Ferroelectric capacitor plasma charging monitor
AssigneesTexas Instruments Incorporated, Agilent Technologies, Inc.
InventorsShawming Ma, Guoqiang Xing, Stephen R. Gilbert
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Plasma charging devices and methods are disclosed for detecting plasma charging during semiconductor wafer processing. Charging monitors are disclosed having ferroelectric capacitance elements which can be preprogrammed prior to processing steps of interest, and then subsequently measured afterwards, in order to determine whether plasma related charging is a problem in the intervening processing steps.
Claims20
A plasma charging monitor for monitoring plasma related charging in a semiconductor wafer, comprising:
- a ferroelectric capacitor formed over the semiconductor wafer and having a bottom conductive electrode, a ferroelectric material overlying the bottom electrode, and a top conductive electrode overlying the ferroelectric material;
- a conductive antenna formed over the semiconductor wafer, wherein at least a portion of the antenna is exposed so as to allow connection to external instruments;
- a resistor formed over the semiconductor wafer and electrically connecting the top conductive electrode to the conductive antenna;
- and
- a conductive probe pad formed over the semiconductor wafer and electrically connected to the bottom conductive electrode, wherein at least a portion of the probe pad is exposed so as to allow connection to external instruments.
A method of monitoring plasma related charging of a semiconductor wafer, comprising:
- preprogramming a ferroelectric capacitor in the semiconductor wafer;
- performing a processing operation on the semiconductor wafer, wherein the ferroelectric capacitor is exposed to the processing operation;
- measuring a polarity associated with the ferroelectric capacitor;
- and
- determining a plasma related charging associated with the processing operation according to the measured polarity.
A method of producing a plasma charging monitor for monitoring plasma related charging in a semiconductor manufacturing process, the method comprising:
- providing a semiconductor wafer;
- forming a ferroelectric capacitor over the semiconductor wafer having first and second electrodes;
- forming an antenna electrically connected to the first electrode over the semiconductor wafer with at least a portion of the antenna exposed to provide electrical connection thereof with an external device;
- and
- forming a probe pad electrically connected to the second electrode over the semiconductor wafer with at least a portion of the probe pad exposed to provide electrical connection thereof with the external device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.