Capacitance probe for surface dielectric constant measurements
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorTien-I Bo
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Abstract
A fringing capacitance measurement probe and a method for determining a surface dielectric constant. The fringing capacitance measurement probe includes a planarized surface probe element for making interfacial planar contact with a measurement surface, the planarized surface having a metal conductive line portion and an insulating area portion to form a measuring area. The perimeter portion of the metal conductive line portion has a length greater than the perimeter length of the measuring area such that a fringing capacitance of the measurement surface may be determined.
Claims19
A fringing capacitance measurement probe for determining a surface dielectric constant of a semiconductor process wafer comprising:
- a planarized surface probe element for making interfacial planar contact with a dielectric measurement surface;
- said planarized surface having a metal conductive line portion comprising a measurement electrode and an insulating area portion to form a measuring area;
- wherein said metal conductive line portion comprises a serpentine shape having a continuous length greater than a perimeter length of the measuring area such that a fringing capacitance of the measurement surface may be determined.
A method of determining a fringing capacitance to determine a surface dielectric constant of a dielectric insulating layer comprising a semiconductor device comprising the steps of;
- providing a first planarized surface for making interfacial planar contact with a measurement surface;
- said planarized surface comprising a metal conductive line portion comprising a measuring electrode and an insulating area portion wherein the metal conductive line portion comprises a serpentine shape having a continuous length greater than a perimeter length of the planarized surface;
- wherein the metal conductive line portion is positioned in electrical contact with a metal backing portion to form a fringing capacitance probe;
- forming interfacial contact between the first planarized surface and the measurement surface;
- measuring a capacitance of the fringing capacitance probe and the measurement surface;
- and,
- subtracting that portion of the capacitance attributable to the fringing capacitance probe to determine the measurement surface dielectric constant.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.