128 results about "Metrology" patented technology

A method for correcting metrology data of a patterning process. The method includes obtaining (i) metrology data of a substrate subjected to the patterning process and (ii) a quality metric (e.g., a focus index) that quantifies a quality of the metrology data of the substrate; establishing a correlation between the quality metric and the metrology data; and determining a correction to the metrology data based on the correlation between the quality metric and the metrology data.

The present invention relates to a circular profile error separation method based on the optimization of the indexing angle by time-frequency domain transformation, belonging to the technical field of ultra-precision geometric quantity measurement. The method includes the following steps: applying a single indexing to cause a certain time delay of the profile error signal of the measured part in the time domain, and using the additional information obtained by this indexing to separate the spindle rotation error and the profile error of the measured part. The present invention establishes the relationship between the separation accuracy and the indexing angle error through time-frequency domain transformation. Thus, parameter optimization is carried out according to the requirements of error separation, realizing the roundness error separation that takes into account both the error separation accuracy and the harmonic range that can be accurately separated, so as to obtain more comprehensive, real and accurate circular profile information, providing an accurate theoretical basis for the metrology institutions and key laboratories to implement high-precision measurement of the circular cross-section of rotary parts.

A metrology method is disclosed. The method comprises obtaining measurement data regarding measurements made on at least one target using two or more different illumination profiles; and determining a respective value of a parameter of interest of a parameter of interest for each of the two or more different illumination profiles from the measurement data. The described method: determines a respective measurement parameter deviation value for each of the two or more different illumination profiles from the measurement data, the measurement parameter deviation value describing a deviation of a measurement parameter from a measurement parameter value of a region of interest attributable to the target or a sub-target thereof; determining a relationship between a parameter value of interest and the measured parameter deviation value for the target; and determining one or both of the corrected parameter value of interest and the preferred illumination profile according to the relationship.

A metrology method, and associated metrology apparatus, for determining one or more parameters of a periodic target on an object is disclosed. The periodic target is adjacent to a reference mark having a pitch equal to that of the periodic target. The method comprises projecting radiation onto the object such that a first portion of the radiation is incident on the periodic target and a second portion of the radiation is incident on the reference mark. The method further comprises measuring at least one interference pattern formed by contributions to a single diffraction order from both the first and second portions of radiation. The method further comprises determining the one or more parameters in dependence on the at least one interference pattern.

Disclosed is a metrology method comprising: obtaining metrology data relating to a measurement obtained by illuminating a periodic structure comprising at least one pitch with partial coherent illumination comprising a wavelength and capturing the resultant scattered radiation from said periodic structure at a detection plane, said scattered radiation passing through at least one angularly resolved plane between said periodic structure and detection plane, said angularly resolved plane comprising at least one mask edge; non-iteratively reconstructing a field of said scattered radiation; using said reconstructed field to determine a parameter of interest of the structure; and in an initial step: selecting said wavelength and a maximum of said at least one pitch such that the wavelength- over-pitch ratio is greater than a first distance in said angularly resolved plane.

Disclosed is a metrology system comprising: a pre-alignment metrology tool operable to measure a plurality of targets on a substrate to obtain measurement data; and a processing unit. The processing unit is operable to: process said measurement data to determine for each target at least one position distribution which describes variation of said position value over at least part of said target; and determine a measurement correction from said at least one position distribution which corrects for within-target variation in each of said targets, said measurement correction for correcting measurements performed by an alignment sensor.

According to the metering detection calibration method and system, the dynamic waiting time is determined on the basis of the characteristic relaxation time of the instrument to be calibrated, and data is recorded after output is stable, so that the problems that the traditional fixed waiting time cannot adapt to the relaxation characteristic of the instrument, and data instability or low efficiency is easily caused are solved; the instrument is ensured to be fully stable so as to improve data reliability, and waiting time redundancy is avoided; and meanwhile, the equivalent effective times are calculated by combining the actual retention time after the output value is stabilized and the characteristic relaxation time of the instrument to be calibrated, and a final calibration result is obtained by adopting a statistical method for dynamically quantifying the data contribution degree, so that the problems that the existing equal weighting or manual weighting mode is strong in subjectivity and is difficult to reflect the real reliability of the data are solved. And the accuracy and objectivity of the calibration result are improved.

A metrology system may receive two or more measurement datasets associated with a test feature on a sample from one or more measurement sub-systems operable under two or more measurement configurations, where a respective one the two or more measurement datasets is generated with a respective one of the two or more measurement configurations. A metrology system may generate two or more intermediate metrology measurements of the test feature using two or more machine learning models, where a respective one of the two or more intermediate metrology measurements is generated using at least a portion of a respective one of the two or more measurement datasets as an input to a respective one of the two or more machine learning models. A metrology system may determine a final metrology measurement of the test feature using a weighting model based on the two or more intermediate metrology measurements.

Disclosed is a method for determining a parameter of interest relating to at least one target on a substrate. The method comprises obtaining metrology data comprising at least one asymmetry signal, said at least one asymmetry signal comprising a difference or imbalance in a measurement parameter from the target; obtaining a trained model having been trained or configured to relate said at least one asymmetry signal to the parameter of interest, the trained model comprising at least one proxy for at least one nuisance component of the at least one asymmetry signal; and inferring said parameter of interest for said at least one target from said at least one asymmetry signal using the trained model.

Disclosed is a method of identifying a source of a reconstruction error relating to reconstruction of a plurality of model parameters describing a structure on a substrate formed in a lithographic process. The method comprises: obtaining model parameters describing a nominal profile for describing said structure; obtaining metrology data relating to a measurement of said structure; determining simulated data, from a simulation of the measurement of said structure described in accordance with said model parameters; determining a spatially resolved sensitivity metric describing a sensitivity of a cost function to at least one property and / or function of said structure, said cost function comparing the metrology data and simulated data; and identifying a source of a reconstruction error from said spatially resolved sensitivity metric.

A method of determining a parameter of interest of a structure comprising at least one first feature oriented along a first axis of a structure coordinate system and at least one second feature oriented along a second axis of the structure coordinate system. The method comprising: illuminating the first feature and the second feature with first illumination from a first direction oblique to said first axis and second axis, so as to generate first scattered radiation from the first feature and second scattered radiation from the second feature, detecting a first interference pattern formed by interference between a portion of the first scattered radiation and first reference illumination; detecting a second interference pattern formed by interference between a portion of the second scattered radiation and the first reference illumination; and determining the parameter of interest of the structure using the first interference pattern and the second interference pattern.

A metrology system may receive one or more first images of an overlay target on a sample from a first detector, where the overlay target includes one or more Moiré structures, which may be formed as first-layer features and second-layer features that at least partially overlap and have different pitches. In the first images, the first-layer features and the second-layer features may be unresolved, but a Moiré pitch may be resolved. The system may further receive one or more second images of the overlay target from a second detector, where at least one of the first-layer features or the second-layer features are resolved in the one or more second images. The controller may generate a metrology measurement based on the one or more first images and generate a measurement of a systematic error associated with the metrology measurement based on the one or more second images.

An acquisition method and system of an addressing pattern, a measurement method, and related devices; the acquisition method of the addressing pattern includes: acquiring a positioning field of view region corresponding to a target pattern, the positioning field of view region having the target pattern; dividing the positioning field of view region into a plurality of first unit regions; acquiring a pattern density of each first unit region; and acquiring a position of an addressing pattern located around the target pattern in the positioning field of view region according to a plurality of first unit regions having the largest difference in pattern density with adjacent first unit regions. The acquisition method of the addressing pattern of the embodiment is advantageous in improving the uniqueness of the selected addressing pattern, reducing the probability of the addressing pattern being similar to the patterns of other regions, thereby being advantageous in accurately positioning the addressing pattern, and further being capable of accurately positioning the target pattern based on the addressing pattern, and accordingly being advantageous in improving the process reliability, for example, improving the accuracy of the measurement result of the target pattern in the process of measuring the target pattern.

A method and system are presented for use in measuring characteristic(s) of patterned structures. The method utilizes processing of first and second measured data, wherein the first measured data is indicative of at least one Raman spectrum obtained from a patterned structure under measurements using at least one selected optical measurement scheme each with a predetermined configuration of illuminating and / or collected light conditions corresponding to the characteristic(s) to be measured, and the second measured data comprises at least one spectrum obtained from the patterned structure in Optical Critical Dimension (OCD) measurement session. The processing comprises applying model-based analysis to the at least one Raman spectrum and the at least one OCD spectrum, and determining the characteristic(s) of the patterned structure under measurements.

A metrology method with automated triggering of retraining of a machine learning model (MLM) is disclosed. The method may acquire metrology measurement data from a plurality of sites of a wafer. The method may apply a MLM to the measurement data to predict a metrology metric. The method may apply a triggering algorithm to monitor the effectiveness of the MLM, wherein the triggering algorithm determines a dissimilarity between the measurement data and a training data set of the MLM. The triggering algorithm may identify a failed MLM state when the distance between the measurement data and the training data set exceeds one or more thresholds. The method may retrain the MLM using an adjusted training data set. The adjusted training data set may be generated by adding the measurement data from the wafer to the training data set. The method may apply the retrained MLM to a subsequent wafer.

A method of metrology target design is described. The method includes determining a sensitivity of a parameter of a metrology target design to a perturbation of a process parameter for forming, or measuring the formation of, the metrology target, and determining a robustness of the metrology target design based on the sum of the sensitivity multiplied by the perturbation of at least one of the process parameters.

Disclosed is an apparatus for and method of aligning a target composed of a target material and a conditioning beam provided to condition the target by changing the target's shape, mass distribution, etc., in which the conditioning beam includes structured light in the form of an inhomogeneous distribution of a propagation mode such as a polarization mode across a spatial mode of the target.

A method of inferring second metrology data relating to patterned substrate on which patterns have been exposed and on which processing has been performed, from first metrology data measured on the patterned substrate prior to performance of the processing. The method includes obtaining a model including a first model component. The first model component includes a machine learning model component having been trained to map the first metrology data to the second metrology data, the first model component further including a physics-based input channel for receiving physics-based input data. Second metrology data is inferred from the first metrology data using the first model component as biased by the physics-based input data on the physics-based input channel.

A metrology system may receive one or more first images of an overlay target on a sample from a first detector, where the overlay target includes one or more Moire structures, which may be formed as first-layer features and second-layer features that at least partially overlap and have different pitches. In the first images, the first-layer features and the second-layer features may be unresolved, but a Moire pitch may be resolved. The system may further receive one or more second images of the overlay target from a second detector, where at least one of the first-layer features or the second-layer features are resolved in the one or more second images. The controller may generate a metrology measurement based on the one or more first images and generate a measurement of a systematic error associated with the metrology measurement based on the one or more second images.

A metrology method related to measurement of a structure on a substrate, the structure experiencing process variations is disclosed. The method comprises: obtaining first measurement data related to a phase of measurement radiation that has been scattered from one or more markers and to a plurality of measurement conditions; obtaining second measurement data relating to the intensity of the measurement radiation and to the plurality of measurement conditions; obtaining a weighting of the first measurement data and the second measurement data, the weighting comprising a modulus component associated with a modulus of a complex weight and an argument component associated with an argument of the complex weight; and determining a first parameter value of a first parameter from the first measurement data and the second measurement data weighted by the weighting.

The utility model relates to the technical field of metering devices, and discloses a metering device convenient to read metering data, which comprises a metering assembly, the lower end of the metering assembly is provided with a base, the upper end of the base is also provided with a washing assembly, a starting motor, a matching rotating shaft, a shaft rod and a synchronous belt drive a turntable to rotate, and at the moment, a lifting piece and the washing assembly synchronously rotate; the flushing assembly is located on the metering cylinder, then the air cylinder part is started reversely, the connecting base and the flushing box can be driven to move downwards until the blocking cover makes contact with the metering cylinder, then the micro pump body is started, water can be pumped out and discharged through the flushing pipe, water can be sprayed into the metering cylinder, and the water slides along the inner wall of the metering cylinder; meanwhile, an electric push rod is started, a cleaning plate can be pushed to move downwards, the inner wall of the metering cylinder is cleaned, liquid can be discharged from a guide pipe, the interior of the metering cylinder is clean, residual liquid is reduced, and the accuracy of the metering result is guaranteed.

The invention relates to the technical field of metering, and discloses a metering monitoring method and a metering monitoring system.The method comprises the steps that a handover mode is determined according to a service identifier of a handover service and a mapping table, and the mapping table comprises the corresponding relation between the service identifier and the handover mode; according to a handover mode corresponding to the handover service, determining a to-be-collected actual data item, a standard data item and a fluctuation range of the handover service; collecting actual data items of the handover service; determining an actual handover amount according to the actual data item of the handover service, and determining a standard handover amount according to the standard data item; and determining whether the handover service is abnormal or not according to whether the comparison result of the actual handover amount and the standard handover amount exceeds the corresponding fluctuation range or not. According to the invention, the structured and automatic processing of the metering data is realized, the accuracy and reliability of the metering data are improved, the abnormity of handover data is found in time, and the automation level of metering management is greatly improved.

The invention relates to the technical field of measurement switch calibration, and discloses a measurement switch calibration device and calibration method. Parameter initialization is completed by determining a measurement input voltage range, a quantization resolution, a maximum allowable error threshold and an initial segmentation boundary, initial segments are divided based on the current boundary, sampling points of all the segments are calculated, and actual output measurement is carried out to obtain an input and output corresponding relation. Then, constructing a quadratic polynomial fitting function of each section according to a sampling result, and setting a check point in each section to verify an interpolation error so as to evaluate fitting precision; and if the error exceeds the limit, performing adaptive subdivision on the interval until the requirement is met. After all the segments meet the precision requirement, a global calibration mapping function is integrated and constructed, a boundary index structure is established, and finally a result is deployed into a measurement device, so that a corresponding segment function can be called according to the real-time input voltage during online operation for precise calibration.

A method for multi-merit adaptive sampling may include receiving an initial sampling map and a first set of metrology data. The method may further include calculating figure of merit metrics. The method may include ranking each initial sampling point in the initial sampling map based on the figure of merit metrics and levels of process variation. The method may include generating an adjusted sampling plan for at least one of a second sample in the first lot or a future process layer of the first sample based on the rank of each initial sampling point. An adjusted set of sampling points may be generated by increasing a number of sampling points in a first sample region associated with a first level of process variation and decreasing a number of sampling points in a second sample region associated with a second level of process variation.

The invention relates to a scattering measurement-based metrology system and method. The measurement model is trained from raw scatterometry data collected by a scatterometry-based overlay metrology system from an experimentally designed DOE wafer. Each measurement site includes one or more metrology targets fabricated with programmed overlay variations and known process variations. Each measurement site is measured with a known metrology system variation. In this manner, the measurement model is trained to separate the actual overlay from process variations and metrology system variations that affect overlay measurements. Thus, estimation of the actual overlay from the training measurement model is robust to process variations and metrology system variations. The measurement model is trained based on scatter measurement data collected from the same metrology system used to perform measurements. Thus, the measurement model is insensitive to system errors, asymmetry, and the like.

A metrology system including a measurement sub-system to collect zero-order double diffraction from a metrology target in response to an illumination beam, where the metrology target includes one or more grating-over-grating structures, having common pitches on two sample layers. The system may further include a controller to generate an after-develop inspection (ADI) metrology measurement of the metrology target at an ADI process step, generate an after-etch inspection (AEI) metrology measurement of the metrology target at an AEI process step, determine a non-zero offset (NZO) measurement based on a difference of the ADI metrology measurement and the AEI metrology measurement, and control one or more process tools based on at least one of the ADI metrology measurement, the AEI metrology measurement, or the NZO measurement.

The present application relates to the technical field of metrology automation calibration and testing, and provides an automatic metrology calibration data processing method, device, equipment, storage medium and program product, comprising: acquiring sampling parameters, and starting real-time monitoring of environmental influence quantity information; controlling a metrology standard device and a measured device to perform independent repeated observation according to the sampling parameters, so as to collect a measurement data sequence; associating each measurement data in the measurement data sequence with corresponding sampling time information and the monitored environmental influence quantity information, so as to generate a measurement data original record; and calculating a calibration result according to the measurement data original record, and automatically evaluating uncertainty. The present application realizes fine management and control of measurement whole-process data and automatic evaluation of uncertainty by establishing one-to-one corresponding association records of the measurement data of independent repeated observation and real-time environmental influence quantity and time information, and has the advantages of high calibration efficiency, complete data traceability chain and objective and accurate results.

A metrology method comprises obtaining a first absolute position metric of a first structure in a first layer on a substrate and a second absolute position metric of a second structure in a second layer of the substrate; and determining from first absolute position metric and said second absolute position metric one or more of: an exposure induced first layer pattern displacement describing a displacement error of said first structure resultant from exposure of the structure, an exposure induced second layer pattern displacement describing a displacement error of said second structure resultant from exposure of the structure, a process induced first layer pattern displacement describing a displacement error of said first structure resultant from processing of the structure and / or an alignment error describing an error in alignment data used to align the second layer to the first layer.

A metrology method comprises obtaining a first absolute position metric of a first structure in a first layer on a substrate and a second absolute position metric of a second structure in a second layer of the substrate; and determining from first absolute position metric and said second absolute position metric one or more of: an exposure induced first layer pattern displacement describing a displacement error of said first structure resultant from exposure of the structure, an exposure induced second layer pattern displacement describing a displacement error of said second structure resultant from exposure of the structure, a process induced first layer pattern displacement describing a displacement error of said first structure resultant from processing of the structure and / or an alignment error describing an error in alignment data used to align the second layer to the first layer.