MULTIPLE ANGLES OF INCIDENCE SEMICONDUCTOR METROLOGY SYSTEMS AND METHODS

摘要

An apparatus includes (i) a bright light source for providing an illumination beam at multiple wavelengths selectable with a range from a deep ultraviolet wavelength to an infrared wavelength, (ii) illumination optics for directing the illumination beam towards a sample at selectable sets of angles of incidence (AOI's) or azimuth angles (AZ's) and polarization states to provide spectroscopic ellipsometry, wherein the illumination optics include an apodizer for controlling a spot size of the illumination beam on the sample at each of the selectable AOI/AZ sets, (iii) collection optics for directing an output beam from the sample in response to the illumination beam at each of the selectable AOI/AZ sets and polarization states towards a detector that generates an output signal or image based on the output beam, and (v) a controller for characterizing a feature of the sample based on the output signal or image.

主权项

1. An ellipsometer apparatus for performing metrology of a semiconductor sample, comprising:
an illumination optics module for providing an illumination beam at a plurality of wavelengths that are selectable within a range from a vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) wavelength to an infrared (IR) wavelength and directing the illumination beam towards the sample at a plurality of angles of incidence (AOI's) and/or azimuth angles (AZ's); a collection optics module for collecting an output beam emanating from the sample at a plurality of discrete ranges of AOI and/or AZ and directing such output beam to a detector module, wherein the discrete ranges are collected one at a time and the output beam being in response to the illumination beam on the sample, wherein the illumination optics module includes polarization generating optical elements for generating a plurality of polarization states for the illumination beam, the collection optics module includes polarization analyzing optical elements for analyzing the polarization state of the output beam, wherein the illumination optics module and collection optics module include reflective optical elements between the polarization generation optical elements and the polarization analyzing optical elements; the detection module for receiving and detecting the output beam from the sample at the discrete ranges of AOI and/or AZ and the polarization states and generating a plurality of signals based on the output beam at the discrete ranges of AOI and/or AZ and the polarization states; and one or more controllers that are each configured to control one or more of the following: selecting a wavelength range, selecting one or more of the discrete ranges of AOI and/or AZ for collection of the output beam, selecting the polarization states, and analyzing the signals at the discrete ranges of AOI and/or AZ and the polarization states to determine a characteristic of the sample.