WO2025149332A1 - Procédé de contrôle d'appareil de fabrication et appareils associés - Google Patents

Procédé de contrôle d'appareil de fabrication et appareils associés

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Publication number
WO2025149332A1
WO2025149332A1 PCT/EP2024/087007 EP2024087007W WO2025149332A1 WO 2025149332 A1 WO2025149332 A1 WO 2025149332A1 EP 2024087007 W EP2024087007 W EP 2024087007W WO 2025149332 A1 WO2025149332 A1 WO 2025149332A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
sub
region
error
correction
substrate
Prior art date
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Pending
Application number
PCT/EP2024/087007
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Andriy Vasyliovich HLOD
Roland Adrianus Emanuel Maria BOGERS
Shu-jin WANG
Sicco Ian Schets
Anuj Mayur SHAH
Hielke Schoonewelle
Angelos AVEKLOURIS
Pratik Shrestha
Arjun PRAMODH
Andreas Michael BROUWER
Yuanqing YANG
Thomas Theeuwes
Ronald VAN ITTERSUM
Arno BASTENHOF
Steven Aaron CHAPLICK
Adam Jan URBANCZYK
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
ASML Netherlands BV
Original Assignee
ASML Netherlands BV
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Publication date
Application filed by ASML Netherlands BV filed Critical ASML Netherlands BV
Priority to CN202480084015.2A priority Critical patent/CN122514729A/zh
Publication of WO2025149332A1 publication Critical patent/WO2025149332A1/fr
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Pending legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
    • G03F—PHOTOMECHANICAL PRODUCTION OF TEXTURED OR PATTERNED SURFACES, e.g. FOR PRINTING, FOR PROCESSING OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; MATERIALS THEREFOR; ORIGINALS THEREFOR; APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED THEREFOR
    • G03F7/00—Photomechanical, e.g. photolithographic, production of textured or patterned surfaces, e.g. printing surfaces; Materials therefor, e.g. comprising photoresists; Apparatus specially adapted therefor
    • G03F7/70—Microphotolithographic exposure; Apparatus therefor
    • G03F7/70483—Information management; Active and passive control; Testing; Wafer monitoring, e.g. pattern monitoring
    • G03F7/70605—Workpiece metrology
    • G03F7/70616—Monitoring the printed patterns
    • G03F7/70633—Overlay, i.e. relative alignment between patterns printed by separate exposures in different layers, or in the same layer in multiple exposures or stitching
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
    • G03F—PHOTOMECHANICAL PRODUCTION OF TEXTURED OR PATTERNED SURFACES, e.g. FOR PRINTING, FOR PROCESSING OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; MATERIALS THEREFOR; ORIGINALS THEREFOR; APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED THEREFOR
    • G03F7/00—Photomechanical, e.g. photolithographic, production of textured or patterned surfaces, e.g. printing surfaces; Materials therefor, e.g. comprising photoresists; Apparatus specially adapted therefor
    • G03F7/70—Microphotolithographic exposure; Apparatus therefor
    • G03F7/70425—Imaging strategies, e.g. for increasing throughput or resolution, printing product fields larger than the image field or compensating lithography- or non-lithography errors, e.g. proximity correction, mix-and-match, stitching or double patterning
    • G03F7/70475—Stitching, i.e. connecting image fields to produce a device field, the field occupied by a device such as a memory chip, processor chip, CCD, flat panel display

Definitions

  • Figure 2 comprises a schematic diagram of a scatterometer for use in measuring targets according to embodiments of the invention
  • Figure 3 illustrates a stitched die arrangement with stitching targets shown in detail
  • Figure 7 schematically illustrates a stitched exposure using two reticles, illustrating a method for distributing corrections between the two exposures within the stitching area of the stitched exposure
  • Programmable patterning devices may be used instead of reticles having a fixed pattern.
  • the radiation for example may include electromagnetic radiation in the deep ultraviolet (DUV) or extreme ultraviolet (EUV) wavebands.
  • DUV deep ultraviolet
  • EUV extreme ultraviolet
  • the present disclosure is also applicable to other types of lithographic process, for example imprint lithography and direct writing lithography, for example by electron beam.
  • the semiconductor device made from the substrate W may have various device elements.
  • semiconductor device elements that are formed over the substrate W include transistors (e.g., planar or non-planar metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFET), bipolar junction transistors (BJT), high-voltage transistors, high-frequency transistors, etc.), diodes, CMOS image sensors, passive devices, and/or other applicable elements.
  • transistors e.g., planar or non-planar metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFET), bipolar junction transistors (BJT), high-voltage transistors, high-frequency transistors, etc.
  • diodes e.g., CMOS image sensors, passive devices, and/or other applicable elements.
  • CMOS image sensors e.g., CMOS image sensors, passive devices, and/or other applicable elements.
  • CMOS image sensors e.g., CMOS image sensors, passive devices, and/or other applicable elements.
  • CMOS image sensors e.g., CM
  • each layer of the product structure requires a different set of process steps, and the apparatuses 226 used at each layer may be completely different in type. Further, even where the processing steps to be applied by the apparatus 226 are nominally the same, in a large facility, there may be several supposedly identical machines working in parallel to perform the step 226 on different substrates. Small differences in set-up or faults between these machines can mean that they influence different substrates in different ways. Even steps that are relatively common to each layer, such as etching (apparatus 222) may be implemented by several etching apparatuses that are nominally identical but working in parallel to maximize throughput. In practice, moreover, different layers require different etch processes, for example chemical etches, plasma etches, according to the details of the material to be etched, and special requirements such as, for example, anisotropic etching.
  • metrology apparatus 240 it may be determined, for example, that important performance parameters such as overlay or critical dimension (CD) do not meet specified accuracy requirements in the developed resist.
  • important performance parameters such as overlay or critical dimension (CD) do not meet specified accuracy requirements in the developed resist.
  • the metrology results 242 from the apparatus 240 can be used to maintain accurate performance of the patterning operations in the litho cluster, by supervisory control system SCS and/or control unit LACU 206 making small adjustments over time, thereby minimizing the risk of products being made out-of-specification, and requiring re-work.
  • the aperture in plate 13 has a finite width (necessary to admit a useful quantity of light, the incident rays I will in fact occupy a range of angles, and the diffracted rays 0 and +1/-1 will be spread out somewhat. According to the point spread function of a small target, each order +1 and -1 will be further spread over a range of angles, not a single ideal ray as shown. Note that the grating pitches of the targets and the illumination angles can be designed or adjusted so that the first order rays entering the objective lens are closely aligned with the central optical axis. The rays illustrated in Figure 2(a) and 2(b) are shown somewhat off axis, purely to enable them to be more easily distinguished in the diagram.
  • both the first and second illumination modes are illustrated, by designating diametrically opposite apertures labeled as north (N) and south (S).
  • N north
  • S south
  • the incident ray I of measurement radiation is from the north side of the optical axis, that is when the first illumination mode is applied using aperture plate 13N
  • the +1 diffracted rays which are labeled +1(N)
  • the second illumination mode is applied using aperture plate 13S
  • the -1 diffracted rays (labeled - 1 (S)) are the ones which enter the lens 16.
  • optical system 20, 22 forms an image of the target T on sensor 23 (e.g. a CCD or CMOS sensor).
  • an aperture stop 21 is provided in a plane that is conjugate to the pupil-plane. Aperture stop 21 functions to block the zeroth order diffracted beam so that the image of the target formed on sensor 23 is formed only from the -1 or + 1 first order beam.
  • the images captured by sensors 19 and 23 are output to processor PU which processes the image, the function of which will depend on the particular type of measurements being performed. Note that the term ‘image’ is used here in a broad sense. An image of the grating lines as such will not be formed, if only one of the -1 and +1 orders is present.
  • aperture plate 13 and field stop 21 shown in Figure 2 are purely examples.
  • on-axis illumination of the targets is used and an aperture stop with an off-axis aperture is used to pass substantially only one first order of diffracted light to the sensor.
  • 2 nd , 3 rd and higher order beams can be used in measurements, instead of or in addition to the first order beams.
  • the target T may comprise a number of gratings, which may have differently biased overlay offsets in order to facilitate measurement of overlay between the layers in which the different parts of the composite gratings are formed.
  • the gratings may also differ in their orientation, so as to diffract incoming radiation in X and Y directions.
  • a target may comprise two X-direction gratings with biased overlay offsets +d and -d, and Y-direction gratings with biased overlay offsets +d and -d. Separate images of these gratings can be identified in the image captured by sensor 23.
  • the intensities of those individual images can be measured, e.g., by averaging or summing selected pixel intensity values within the identified areas. Intensities and/or other properties of the images can be compared with one another. These results can be combined to measure different parameters of the lithographic process
  • Stitched overlay may be monitored and therefore controlled in a similar manner to conventional overlay, e.g., by measuring targets, herein referred to as stitching targets, comprising a first structure exposed with a first sub-region being stitched and a second structure exposed with a second sub-region being stitched.
  • the first and second structures may comprise respective boxes, e.g., in a box-in-box type arrangement or adjacent box arrangement.
  • Such a stitching target may comprise a first image of a box in (e.g., at a periphery of) the first sub-region being formed inside or adjacent to a second image of a box in (e.g., at a periphery of) the second sub-region, the two subregions overlapping in the boundary area where the stitching target is formed.
  • the two images may each comprise grating structures which are designed to be interlaced when imaged at the boundary area. Misalignment of such an interlaced target would manifest as asymmetry which could then be measured similarly to overlay targets, or else the position of the second structure may be determined with respect to first structure in terms of a vector.
  • Such a stitching target may be formed over another grating in another layer (or another grating formed over it) to provide for a stitched overlay target, for which overlay to the other layer can also be measured.
  • FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary stitched die 300 comprising four sub-regions 310a, 310b, 310c, 310d.
  • the two sub-regions may be overlapping (at least partially) to define stitching boundary areas 320 where sub-regions are stitched.
  • stitching boundary areas 320 are stitching targets 330a, 330b, 330c, 330d.
  • Stitching targets 330a, 330b are shown in larger detail.
  • Each of these stitching targets 330a, 330b, 330c, 330d comprises a two box structure, each exposed with a different sub-region.
  • the gray box is formed with sub-region 3 lOd and the black box formed with sub-region 310a.
  • the gray box is formed with sub-region 310b and the black box formed with sub-region 310a.
  • the dotted boxes represent nominal positions for the respective boxes.
  • the arrows represent vectors describing the positional difference from a first box (structure) to a second box (structure), from which can be measure and a positional correction can be determined (e.g. in a feedback method). Note that this is only an example arrangement, and the stitching targets or stitched die may differ from that shown (e.g., a common arrangement may comprise two halffield sub-regions stitched together).
  • Figure 4 illustrates an exposure sequence for exposing substrates in multiple passes to obtain a stitched die. Shown are a first wafer handling stage 400, which is at atmospheric pressure, a second wafer handling stage 405 in a vacuum and a wafer stage arrangement 410 also in a vacuum (a vacuum assumes an EUV apparatus is being used, however the concepts disclosed herein are not limited to EUV and therefore there all operations may be performed at atmospheric pressure).
  • the wafer stage arrangement 410 may comprise a measure side or measurement station 415 and an exposure side or exposure station 420 (although the concepts herein are not limited to dual-stage apparatuses).
  • a first chuck 417 and second chuck 422 transports each substrate within wafer stage arrangement 410.
  • process error data e.g., process error data generated during the manufacturing process or lithographic exposure process and/or generated within the manufacturing/lithographic apparatus when performing at least a first exposure sequence to expose at least one first sub-region of a stitched die, to determine, e.g., predict, the resultant on-product or position metric error of the first sub-region, determining a correction which compensates and/or mitigates the determined on-product or position metric error when exposing at least one second sub-region of the stitched die.
  • the method may then apply the correction when performing at least a second exposure sequence to expose the at least one second sub-region of the stitched die area.
  • the correction may be determined to match any overlay and/or positional errors from the at least one first sub-region.
  • a method for determining a correction for control of at least one manufacturing apparatus used in a manufacturing process for providing structures to at least one region on a substrate, said region comprising at least a first sub-region and a second sub-region in a common layer; the method comprising: obtaining process error data relating to said manufacturing process when forming said first sub-region; determining a first on-product error from said process error data, said on- product error relating to an error in formation of said first sub-region; and determining a correction for said manufacturing process when forming said second sub-region from said on-product error.
  • the on-product error may comprise an error in terms of at least one positioning metric such as positioning or placement of structures within said first sub-region, such that a determined correction minimizes stitched overlay error (error in relative positioning of one sub-region with respect to at least one other sub-region of a stitched die).
  • the positioning metric may be (e.g., conventional) overlay to another layer.
  • the method may comprise matching overlay (error) for the two sub-regions.
  • the method may also comprise a co-optimized correction for stitched overlay and conventional overlay (which may be optionally weighted in favor of one or the other overlay types).
  • the actuation error data 505 may comprise for example one or more of: servo MA (moving average actuation residual data), servo dx (x-displacement actuation residual data), servo dy (y -displacement actuation residual data) or servo dRz (rotation around z axis actuation residual data).
  • the lens error data 510 may comprise e.g., aberration error (aberration residuals) of lens corrections actuated during the first sub-region exposure, for example expressed in terms of Zernike functions. Other types of error data may also be used, for example alignment residual data may be used in this method.
  • an on-product error (e.g., stitching and/or conventional overlay error) relating to the first sub-region exposure may be determined or predicted from error data 500.
  • This on-product error may be determined from the actuation error data 505 as obtained from the respective servo driver.
  • the lens error data 510 may be converted to an on-product error using the relevant overlay Zernike sensitivities 515.
  • a correction 535 may be determined 530 based on the determined on-product error so as to improve stitching of the to-be-exposed second sub-region to the first sub-region (e.g., to match on-product error of the first and second sub-regions).
  • the correction determination step 530 may also be subject to rules and/or constraints 525 such as possible and/or allowable actuations, allowed error for field deformation and/or other overlays (e.g., if conventional overlay is being matched for the sub-regions by the correction, a constraint may be imposed here for the stitched overlay and vice versa).
  • rules and/or constraints 525 such as possible and/or allowable actuations, allowed error for field deformation and/or other overlays (e.g., if conventional overlay is being matched for the sub-regions by the correction, a constraint may be imposed here for the stitched overlay and vice versa).
  • particular actuation capabilities may be specified and/or prohibited; e.g., to specify that field translations are to be used to correct lens errors in horizontal stitching.
  • a maximum amount of stitching correction may be specified, e.g., in absolute terms (e.g., nm) or relative terms (percentage).
  • magnification magnification
  • the determined correction 535 may be a feed- forward correction, which is actuated in the during a second exposure sequence 540 to expose (e.g., multiple repetitions of) a second sub-region, each second sub-region comprising a second portion of a stitched die. Any actuation error for the stitching may subsequently be reported.
  • the (e.g., second) exposure sequence may be determined or optimized to ensure sufficient computation time is available for determining the on-product error and consequent correction.
  • Such an exposure sequence may provide sufficient computation time while maintaining queue depth stable (e.g., currently it is 5 sub-regions/fields). It is important to note that there is typically a reticle change involved in exposing the first and second series of sub-regions substantially adding to the budget for computational effort.
  • alignment data may be fed forward from the first exposure sequence to the second exposure sequence.
  • This may enable alignment measurement and/or model data from different exposure sequences to be mixed.
  • This may mean that the metrology effort (number of alignment marks) may be reduced for the second exposure sequence, leading to a throughput improvement when the exposure is measure-side limiting, e.g. exposing smaller fields (e.g., half-fields where exposure time is halved) or using a low dose.
  • the full model results from the first exposure sequence may be used for the second exposure sequence, with equivalent steps of the measure sequence skipped (e.g. pre-align and/or fine alignment) of the second exposure sequence.
  • alignment feed-forward may be used to improve the alignment e.g., capture the dynamic deformation.
  • the wafer model results from the first sequence can be reused and the second sequence metrology can focus on capturing the dynamic deformation (e.g. wafer reload, lens/reticle heating) by measuring more marks optimized for this or enabling in-situ adjustment (e.g. measuring additional marks on stitched areas to improve stitched overlay).
  • the method of the present invention comprises defining and/or using more than one pre-determined alignment strategy (e.g., mark types, color recipes, sampling scheme and alignment model) per exposure sequence.
  • the method may further comprise using and or defining an alignment strategy and/or configuration of the lithography apparatus for each pass or exposure sequence including when there are multiple pass or exposure sequence exposing the single layer of a substrate.
  • this embodiment allows capturing the dynamic change between the exposure sequence and provide a better accuracy of wafer alignment.
  • the dynamic changes may be produced by substrate reload, different machine components dynamics, lens/reticle heating, mark asymmetry, etc.
  • a non-limitative example of this embodiment may be when a high NA EUV exposed layer is aligned to a previous high NA EUV exposed layer, AL marks on the first layer exposed may suffer different mark asymmetries due to different mark types, exposure settings, mark-to-device offsets, and imaging-induced asymmetries. Therefore, when both layers are aligned, different color recipe or intra-field model per pass can well capture the differences on mark asymmetry and intra-field fingerprint, between both exposure sequences.
  • the method of the invention further comprises using or mixing measurement/model data from different exposure sequences.
  • this embodiment reduces the amount of AL marks to measure in the second exposure sequence leading to a throughput improvement of a lithography apparatus when the exposure sequence throughout is measure side limited.
  • the method further comprises reusing the model results for the first exposure sequence and skips certain steps of the measure sequence in the second exposure sequence. In this embodiment, it is proposed to use the extra time to measure in certain areas of interest to obtain a better modeling of the fingerprint in one area.
  • the method of the invention further comprises performing a simulation of different alignment strategies within the exposure sequence to obtain overlay, EPE, CD, CDU impact of the processed substrate.
  • this embodiment provides an indication on the magnitude of the dynamic deformation between the passes, and whether there is a need to apply different alignment strategies per exposure sequence and co-optimize them. It also provides the advantage to assess whether the measurement from first exposure sequence can be re-used for the second exposure sequence to improve the throughput.
  • conventional overlay and/or stitched overlay corrections may be determined as coefficients (sometimes referred to as k-parameters) for a polynomial in a best fit method such that a correction based on the polynomial minimizes the respective measured conventional overlay and/or stitched overlay (e.g., on average over the fitted area) when applied.
  • coefficients sometimes referred to as k-parameters
  • Such an optimization may be performed separately for conventional overlay or stitched overlay (e.g., completely separately or to optimize one with one or more constraints on the other), or else a cooptimization of these different overlays may be performed.
  • the determined coefficients may be fed back to the lithographic apparatus in the form of a sub-recipe characterized by the coefficients.
  • a specific example of the proposed methods disclosed may comprise a co-optimization of the stitching error in the merit function of the trajectory calculation.
  • the stitching error may result from at least two sources.
  • a first source may be result from a discontinuous correction request whereby, should requested corrections be different per sub-region and the actuation error be nonzero, the residuals at the boundary between the sub-regions will not exactly match resulting in a stitching error.
  • a second source may result from scanner actuation, whereby the correction potential is greater at the top and bottom edges of the field due to a scan-in/scan-out effect.
  • the actuation error merit function may take the form: where M is the model matrix, p is the vector of coefficients of the actuation profiles, d is the vector of distortion values (per grid point) and w 0 is the stitching weight.
  • This method is not limited to improving the stitching error in the overlay domain.
  • Overlay corrections are determined for actuation (as far as it is possible) within the lithographic apparatus.
  • corrections determined per sub-region in the first layer may introduce patterns that are not correctable in the second layer (e.g., any subsequent layer).
  • the stitched overlay or relative positions of the sub-fields in the first layer is also an important parameter which can result in irregularities in the stitching area (overlap area of the two sub-regions) if not properly controlled.
  • a correction for each of the two subregions which are to be stitched together is co-optimized or co-determined, rather than determined as a feed-forward correction from one sub-region to the other.
  • Such a method may determine a correction based on overlay data measured from one or more substrates of a previous lot (e.g., for a per-lot correction), e.g., a feedback correction.
  • a method may be performed per-substrate (e.g., to make a rework decision).
  • this embodiment reduces the possibility of manifesting discontinuities in the stitching area between two sub-regions and/or poor overlay performance with respect to a subsequent layer, reducing the number of non-yielding dies.
  • Such a method may optimize overlay corrections simultaneously for each sub-region while also taking into account stitching area performance and/or corrections for one or more subsequent layer(s). This may be achieved by applying a stitching area performance constraint and/or penalty to the relevant optimization.
  • a method may comprise determining a co-optimized correction for two or more sub-regions which is constrained by stitching area (or boundary) performance, where the stitching area may describe an area of overlap of two sub-regions. More generally, the proposed method may optimize any process corrections (including inter alia overlay, dose, focus, other parameter of interest or any combination thereof).
  • the co-optimized correction can take into account actuation capability of one or more subsequent layers (e.g., the actuation capability of a lithographic apparatus used to expose the one or more subsequent layers.
  • actuation capability of one or more subsequent layers e.g., the actuation capability of a lithographic apparatus used to expose the one or more subsequent layers.
  • This can be realized by one or both of constraining the objective function and/or adding penalty terms to the objective function.
  • the constraint and/or penalty may be imposed in terms of through-stack performance, e.g., overlay or other parameter of interest performance with respect to one or more subsequent layers, and in particular one or more subsequent layers subject to different correction capability and/or field size.
  • two or more sub-regions may be exposed in a first layer by a first lithographic apparatus having a first correction capability and/or first field size (e.g., a field size which defines the size of the sub-regions) and the one or more subsequent layers may be exposed in a second layer by a second lithographic apparatus having a second correction capability and/or second field size (e.g., a field size larger than said sub-regions, such as twice the size of the first layer sub-regions, 2.5x the size of the first layer sub-regions or 3.5x the size of the first layer sub-regions).
  • a proposed high-NA EUV apparatus has a field size which is half of that of many present DUV or EUV apparatuses. Differences in correction capability may arise, for example, from one or more of different actuation parameterization, different actuation capability and/or different modelling capability/models used.
  • a (e.g., user specified) through-stack deadband threshold, d may be defined which defines a minimum relevant difference in through stack residuals.
  • the subsequent layer design matrix C may be constructed for example using a union (or a subset thereof) of the optimization grids for the first layer sub-region fields. More generally, the subsequent layer design matrix C may comprise any suitable "through-stack grid", which need not relate to the optimization grid(s).
  • the merit function may take a form where the stitching area performance penalty and/or constraint and through-stack penalty and/or constraint each penalize the choice of corrections via their corresponding normed error term rather than constraining the error; e-g-,: argmin where the constraints/regularization comprise:
  • FIG. 6 is a schematic drawing which illustrates a first stitching area exposure control method.
  • the Figure shows a first sub-region 600 and second sub-region 605, with a stitching area 610 defined by the region of overlap of first sub-region 600 and second sub-region 605. Note that first subregion 600 and second sub-region 605 are exposed in a common layer.
  • a respective opposite focus offset 620a, 620b is applied during exposure of the first sub-region 600 and second sub-region 605 within the stitching area.
  • An opposite focus offset may comprise a defocus or focus offset of the same magnitude but different direction for each of the first sub-region 600 and second sub-region 605, with respect to a nominal focus setting outside of the stitching area.
  • the focus offsets 620a, 620b applied may therefore be such that the average 625 of the two focus offsets 620a, 620b is the same as the single set value 615a, 615b or nominal focus used outside of the stitching area 610.
  • the proposed method may comprise exposing the stitching area (i.e., the resist there) twice, each at a different focus level. This is similar to focus drilling techniques in which multiple exposures may be performed at a common area of a substrate at respective different focus levels.
  • the depth of focus or focus window 630a, 630b corresponding to exposure of the first sub-region 600, second sub-region 605 outside the stitching area, and the depth of focus or focus window 630c corresponding to exposure of stitching area 610.
  • the depth of focus or focus window 630a, 630b, 630c defines a focus range for which exposure performance (e.g., in terms of one or more performance parameters such as critical dimension CD) is acceptable.
  • corrections between the two exposures within the stitching area e.g., co-optimize applied complementary corrections within the stitching area.
  • the combination of complementary corrections comprising a first correction profile for exposure of the first sub-region 700 and a second correction profile for the second sub-region 705 can be determined such that the combined effect of the complementary corrections improves and/or optimizes patterning within the stitching area.
  • Such correction profiles may be determined for any exposure setting such as dose, focus or in-plane position (e.g., stitched overlay and/or conventional overlay).
  • the dose profiles 720a, 720b applied may be such that the sum of the dose profiles 725 is the same as the single set value 715a, 715b or nominal dose used to expose the sub-region 700, 705 outside of the stitching area 710.
  • both dose profiles from reticle A and B are considered in the stitching zone reducing the discontinuity between for sub-regions 700 and 705.
  • first dose correction profile 720a and second dose correction profile 720b in the stitching area 710 may be configured such that their combined effect optimizes patterning. Differences in disturbances between the exposures may be averaged out. This may be similar in principle to using a “vote taking” strategy such as used to mitigate mask defect. Votetaking sums up N different mask images with identical content, each at 1/N dose, to mitigate the defects on each individual mask. The assumption is that the mask defects do not correlate in position from mask to mask, and so each individual defect will be blended with good images from the other N-l masks.
  • the optimization may take the form for example of minimization of an exposure performance metric such as critical dimension uniformity (CDU) and the combined effect of the first dose profile 720a and second dose profile 720b.
  • the optimization or minimization may simply be expressed as co-optimizing doses D 1 (y'),D 2 (y) to minimize CDU (or other performance metric which is a function of dose); i.e.,: min
  • CDU or other performance metric which is a function of dose
  • a plot of the resultant CD along scanning direction y is shown, comprising a first CD trace 730a corresponding to exposure of the first sub-region 700 outside of the stitching area 710, a second CD trace 730b corresponding to exposure of the second sub-region 705 outside of the stitching area 710 and a third CD trace 730c corresponding to exposure of sub-region 700, 705 within the stitching area 710. It can be observed that the CDU 735c is smaller within the stitching area, than the CDU 735a, 735b outside of the stitching area.
  • Different overlay corrections for exposure of the first sub-region 700 and second sub-region 705 will widen the CD. This can partly be compensated by dose, or by synchronizing the overlay correction differences between the two exposures in the stitching area.
  • different focus corrections for exposure of the first sub-region 700 and second sub-region 705 will widen the CD. This can partly be compensated by dose or by synchronizing the focus correction differences of the two exposures in the stitching area.
  • FIG. 8 Shown is a first stitched overlay dX, dY plot 815a corresponding to exposure of first subregion 800 and a second stitched overlay dX, dY plot 815b corresponding to exposure of second subregion 805 (each showing stitched overlay along the scanning direction y). It can be seen that there is a mismatch between plot 815a and plot 815b being indicative of a stitched overlay error.
  • CD is significantly greater for the third CD trace 820c than the first and second CD traces 820a, 820b. This results from the stitched overlay error or relative positional difference between the first sub-region 800 and the second sub-region 805.
  • the image formed in the stitching area 810 comprises a compound image formed from an overlapping first image and second image in the respective sub-regions 800, 805. If the first image is displaced (a small amount) from the second image, there will be an effective increase in CD (and therefore local CDU, LCDU) of the compound image.
  • a plot 825 of CD or LCDU against stitched overlay dx,dy is shown. It can be seen that there is a CD or LCDU minimum at zero stitched overlay, with CD/LCDU increasing with increasing stitched overlay dx,dy magnitude.
  • this displacement it is proposed to use this displacement to calculate the stitched overlay introduced in the stitching area.
  • the relative displacement between exposure of reticle A and the exposure of reticle B in the stitching area 810 can be determined.
  • this relative displacement may be used to improve overlay control with respect to one or more other layers.
  • a first compound image 830 is shown which is formed within the stitching area 810 from a first image 830a and a second image 830b, while a second compound image 830’ is formed within the stitching area 810 from a first image 830a’ and a second image 830b’.
  • the first image 830a, 830a’ is exposed during exposure of first sub-region 800 and the second image 830b, 830b’ is exposed during exposure of second sub-region 805.
  • the first compound image 830 is what may be seen when there is stitched overlay error in the y-direction only, while the second compound image 830’ is what may be seen when there is stitched overlay error in the x-direction only.
  • said on-product error relates, at least in part, to an overlay error of said first sub-region with respect to a preceding layer; and said correction reduces or minimizes an overlay error of said second sub-region with respect to the preceding layer.
  • said on-product error relates to a position of structures to said first sub-region and to an overlay error of said first sub-region with respect to a preceding layer; and said correction co-optimizes a stitched overlay error describing a relative positioning error between said first sub-region and said second sub-region and an overlay error of said second sub-region with respect to the preceding layer.
  • process error data comprises error data generated during the manufacturing process and/or generated within the manufacturing apparatus when forming said first sub-region.
  • said process error data comprises one or more of: lens model error data, lens fingerprint data, actuation error data, lens overpressure error data, alignment data and/or alignment residual data.
  • step of determination a correction comprises determining said correction subject to one or more rules and/or constraints.
  • a method according to clause 16 further comprising configuring the lithography apparatus in a first configuration for the first exposure sequence and in a second configuration for the second exposure sequence.
  • a method according to clause 20, wherein being exposed substantially adjacently comprises a small overlap region.
  • each sub-region has an area defined by the maximum field area of the manufacturing apparatus.
  • said respective complementary dose comprises dividing a nominal dose between exposing said first sub-region and second subregion, such that the combined dose in exposing said first sub-region and second sub-region comprises said nominal dose.
  • a method according to clause 27 or 28, comprising co-optimizing said respective complementary corrections in terms of improving and/or optimizing an exposure performance metric within said stitching area.
  • first sub-region and second sub-region comprise a common stitching area defined by an area of overlap of the first subregion and second sub-region; and the method comprises: measuring a critical dimension parameter of a compound image formed by a first image exposed in the stitching area of said the first sub-region and an overlapping second image exposed in the stitching area of said the second sub-region; and determining stitching overlay between said first sub-region and second sub-region from said critical dimension parameter.
  • determining stitching overlay comprises determining the stitching overlay using a pre-calibrated relationship and/or model for mapping said critical dimension parameter to said stitching overlay.
  • a computer program comprising program instructions operable to perform the method of any of clauses 1 to 49 when run on a suitable apparatus.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Exposure And Positioning Against Photoresist Photosensitive Materials (AREA)
  • Particle Formation And Scattering Control In Inkjet Printers (AREA)

Abstract

L'invention concerne un procédé servant à déterminer une correction pour le contrôle d'au moins un appareil de fabrication utilisé dans un procédé de fabrication destiné à conférer des structures à au moins une région sur un substrat, ladite région comprenant au moins une première sous-région et une seconde sous-région dans une couche commune. Le procédé consiste à obtenir des données d'erreur de processus relatives audit processus de fabrication lors de la formation de ladite première sous-région sur un substrat, à déterminer une première erreur sur le produit à partir desdites données d'erreur de processus, ladite erreur sur le produit se rapportant à une erreur dans la formation de ladite première sous-région ; et à déterminer, à partir de ladite erreur sur le produit, une correction pour ledit processus de fabrication lors de la formation de ladite seconde sous-région sur ledit substrat.
PCT/EP2024/087007 2024-01-08 2024-12-18 Procédé de contrôle d'appareil de fabrication et appareils associés Pending WO2025149332A1 (fr)

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CN202480084015.2A CN122514729A (zh) 2024-01-08 2024-12-18 一种控制制造装置及相关装置的方法

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