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AssigneeCredence Systems Corporation
InventorsErwan Le Roy, Patricia Le Coupanec, Theodore R. Lundquist, William B. Thompson, Mark A. Thompson, Lokesh Johri
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A method for utilizing interference fringe patterns generated when milling a trench through a semiconductor substrate by a method such as FIB milling, to determine and optimize the thickness uniformity of the trench bottom. The interference fringes may be mapped and the mapping used to direct the FIB milling to those regions which are thicker to correct observed non-uniformities in the trench floor thickness by varying the pixel dwell time across the milled area. The interference fringe mapping may be used to develop computerized contour lines to automate the pixel dwell time variations as described above, for correcting non-uniformities in the trench floor thickness. The method may be applied to applications other than trench formation for backside editing, such as monitoring progress in forming a milled object.
A method for, during formation of a trench a portion of the way through a semiconductor substrate sample from a first substrate surface to a second substrate surface, said trench having a trench floor, said trench floor having a thickness profile relative to said second substrate surface, determining the uniformity of said thickness profile, comprising the steps of:
A method for monitoring progress in milling a FIB milled object in a thin semiconductor material, said abject having a desired thickness profile, comprising the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.