# US 2014/0192366 A1 · Exposure condition determining method and surface inspection apparatus

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- Number: US 2014/0192366 A1
- Document ID: US20140192366A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 14/157,370
- Filed: 2014-01-16
- Published: 2014-07-10
- Earliest claimed: 2009-07-01
- Assignees: Nikon Corporation
- Applicants: Nikon Corporation
- Inventors: Hiroaki OKAMOTO
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140192366A1

## CPC

- G01B 9/02: Interferometers
- G03F 7/70616: {Monitoring the printed patterns}
- G03F 7/70625: {Dimensions, e.g. line width, critical dimension [CD], profile, sidewall angle or edge roughness}
- G03F 7/70641: {Focus}
- G01B: MEASURING LENGTH, THICKNESS OR SIMILAR LINEAR DIMENSIONS; MEASURING ANGLES; MEASURING AREAS; MEASURING IRREGULARITIES OF SURFACES OR CONTOURS
- 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; (phototypographic composing devices B41B; photosensitive materials or processes for photographic purposes G03C; electrophotography, sensitive layers or processes therefor G03G)

## Abstract

There is provided an exposure condition determining method for determining an exposure condition for an exposure-objective substrate having a plurality of semiconductor pattern features formed by predetermined exposure on a surface thereon, the method including, irradiating an illumination light onto a surface of a substrate, which has the pattern features, detecting a diffracted light from the plurality of semiconductor pattern features of the substrate irradiated with the illumination light, and determining the exposure condition based on a variation in brightness of the detected diffracted light.

## Claims

### Claim 1

An exposure condition determining method for determining an exposure condition for an exposure-objective substrate having a plurality of semiconductor pattern features formed by predetermined exposure on a surface thereon, the method comprising:
irradiating an illumination light onto a surface of a substrate, which has the pattern features;
detecting a diffracted light from the plurality of semiconductor pattern features of the substrate irradiated with the illumination light; and
determining the exposure condition based on a variation in brightness of the detected diffracted light.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The exposure condition determining method according to claim 1, wherein the exposure condition is determined based on an information from the pattern feature on the substrate formed by an exposure having a known exposure characteristic and the variation in brightness of the detected diffracted light.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The exposure condition determining method according to claim 1, wherein determining the exposure condition includes determining, as a limit value for the exposure condition, a condition value of the exposure at which the variation in brightness becomes maximum or approaches the maximum.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The exposure condition determining method according to claim 3, wherein determining the exposure condition includes determining a medium value, in a range of the exposure condition determined based on the limit, value, as a representative value for the exposure condition.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The exposure condition determining method according to claims 1, wherein detecting a diffracted light includes capturing an image of the substrate.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The exposure condition determining method according to claims 1, wherein a repetitively arranged guard pattern feature and a repetitively arranged linear line or hole pattern features are formed as the semiconductor pattern features, and the repetitively arranged guard pattern feature is arranged to surround a memory mat formed of the repetitively arranged line or hole pattern feature; and
the plurality of semiconductor pattern features of the reference substrate are formed by exposure under a plurality of exposure conditions for the reference substrate, respectively.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The exposure condition determining method according to claim 1, further comprising:
preparing a surface inspection apparatus including an illumination section which is configured to irradiate the illumination light onto the substrate, and a detection section which is configured to detect the diffracted light from the plurality of semiconductor pattern features of the substrate irradiated with the illumination light, the surface inspection apparatus being configured to inspect the surface of the substrate from information on the diffracted light detected by the detection section,

### Claim 8

A surface inspection apparatus comprising:
an illumination section which irradiates an illumination light onto a substrate having a plurality of semiconductor pattern features formed on a surface thereof by a predetermined exposure;
a detection section which is optically connected to the illumination section and which detects a diffracted light from the plurality of semiconductor pattern features of the substrate irradiated with the illumination light; and
a computation section which performs a computation to determine a condition for an exposure of a substrate based on a variation in brightness of the detected diffracted light from the plurality of semiconductor pattern features.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The surface inspection apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising: a communication section which performs communications regarding the condition for the exposure with an exposure apparatus which performs the predetermined exposure with the semiconductor pattern features.