Semiconductor profile measurement based on a scanning conditional model

A method comprising:

• collecting an amount of measurement data from measurements of one or more structures disposed on a first wafer, the collecting of the amount of measurement data involving an illumination source configured to generate an amount of illumination light characterized by one or more physical properties and a detector configured to collect the amount of measurement data, the amount of measurement data dependent on the one or more physical properties of the amount of illumination light and one or more physical characteristics of the one or more structures disposed on the first wafer;
• generating a set of candidate values of one or more parameters of interest that characterize a shape of the one or more structures disposed on the first wafer;
• determining an error value associated with each of the set of candidate values of the one or more parameters of interest based on a trained scanning conditional measurement model, wherein each of the set of candidate values and the amount of measurement data are provided as input to the trained scanning conditional measurement model;
• determining a first estimated value of each of the one or more parameters of interest, wherein the first estimated value is a first of the set of candidate values of each of the one or more parameters of interest having a first minimum error value;
• and
• communicating an indication of the first estimated value of each of the one or more parameters of interest to a semiconductor fabrication tool that causes the semiconductor fabrication tool to adjust one or more parameters of a fabrication process of the semiconductor fabrication tool to achieve a desired output from the semiconductor fabrication tool.

A system comprising:

• one or more metrology systems each including an illumination source and a detector, each illumination source configured to generate an amount of illumination light characterized by one or more physical properties and each detector configured to collect an amount of measurement data from measurements of one or more structures disposed on a first wafer, the amount of measurement data dependent on the one or more physical properties of the amount of illumination light and one or more physical characteristics of the one or more structures disposed on the first wafer;
• and
• a non-transitory, computer-readable medium including instructions that when executed by one or more processors of a computing system cause the computing system to:
• generate a set of candidate values of one or more parameters of interest that characterize a shape of the one or more structures disposed on the first wafer;
• determine an error value associated with each of the set of candidate values of the one or more parameters of interest based on a trained scanning conditional measurement model, wherein each of the set of candidate values and the amount of measurement data are provided as input to the trained scanning conditional measurement model;
• determine a first estimated value of each of the one or more parameters of interest, wherein the first estimated value is a first of the set of candidate values of each of the one or more parameters of interest having a first minimum error value;
• and
• communicate an indication of the first estimated value of each of the one or more parameters of interest to a semiconductor fabrication tool that causes the semiconductor fabrication tool to adjust one or more parameters of a fabrication process of the semiconductor fabrication tool to achieve a desired output from the semiconductor fabrication tool.