Methods and apparatus for dishing and erosion characterization
AssigneeKLA-Tencor Technologies Corporation
InventorsMehran Nasser-Ghodsi, Phil Wood
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention includes a system for efficient and effective detection and characterization of dishing and/or erosion. An x-ray emission inducer is used to scan a target on a sample. The target can be scanned at an acute incident angle to allow characterization of the dishing and/or erosion and analysis of the metallization or thin film layer topology.
Claims29
A system for characterizing dishing and/or erosion associated with a sample, the sample having a first surface and a second surface, the system comprising:
- memory;
- a processor coupled with memory, the processor configured to identify a first measurement of induced x-ray emissions characteristic of a first material emitted upon scanning a first scan target from a first direction and identify a second measurement of induced x-ray emissions characteristic of the first material emitted upon scanning the first scan target from a second direction, wherein the first and second measurements provide information for characterizing dishing and/or erosion associated with the sample.
An apparatus for characterizing dishing and/or erosion in a first scan target associated with a sample, the sample having a first surface and a second surface, the apparatus comprising:
- an x-ray emission inducer configured to scan a first scan target at an acute incident angle, the x-ray emission inducer causing the first scan target to emit x-rays from the first surface;
- an x-ray emission detection system configured to obtain a measurement of the x-rays emitted from the first surface of the sample, wherein the x-ray measurement is compared to a control measurement to provide information for characterizing dishing and/or erosion in the first scan target.
A method for characterizing dishing and/or erosion in a sample, the method comprising:
- identifying a first measurement of induced x-ray emissions characteristic of a first material at a first scan target resulting from a first scan from a first direction;
- identifying a second measurement of induced x-ray emissions characteristic of the first material at the first scan target resulting from a second scan from a second direction;
- providing the first and second measurements to allow characterization of dishing and/or erosion associated with the first scan target in the sample.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.