Optimized overlay metrology marks: theory and experiment

Author

Adel, Mike ; Ghinovker, Mark ; Golovanevsky, Boris ; Izikson, Pavel ; Kassel, Elyakim ; Yaffe, Dan ; Bruckstein, Alfred M. ; Goldenberg, Roman ; Rubner, Yossi ; Rudzsky, Michael

Author_Institution

Opt. Metrol. Div., Migdal HaEmek, Israel

Volume

17

Issue

2

fYear

2004

fDate

5/1/2004 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

166

Lastpage

179

Abstract

In this paper, we provide a detailed analysis of overlay metrology mark and find the mapping between various properties of mark patterns and the expected dynamic precision and fidelity of measurements. We formulate the optimality criteria and suggest an optimal overlay mark design in the sense of minimizing the Cramer-Rao lower bound on the estimation error. Based on the developed theoretical results, a new overlay mark family is proposed-the grating marks. A thorough testing performed on the new grating marks shows a strong correlation with the underlying theory and demonstrate the superior quality of the new design over the overlay patterns used today.

Keywords

integrated circuit manufacture; integrated circuit measurement; semiconductor device manufacture; semiconductor device measurement; spatial variables measurement; Cramer-Rao lower bound; dynamic precision; grating marks; mark patterns; minimizing sense; optimal overlay mark design; optimized overlay metrology mark; Estimation error; Gratings; Lithography; Manufacturing; Metrology; Microelectronics; Pattern analysis; Performance evaluation; Semiconductor device modeling; Testing; Box-in-box marks; Cramer–Rao lower bound; Fisher information matrix; dynamic precision; grating marks; overlay mark; overlay mark fidelity; overlay metrology;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Semiconductor Manufacturing, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0894-6507

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TSM.2004.826955

Filename

1296720