New test structure for nanometer-level overlay and feature-placement metrology

A new electrical test structure for overlay measurement has been evaluated by replicating arrays of its complementary components from two different photomasks into a conducting film on a quartz substrate. The features resulting from images projected from the first mask were used as a reference grid which was calibrated by the NIST line-scale interferometer. A first subset of the relative placements of the images projected from the second mask, which were derived from the electrical overlay measurements and the reference grid, agreed to within 13 nm with corresponding measurements made directly by the line-scale interferometer over distances up to 13.5 mm. A second comparison made at another substrate location indicated that gradients of projected feature linewidths across the exposure site may need to be measured, and corrected for, in the electrical extraction of overlay