Post-lithography defect inspection using an e-beam inspection tool
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsLuciana Meli Thompson, Ashim Dutta, Ekmini A. De Silva
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods for post-lithographic inspection using an e-beam inspection tool of organic EUV sensitive photoresists generally includes conformal deposition of a silicon derivative or a metal oxide onto the relief image, wherein the silicon derivative is a material selected to have a dielectric constant that is greater than the dielectric constant of the underlying organic EUV sensitive photoresist. The conformal deposition of the silicon derivative or the metal oxide includes a low temperature vapor deposition process of less than about 100° C. to provide a coating thickness of less than about 5 nanometers.
Claims20
A method for preparing a semiconductor wafer with organic extreme ultraviolet sensitive (EUV) photoresist relief images thereon for defect inspection, the method comprising:
- providing a semiconductor wafer having a relief image of an organic EUV sensitive photoresist thereon;
- conformally coating a silicon derivative or a metal oxide onto the relief image using a vapor deposition process at a temperature less than about 100° C. and at a thickness less than about 5 nanometers, wherein a dielectric constant of the silicon derivative is greater than a dielectric constant of the organic EUV photoresist;
- and
- inspecting the wafer using an e-beam inspection tool.
A method for examining a semiconductor wafer having an organic EUV photoresist relief image thereon using an e-beam inspection tool, the method comprising:
- providing a semiconductor wafer having an organic EUV photoresist relief image thereon;
- conformally coating a silicon derivative or a metal oxide onto the photoresist relief image using a vapor deposition process at a temperature less than about 100° C. and at a thickness less than about 5 nanometers, wherein a dielectric constant of the silicon derivative is greater than a dielectric constant of the organic EUV photoresist;
- and
- introducing the wafer into an e-beam inspection tool and scanning the wafer for defect detection.
A method for examining a semiconductor wafer having an organic EUV photoresist relief image thereon for defects, the method comprising:
- coating an organic EUV photoresist onto a semiconductor wafer at a thickness within a range of about 30 nanometers to about 50 nanometers;
- lithographically forming a relief image of the EUV photoresist, wherein the relief image comprises sub-40 nm lines and spaces having a pitch of about 1:1 or less;
- conformally coating a silicon derivative or a metal oxide onto the relief image using a vapor deposition at a temperature less than about 100° C. and at a thickness less than about 5 nanometers, wherein a dielectric constant of the silicon derivative is greater than a dielectric constant of the organic EUV photoresist;
- and
- introducing the wafer in an e-beam tool for inspection and inspecting the semiconductor wafer, wherein inspecting the semiconductor wafer comprises taking an image of a location by scanning the semiconductor wafer with a focused electron beam and comparing the image to a reference image from another wafer location with an identical design, or to a preexisting image stored on a computer, so as to flag differences between the image of the location and the reference image or the preexisting image as a defect.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.