Test structures for referencing electrical linewidth measurements to silicon lattice parameters using HRTEM

Author

Allen, Richard A. ; Cresswell, Michael W. ; Murabito, Chnstine E. ; Guthrie, W.F. ; Linholm, Loren W. ; Ellenwood, Colleen H. ; Bogardus, E. Hal

Author_Institution

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

fYear

2002

fDate

8-11 April 2002

Firstpage

13

Lastpage

18

Abstract

A technique has been developed to determine the linewidths of the features of a prototype reference material for the calibration of CD (Critical-Dimension) metrology instruments. The reference features are fabricated in monocrystalline-silicon with the sidewalls aligned to the [111] lattice planes. A two-step measurement procedure is used to determine the CDs. The primary measurement is via lattice-plane counting of selected samples using High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM); the transfer calibration is via Electrical CD (ECD) test-structure metrology. Samples of these prototype reference materials were measured and provided, as NIST Reference Material RM8110, to International SEMATECH for evaluation by its member companies. In this paper, we will describe the measurement procedure and show how the combined uncertainty of less than 15 nm was derived.

Keywords

calibration; lattice constants; lithography; measurement standards; measurement uncertainty; silicon; spatial variables measurement; transmission electron microscopy; ECD test structure; HRTEM; Si; calibration; critical dimension metrology; electrical linewidth measurement; lattice parameter; lattice-plane counting; measurement uncertainty; monocrystalline silicon; reference material; Calibration; Electric variables measurement; Instruments; Lattices; Metrology; NIST; Prototypes; Silicon; Testing; Transmission electron microscopy;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microelectronic Test Structures, 2002. ICMTS 2002. Proceedings of the 2002 International Conference on

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7464-9

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICMTS.2002.1193163

Filename

1193163