The enhanced voltage-dividing potentiometer for high-precision feature placement metrology

Author

Allen, Richard A. ; Cresswell, M.W. ; Ellenwood, Colleen H. ; Linholm, Loren W.

Author_Institution

Nat. Inst. of Stand. & Technol., Gaithersburg, MD, USA

Volume

45

Issue

1

fYear

1996

fDate

2/1/1996 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

136

Lastpage

141

Abstract

Enhancements to the voltage-dividing potentiometer, an electrical test structure for measuring the spatial separations of pairs of conducting features, are presented and discussed. These enhancements reduce or eliminate systematic errors which can otherwise lead to uncertainties as large as several hundred nanometers. These systematic errors, attributed by modeling to asymmetries at certain intersections of conducting features in the test structure, are eliminated by modifications to the test structure and test procedures

Keywords

feature extraction; integrated circuit measurement; measurement errors; nanotechnology; potentiometers; spatial variables measurement; voltage dividers; asymmetries; electrical test structure; enhanced voltage-dividing potentiometer; feature placement metrology; geometry dependent effects; intersections; modeling; overlay measurement; spatial separations; systematic errors; test structure; uncertainties; Conductive films; Electron optics; Error correction; Metrology; NIST; Optical microscopy; Potentiometers; Scanning electron microscopy; System testing; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Instrumentation and Measurement, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9456

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/19.481325

Filename

481325