Ion Beam Mapping via Simultaneous Fast and Slow Scans
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ion beam systems face challenges in accurately diagnosing and correcting non-uniformities in scanned spot beams, particularly at lower energies, which lead to reduced yield and performance in semiconductor devices due to insufficient visual tools for upstream scanning and focusing issues.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a system that includes a processor and memory unit with a display routine to manage monitoring of ion beams, performing simultaneous fast and slow scans to collect and display spot beam profiles, allowing for a detailed visualization of ion beam changes across the wafer plane through the Beam Ray Map mode, enabling better correction of ion beam non-uniformities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If traditional single-mode beam measurement is used, then the measurement system is simple, but the operator cannot visually diagnose upstream scanning and focusing issues when spot beam changes significantly across the wafer plane
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple beam measurement modes (stationary slow spot, scanned linear, stationary fast spot) into a single integrated measurement system that simultaneously executes all three modes and merges their data into a comprehensive beam map display, enabling complete beam characterization without requiring separate measurement systems
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from one-dimensional single-mode measurements to a two-dimensional beam map that displays beam profiles across both fast scan and slow scan dimensions, adding spatial dimensionality to the measurement visualization and enabling comprehensive diagnostic capability
2Measurement precision
If fast scan frequency is increased to capture beam dynamics, then beam profile accuracy improves, but measurement time increases and productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs periodic fast scanning at frequencies of 10-1000 Hz to capture dynamic beam profiles, using repeated periodic measurements to build statistically significant beam maps that improve accuracy while maintaining reasonable measurement throughput through efficient data aggregation
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements continuous simultaneous execution of all three measurement modes without interruption, maintaining continuous useful action throughout the measurement process to maximize productivity while capturing complete beam behavior across all operating conditions
3Productivity
If detector scan speed is increased to reduce measurement time, then productivity improves, but measurement precision decreases due to insufficient sampling
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic scanning where the detector performs slow mechanical scanning while the beam simultaneously performs fast scanning, creating a dynamic measurement regime that captures beam evolution over time and space, enabling high-resolution profiling without requiring excessively slow detector movement
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus for monitoring of an ion beam. The apparatus may include a processor; and a memory unit coupled to the processor, including a display routine, where the display routine operative on the processor to manage monitoring of the ion beam. The display routine may include a measurement processor to receive a plurality of spot beam profiles of the ion beam, the spot beam profiles collected during a fast scan of the ion beam and a slow mechanical scan of a detector, conducted simultaneously with the fast scan. The fast scan may comprise a plurality of scan cycles having a frequency of 10 Hz or greater along a fast scan direction, and the slow mechanical scan being performed in a direction parallel to the fast scan direction. The measurement processor may also send a display signal to display at least one set of information, derived from the plurality of spot beam profiles.