Delay time measurement method and system
AssigneeASML Netherlands B.V.
InventorsBenoit Herve GAURY, Jasper Frans Mathijs VAN RENS
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Abstract
A method of measuring a delay time of a propagation of a signal in a line in a circuit structure, the method comprises irradiating the line by pulses of a charged particle beam, wherein a pulse repetition frequency of the pulses of the charged particle beam is varied. The method further comprises measuring, for each of the pulse repetition frequencies, a secondary charged particle emission responsive to the irradiating the line by the pulses of the charged particle beam at the respective pulse repetition frequency, and deriving the delay time of the line based on the secondary charged particle emission responsive to the varying of the pulse repetition frequency.
Claims20
A computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:
- irradiating a line by pulses of a charged particle beam, wherein a pulse repetition frequency of the pulses of the charged particle beam is varied,
- measuring, for each of the pulse repetition frequencies, a secondary charged particle emission responsive to the irradiating the line by the pulses of the charged particle beam at the respective pulse repetition frequency, and
- deriving the delay time of the line based on the secondary charged particle emission responsive to the varying of the pulse repetition frequency.
A system for measuring a delay time of propagation of a signal in a line in a circuit structure, the system comprising:
- a charged particle beam source configured to irradiate the line by pulses of a charged particle beam, wherein a pulse repetition frequency of the pulses of the charged particle beam is varied,
- a secondary charge particle emission detector to measure, for each of the pulse repetition frequencies, a secondary charged particle emission responsive to the irradiating the line by the pulses of the charged particle beam at the respective pulse repetition frequency, and
- a data processing device configured to derive the delay time of the line based on the secondary charged particle emission responsive to the varying of the pulse repetition frequency.
A method of determining an RC constant for a node, the method comprising:
- generating electron beam pulses at a variable repetition frequency and directing the electron beam pulses at a node;
- detecting SEs emitted in response to the electron beam pulses;
- determining an RC constant of the node based on the time-averaged detected SEs as a function of the time between electron beam pulses.
A method of measuring a delay time of a propagation of a signal in a line in a circuit structure, the method comprising:
- irradiating the line by first pulses of a charged particle beam with a temporal spacing T,
- irradiating the line by second pulses of the charged particle beam with the temporal spacing T, wherein the second pulses are retarded in respect of the first pulses by a pulse retardation time and wherein the pulse retardation time is varied,
- measuring, for different values of the pulse retardation time, a secondary charged particle emission responsive to the irradiating the line by the first and second pulses of the charged particle beam, and
- deriving the delay time of the line based on the secondary charged particle emission responsive to the varying of the pulse retardation time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.