be measured during the measurement process; the motion module is connected to the carrier 22 and drives the carrier 22 to control the movement of the wafer 3 to be measured. The motion module includes a first motion table 24, a second motion table 25, a third motion table 26 and a rotating table 27. The first motion table 24 can move along the X direction in the horizontal plane, the second motion table 25 can move along the Y direction in the horizontal plane, the third motion table 26 can move up and down in the vertical direction, and the rotating table 27 can rotate in the horizontal plane; the swing-type lifting module 2 is directly or indirectly connected to the body shell 29 and is higher than the motion module. The setting is that the swing-type lifting module 2 includes a driving component 10, a connecting rod 12, and a support pin 121. The two ends of the connecting rod 12 are respectively connected to the driving component 10 and the support pin 121. The connecting rod 12 and the support pin 121 are fixed orthogonally. The driving component 10 can drive the connecting rod 12 and then drive the control pin 121 to move up and down in the vertical direction and / or swing around the vertical direction, thereby controlling the support pin 121 to approach or move away from the wafer 3 to be tested to realize the transfer and handover of the wafer 3 to be tested between the support pin 121 and the carrier 22; the probe 23 performs partitioned optical measurement on the wafer 3 to be tested placed on the carrier 22 to obtain the parameters to be tested.
[0034] The semiconductor measurement system 1 of this embodiment is configured with a swing-type lifting module 2. When the wafer 3 to be measured needs to be transferred and handed over, the driving component 10 is adjusted to drive the support pins 121 to descend and swing toward the carrier 22 to perform the load transfer of the wafer 3 to be measured between the carrier 22 and the support pins 121. When the wafer 3 to be measured does not need to be transferred and handed over, the driving component 10 drives the support pins 121 to swing away from the carrier 22 and rise to a preset waiting position to avoid and leave a safe distance for the wafer 3 to move to complete the full-piece measurement, thereby improving the overall measurement efficiency. The space occupied by the measurement equipment is reduced to achieve the effect of reducing the volume of the measurement equipment; combined with the motion module, the wafer 3 to be measured can realize X and Y movement in the horizontal plane, vertical lifting movement and rotation movement, so that the wafer 3 to be measured can be subjected to partition measurement, thereby reducing the maximum movement range of the motion module in the horizontal plane, further reducing the spatial volume of the measurement equipment, and at the same time ensuring that the test point 30 of the wafer 3 to be measured can meet the measurement requirements of the optimal azimuth angle, so as to obtain a measurement signal with a high signal-to-noise ratio, and thus obtain a more accurate measurement result.
[0035] As shown in Figures 2 to 4, in this embodiment, the driving assembly 10 in the swing-type lifting module 2 includes a housing 11, a movable member 14, a guide groove 15, a support member 13, and a driving source. The housing 11 has a chamber 111 extending along a first direction 16; the movable member 14 is disposed in the chamber 111, and one end of the movable member 14 is connected to the connecting rod 12; the guide groove 15 is provided on the movable member 14 or on the inner wall of the housing 11; the support member 13 is used to connect the housing 11 and the movable member 14, and at least one end extends to the guide groove 15. The support member 13 can move relative to the guide groove 15 to guide the movement of the movable member 14; the driving source (not shown) is used to drive the movable member 14 and, based on the relative movement of the support member 13 in the guide groove 15, drive the connecting rod 12 and further drive the control pin 121 to move up and down in the vertical direction and / or swing around the vertical direction.
[0036] Exemplarily, the housing 11 may be a cylinder having a hollow cavity and having openings on both the upper and lower surfaces. The movable member 14 may be a cylinder housed in the hollow cavity of the housing 11. The lower end of the movable member 14 is connected to the connecting rod 12, and the connecting rod 12 extends from the opening on the lower surface of the housing 11. A guide groove 15 is provided on the periphery of the movable member 14, and the guide groove 15 may also pass through the entire base of the movable member 14. The housing 11 has a through hole 114, which is connected to the chamber 111. A section of the abutment 13 is fixedly disposed in the through hole 114, and the other end of the abutment 13 extends into the guide groove 15, thereby allowing the abutment 13 to move relative to the guide groove 15. That is, the abutment 13 cooperates with the guide groove 15 to guide the movement of the movable member 14. The upper end of the movable member 14 is connected to a driving source, which is used to drive the movable member 14 and, based on the relative movement of the supporting member 13 in the guide groove 15, drives the connecting rod 12 and then drives the control pin 121 to move up and down in the vertical direction and / or swing around the vertical direction, so as to control the support pin 121 to approach or move away from the wafer 3 to be tested to achieve the transfer and handover of the wafer 3 to be tested between the support pin 121 and the carrier 22. Preferably, in this embodiment, the supporting member 13 is a latch. Alternatively, the guide groove 15 can be set on the inner wall of the shell 11 or through the side wall of the shell 11, one end of the supporting member 13 is fixedly set on the side wall of the movable member 14, and the other end of the supporting member 13 extends into the guide groove 15, thereby also enabling the supporting member 13 to move relative to each other along the guide groove 15 to guide the movement of the movable member 14, thereby driving the control pin 121 to move up and down in the vertical direction and / or swing around the vertical direction. This embodiment is not limited to this.
[0037] Furthermore, the guide groove 15 includes a turning groove section 124, and the extension direction of the turning groove section 124 is arranged at an angle with the first direction 16. Taking the guide groove 15 provided on the movable member 14 as an example, as shown in FIG4 , in one possible embodiment, the guide groove 15 further includes a first section 125 and a last section 126, and the turning groove section 124 is arranged at an angle with the extension direction of the chamber 111 and is arranged between the first section 125 and the last section 126, and the first section 125, the turning groove section 124, and the last section 126 are sequentially connected.
[0038] In this embodiment, the first direction 16 is the vertical direction, the first section 125 and the last section 126 extend along the vertical direction, and the extension direction of the steering groove section 124 forms an acute angle with the vertical direction. When the abutment 13 moves in the steering groove section 124, the movement direction of the movable member 14 forms an angle with the vertical direction, that is, the movable member 14 has both a first movement component in the first direction 16 and a second movement component that swings around the vertical direction in the horizontal plane. At this time, the movable member 14 drives the support pin 121 to move along the vertical direction and swing around the vertical direction at the same time; when the abutment 13 moves in the first section 125 and the last section 126, it drives the support pin 121 to move along the vertical direction, thereby controlling the relative movement of the abutment 13 in the guide groove 15 to control the support pin 121 to approach or move away from the wafer 3 to be tested.
[0039] In other embodiments, the guide groove 15 can have various extension shapes. For example, the steering groove section 124 can be perpendicular to the first direction 16 and connect the first section 125 and the last section 126 respectively. In this case, the extension direction of the steering groove section 124 needs to be at a non-orthogonal angle with the extension of the support pin 121. When the abutment 13 moves in the steering groove section 124, the movable member 14 drives the support pin 121 to swing around the vertical direction; when the abutment 13 moves in the first section 125 and the last section 126, the movement of the support pin 121 is the same as that of the aforementioned embodiment. Alternatively, the first section 125, the steering groove section 124, and the last section 126 are on a straight line to form an inclined guide groove 15. With this arrangement, when the abutment 13 moves in the guide groove 15, the movable member 14 drives the support pin 121 to move along the vertical direction and swing around the vertical direction at the same time. This embodiment is not limited to this. In a possible embodiment, at least one guide groove 15 is provided, and the abutting member 13 and the movable member 14 are separably abutted against each other. The abutting member 13 can correspond to a guide groove 15 so that the movable member 14 moves according to the shape of the guide groove 15 .
[0040] In this embodiment, a plurality of guide grooves 15 are arranged at intervals on the circumference of the movable part 14, wherein the extension direction of each guide groove 15 can be the same or different, and a supporting member 13 is provided. When it is necessary to change the movement mode of the movable part 14, the supporting member 13 is moved away from the guide groove 15, and then the movable part 14 is rotated so that the required guide groove 15 corresponds to the supporting member 13, and then the supporting member 13 is moved to the required guide groove 15 to abut the groove side wall 151.
[0041] In other embodiments, a plurality of resisting members 13 are provided, and each resisting member 13 corresponds to each guide slot 15 . When one resisting member 13 moves into the corresponding guide slot 15 , the other resisting members 13 move away from the guide slot 15 , thereby flexibly adjusting and changing the movement mode of the movable member 14 . This embodiment is not limited thereto.
[0042] In this embodiment, the driving source includes at least one of a gas driving system, a fluid driving system, or an electric driving system. As shown in FIG2 and FIG3 , the driving source is connected to the movable member 14 through the upper surface opening 113 of the housing 11 to drive the movable member 14 to move.
[0043] In one possible embodiment, the driving source is a gas driving system or a fluid driving system, which includes a seal 17. The seal 17 is arranged in the chamber 111 and is fixedly connected to the movable part 14. The seal 17 and the shell 11 enclose a variable pressure chamber. The gas driving system or the fluid driving system is used to change the content of the gas or fluid in the pressure chamber to regulate the pressure in the variable pressure chamber to drive the seal 17 and the movable part 14 to move, wherein the movement trajectory of the movable part 14 is controlled by the movement of the above-mentioned supporting member 13 and the guide groove 15 in coordination with each other.
[0044] In another possible embodiment, the driving source is an electric driving system, which includes a motor. The motor is transmission-connected to the movable part 14 and drives the movable part 14 to move via a lead screw.
[0045] In one possible embodiment, the free end of the support pin 121 is provided with a recessed area 1211, which is used to support the wafer 3 under test during the transfer of the wafer 3 under test. The shape of the recessed area 1211 is similar to the shape of the wafer 3 under test and can be set as an arc surface, so that the support pin 121 can be matched with the circumference of the wafer 3 under test, thereby improving the stability of the support of the wafer 3 under test.
[0046] In this embodiment, there are multiple swing-type lifting modules 2 , which may be 3, 4 or more. The multiple swing-type lifting modules 2 are distributed along the circumference of the wafer 3 to support the wafer 3 together.
[0047] 6 , along the direction of arrow A, FIG6(e)-FIG6(a) show the loading stage process of the wafer 3 to be tested; along the direction of arrow B, FIG6(a)-FIG6(e) show the unloading stage process of the wafer 3 to be tested. Among them, in the loading stage of measurement, the support pin 121 is driven to be higher than the bearing surface of the carrier 22 and point to the carrier 22, and then the wafer 3 to be measured is transferred to the support pin 121, and the carrier 22 is controlled to rise until its bearing surface contacts and supports the wafer 3 to be measured, and the wafer 3 to be measured is separated from the support pin 121, and then the support pin 121 is driven to swing away from the carrier and rise to a preset waiting position; in the unloading stage of measurement, the support pin 121 is driven to be lower than the lower surface of the wafer 3 to be measured and point to the carrier 22, and the carrier 22 is controlled to descend until its bearing surface is separated from the wafer 3 to be measured so that the support pin 121 supports the wafer 3 to be measured, and then the wafer 3 to be measured is brought out of the measurement cavity, and the support pin 121 is driven to swing away from the carrier 22 and rise to the preset waiting position, so as to control the support pin 121 to approach or move away from the wafer 3 to be measured to realize the transfer and handover of the wafer 3 to be measured between the support pin 121 and the carrier 22.
[0048] Furthermore, each swing-type lifting module 2 may be provided with at least one supporting pin 121. For example, each swing-type lifting module 2 may be provided with two supporting pins 121, and the two supporting pins 121 are arranged in parallel in two layers in sequence and fixed on the connecting rod 12. The two supporting pins 121 in the upper and lower layers of each swing-type lifting module 2 are respectively provided in a one-to-one correspondence, so that the supporting pins 121 in the same layer can support the same wafer 3 to be tested, and the supporting pins 121 in different layers can be used to support the wafer 3 to be tested that has completed the measurement signal acquisition process and the wafer 3 to be tested that is ready to perform signal acquisition during the operation of the measurement equipment, thereby realizing the transfer and handover of the wafer 3 to be tested at different nodes during the measurement process, thereby improving the working efficiency of the measurement system.
[0049] In this embodiment, the maximum movement range of the first moving platform 24 is L1, and the maximum movement range of the second moving platform 25 is L2, where L1∈[D / 2, D / 2+δ L ],L2∈[D,D+δ L ], D is the diameter of the wafer 3 to be tested, 0<δ L≤20mm. As described in conjunction with FIG7 , a number of test points 30 are provided on the surface of the wafer 3 to be tested. The dotted box represents the maximum movement stroke of the first moving stage 24 and the second moving stage 25, which is also the range within which the center of the wafer 3 to be tested can move. During the measurement process, the wafer 3 to be tested is divided into two semicircular test areas. By controlling the movement strokes of the first moving stage 24 and the second moving stage 25, the different test points 30 on the first semicircular test area are respectively located in the light spot 230 of the incident light emitted by the probe 23 to collect the measurement signals of the corresponding test points 30. Then, the wafer 3 to be tested is rotated 180° by the rotating stage 27, and the measurement signals of the different test points 30 on the second semicircular test area are collected. In this way, the measurement signals of all test points 30 on the entire surface of the wafer 3 to be tested are obtained and the corresponding test parameters are calculated. At the same time, the wafer 3 to be measured is rotated by the rotating table 27 so that each test point 30 obtains the required measurement azimuth angle to meet the measurement system parameter requirements, improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the measurement signal, and thus improve the accuracy of the measurement results. That is, this embodiment provides a semiconductor measurement system 1. By combining the swing-type lifting module 2 and the motion module, not only is the motion range of the motion module reduced to reduce the overall space size of the system, but it also meets the requirement of setting different azimuth angles for the test points 30 on different wafers to be measured during the measurement process to obtain measurement signals with high signal-to-noise ratios, thereby ensuring high accuracy of the measurement results. As shown in Figure 1, the first motion table 24, the second motion table 25, the third motion table 26, and the rotating table 27 are stacked in sequence in the vertical direction, but this embodiment is not limited to this. In actual applications, the stacking order can be interchanged.
[0050] Exemplarily, the parameters to be measured include at least one of film thickness, pattern critical dimension, pattern overlay and defect detection measurement on the surface of the wafer 3 to be measured.
[0051] In one possible embodiment, the semiconductor measurement system 1 further includes a wafer transfer module, which includes a robot 28. As shown in FIG5 , the robot 28 includes at least one transfer arm, which is used to remove the wafer 3 to be measured and place it on the support pins 121 during the loading and unloading stages. Preferably, a first transfer arm 281 and a second transfer arm 282 can be provided to simultaneously load and unload two wafers, thereby improving the operating efficiency of the measurement system.
[0052] In this embodiment, a connection port is provided on one side of the body shell 29 of the semiconductor measurement system 1. The connection port is connected to the measurement chamber and can be connected to the wafer storage interface of the semiconductor production equipment. Existing semiconductor equipment usually has a wafer storage interface, which is connected to the wafer storage (load port) through the wafer storage interface to grab the wafer 3 to be tested from the standard wafer box (Front-opening unified pod, Foup) placed on the wafer storage to achieve loading and unloading of the wafer 3 to be tested. By providing a connection port on the side of the body shell 29 of the semiconductor measurement system 1 provided in this embodiment, the measurement system can be directly integrated into the existing process equipment end. Not only does it not increase the modification cost of the existing process equipment, but it can also share the wafer transfer module compatible with the existing process equipment, greatly reducing the material cost of the measurement equipment, while saving the transfer time of the wafer 3 to be tested that is repeatedly alternated during the processing process and measurement, greatly improving the production capacity efficiency of wafer manufacturing.
[0053] In this embodiment, the probe 23 can be fixed to the body shell 29 through a frame (not shown). As shown in Figure 1, the probe 23 includes a light source 236, a polarizer 231, a first rotary compensator 232, a second rotary compensator 234, an analyzer 233 and a spectrometer 235. As shown in Figure 7, the incident light provided by the light source 236 passes through the polarizer 231 and the first rotary compensator 232 in sequence and is incident on the surface of the wafer 3 to be measured to form a light spot 230. The motion module is used to make the test point 30 on the surface of the wafer 3 to be measured be located in the light spot 230. The incident light is reflected by the test point 30 to form detection light. The detection light passes through the second rotary compensator 234 and the analyzer 233 in sequence and then enters the spectrometer 235. The spectrometer 235 collects the measurement signal of the test point 30 to measure the wafer 3 to be measured.
[0054] On the other hand, an embodiment of the present application also provides a measurement method, which uses a semiconductor measurement system 1 to measure a wafer 3 to be measured, including a loading stage, a signal acquisition stage and a unloading stage, wherein the loading stage includes: performing a first drive on the connecting rod 12 by the driving component 10, so that the support pin 121 is higher than the bearing surface and points to the carrier 22, the wafer 3 to be measured is transferred to the support pin 121, the carrier 22 is controlled to rise until it contacts the bearing surface and supports the wafer 3 to be measured, and the wafer 3 to be measured is separated from the support pin 121, and the driving component 10 performs a second drive on the connecting rod 12, so that the support pin 121 swings away from the carrier 22 and rises To the preset waiting position; the signal acquisition stage includes: based on the probe 23, collecting the measurement signal of the test point 30 on the surface of the wafer 3 to be tested placed on the carrier 22, so as to obtain the parameters to be tested; the unloading stage includes: performing a third drive on the connecting rod 12 through the driving component 10, so that the support pin 121 is lower than the lower surface of the wafer 3 to be tested and points to the carrier 22, controlling the carrier 22 to descend until the support pin 121 supports the wafer 3 to be tested and the supporting surface is separated from the wafer 3 to be tested, and the wafer 3 to be tested is brought out of the measuring cavity, and performing a fourth drive on the connecting rod 12 through the driving component 10, so that the support pin 121 swings to away from the carrier 22 and rises to the preset waiting position.
[0055] The measurement method of this embodiment realizes full-sheet measurement of the wafer 3 to be measured within a small range of travel by regulating the mutual coordination between the swing-type lifting module 2 and the motion module. At the same time, the wafer 3 to be measured is rotated to a suitable measurement position by the carrier 22, so that the incident light emitted by the probe 23 has a preset optimal measurement azimuth angle relative to the point to be measured 30, so as to obtain a measurement signal with a high signal-to-noise ratio, thereby realizing high-precision measurement in a small volume space.
[0056] As shown in Figure 7, in this embodiment, the signal acquisition stage also includes: dividing the wafer 3 to be tested into areas according to the diameter CD of the wafer 3 to be tested to obtain a relative first semicircular test area 31 and a second semicircular test area 32; based on the characteristics of the point 30 to be tested, rotating the wafer 3 to be tested through the motion module so that the incident light emitted by the probe 23 has a preset measurement azimuth relative to the point 30 to be tested; each point 30 to be tested in the first semicircular test area 32 is respectively transferred to the light spot 230 of the incident light through the first motion stage 24 and / or the second motion stage 25, and the measurement signal of each point 30 to be tested is collected; rotating the wafer 3 to be tested 180°, and each point 30 to be tested in the second semicircular test area 32 is respectively transferred to the light spot 230 of the incident light through the first motion stage 24 and / or the second motion stage 25, and the measurement signal of each point 30 to be tested is collected, so as to perform full-piece measurement on the wafer 3 to be tested. In another possible embodiment, the motion module may be controlled to drive the wafer 3 to be tested to move continuously or stepwise, thereby achieving full-wafer scanning measurement of the wafer 3 to be tested, which is not limited in the present invention.
[0057] Exemplarily, the characteristics of the test point 30 include the structural pattern features of the test point 30. Taking OCD measurement as an example, as shown in FIG8 , the test point 30 includes a grating 301 structure that is periodic along the X-direction. Arrows R1 and R2 represent the incident light and the detection light, respectively. The angle Φ between the incident surface 302 and the X-direction represents the azimuth angle of the incident light R1 relative to the test point 30. The azimuth angle is a key system parameter that affects the sensitivity of OCD measurements. Grating structures of different morphologies correspond to different optimal azimuth angles.
[0058] The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present application and are not intended to limit the present application. Although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the above preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that modifications or equivalent replacements of the technical solutions of the present application should not depart from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the present application.
Claims
1. A semiconductor measurement system, comprising a housing enclosing a measurement chamber, and a stage, a motion module, a plurality of swing-type lifting modules and a probe arranged in the measurement chamber, characterized in that: The carrier is arranged on the motion module and has a carrying surface, and is used for carrying the wafer to be measured during the measurement process; The motion module is connected to the carrier and drives the carrier to control the movement of the wafer to be tested. The motion module includes a first motion stage, a second motion stage, a third motion stage and a rotating stage. The first motion stage can move along the X direction in the horizontal plane, the second motion stage can move along the Y direction in the horizontal plane, the third motion stage can move up and down in the vertical direction, and the rotating stage can rotate in the horizontal plane. The swing-type lifting module is directly or indirectly connected to the body shell and is arranged higher than the motion module, and includes a driving assembly, a connecting rod, and a supporting pin. The two ends of the connecting rod are respectively connected to the driving assembly and the supporting pin. The connecting rod and the supporting pin are orthogonally fixed. The driving assembly can drive the connecting rod and then drive the supporting pin to move up and down in the vertical direction and / or swing around the vertical direction, so as to control the supporting pin to approach or move away from the wafer to be tested to realize the transfer and handover of the wafer to be tested between the supporting pin and the carrier. The probe performs a partitioned optical measurement on the wafer to be measured placed on the stage to obtain the parameters to be measured.
2. The semiconductor measurement system according to claim 1, wherein: The drive assembly comprises: a housing having a chamber extending along a first direction; A movable member is disposed in the chamber, and one end of the movable member is connected to the connecting rod; A guide groove is provided on the movable part or the housing; A supporting member, used to connect the housing and the movable member and having at least one end extending to the guide groove, wherein the supporting member can move relatively along the guide groove to guide the movement of the movable member; A driving source is used to drive the movable member and drive the connecting rod based on the relative movement of the abutting member in the guide groove, thereby driving the supporting pin movable member to move up and down in the vertical direction and / or around the vertical direction. Swing in the direction.
3. The semiconductor measurement system according to claim 2, wherein: The guide groove comprises a turning groove section, and an extending direction of the turning groove section is arranged at an angle with the first direction.
4. The semiconductor measurement system according to claim 2, wherein: The guide groove is arranged at the periphery of the movable part or passes through the base of the movable part. One end of the abutting part is fixedly arranged on the shell, and the other end of the abutting part extends into the guide groove.
5. The semiconductor measurement system according to claim 2, wherein: The guide groove is formed on the inner wall of the shell or passes through the side wall of the shell. One end of the abutting member is fixedly arranged on the movable member, and the other end of the abutting member extends into the guide groove.
6. The semiconductor measurement system according to claim 2, wherein: The driving source includes a gas driving system or a liquid driving system, and the gas driving system or the liquid driving system includes a sealing member. The sealing member is arranged in the chamber and fixedly connected to the movable part. The sealing member and the shell are combined to form a variable pressure chamber. The pressure in the variable pressure chamber is controlled by changing the content of gas or liquid in the variable pressure chamber to drive the sealing member and the movable part to move.
7. The semiconductor measurement system according to claim 2, wherein: The driving source includes an electric driving system, and the electric driving system includes a motor. The motor is connected to the movable part and drives the movable part to move.
8. The semiconductor measurement system according to claim 1, wherein: The free end of the supporting pin is provided with a recessed area, and the recessed area is used to support the wafer to be tested when the wafer to be tested is transferred.
9. The semiconductor measurement system according to claim 1, wherein: The maximum movement range of the first motion platform is L1, and the maximum movement range of the second motion platform is L2, where L1∈[D / 2, D / 2+δ L ], L2∈[D, D+δ L ]; D is the diameter of the wafer to be tested, 0<δ L ≤20mm.
10. The semiconductor measurement system according to claim 1, wherein: The parameters to be measured include at least one of film thickness, pattern critical dimension, pattern overlay and defect detection measurement on the surface of the wafer to be measured.
11. The semiconductor measurement system according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that: A connection port is arranged on one side of the body shell, and the connection port is communicated with the measuring cavity and can be connected to a wafer library interface of a semiconductor production device.
12. A measurement method, characterized in that: The semiconductor measurement system according to any one of claims 1 to 11 is used to measure the wafer to be measured, and the measurement method includes: a wafer loading stage, a signal acquisition stage and a wafer unloading stage. The wafer loading stage includes: performing a first drive on the connecting rod by the driving component so that the supporting pin is higher than the carrying surface and points to the carrier, transferring the wafer to be tested to the supporting pin, controlling the carrier to rise until the carrying surface contacts and supports the wafer to be tested, and making the wafer to be tested detach from the supporting pin, and performing a second drive on the connecting rod by the driving component so that the supporting pin swings away from the carrier and rises to a preset waiting position; The signal acquisition stage comprises: based on the probe, acquiring the measurement signal of the test point on the surface of the wafer to be tested placed on the stage to obtain the test parameter; The unloading stage includes: performing a third drive on the connecting rod through the driving component, so that the support pin is lower than the lower surface of the wafer to be measured and points to the carrier, controlling the carrier to descend until the supporting surface is separated from the wafer to be measured so that the support pin supports the wafer to be measured, and the wafer to be measured is brought out of the measuring chamber, and performing a fourth drive on the connecting rod through the driving component, so that the support pin swings to away from the carrier and rises to a preset waiting position.
13. The measuring method according to claim 12, characterized in that: The signal acquisition stage also includes: Dividing the wafer to be tested into regions to obtain a first semicircle area to be tested and a second semicircle area to be tested; Based on the characteristics of the point to be measured, the wafer to be measured is rotated by a motion module so that the incident light emitted by the probe has a preset measurement azimuth relative to the point to be measured; Each of the first semicircular test area is moved by the first motion stage and / or the second motion stage The points to be measured are respectively moved to the irradiation spot position of the incident light, and the measurement signal of each point to be measured is collected; Rotate the wafer to be tested 180°, and move each of the points to be tested in the second semicircular area to be tested to the illumination spot position of the incident light through the first moving stage and / or the second moving stage, and collect measurement signals of each of the points to be tested in the second semicircular area to be tested to perform full-wafer measurement on the wafer to be tested.
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