MEASURING METHOD AND DEVICE FOR PATTERN POSITION AND OVERLAY

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system and a method for measuring an overlay between different layers in a semiconductor manufacturing technology such as a double patterning process by using an imaged device pattern.SOLUTION: Images of a pattern feature are acquired by a scanning electron microscopy. A position of a patterning layer is determined by using positions of the pattern feature for the patterning layer in the images. A relative position of the patterning layer with respect to other pattern features or other patterning layers is determined in a vector form on the basis of the determined pattern positions. An overlay error is determined on the basis of comparison of the relative position with reference values from design or simulation. Overlay can be measured with high precision and accuracy by using pattern symmetry.