High-resolution transmission electron microscopy calibration of critical dimension (CD) reference materials

Author

Allen, Richard A. ; Headley, Thomas J. ; Everist, Sarah C. ; Ghoshtagore, Rathindra N. ; Cresswell, Michael W. ; Linholm, Loren W.

Author_Institution

Div. of Semicond. Electron., Nat. Inst. of Stand. & Technol., Gaithersburg, MD, USA

Volume

14

Issue

1

fYear

2001

fDate

2/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

26

Lastpage

31

Abstract

The National Institute of Standards and Technology and Sandia National Laboratories have developed a procedure for producing and calibrating critical dimension (CD), or linewidth, reference materials. These reference materials will be used to calibrate metrology instruments used in semiconductor manufacturing. The reference features, with widths down to 100 nm, are produced in monocrystalline silicon with all feature edges aligned to specific crystal planes. A two-part calibration of these linewidths is used: the primary calibration, with accuracy to within a few lattice plane thicknesses, is accomplished by counting the lattice planes across the sample as-imaged through use of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The secondary calibration is the high-precision electrical CD technique. In this paper, we describe the calibration procedure for these reference materials and estimate the related uncertainties

Keywords

calibration; measurement standards; measurement uncertainty; spatial variables measurement; transmission electron microscopy; 100 nm; Si; calibration; critical dimension measurement; electrical technique; high resolution transmission electron microscopy; lattice plane; linewidth measurement; measurement uncertainty; metrology instrument; monocrystalline silicon; reference material; semiconductor manufacturing; Calibration; Crystalline materials; Instruments; Laboratories; Lattices; Metrology; NIST; Semiconductor device manufacture; Semiconductor materials; Transmission electron microscopy;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Semiconductor Manufacturing, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0894-6507

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/66.909652

Filename

909652