US 11,966,170 B2
Lithographic overlay correction and lithographic process
Ai-Jen Hung, Nantou County (TW); Yung-Yao Lee, Hsinchu County (TW); Heng-Hsin Liu, New Taipei (TW); Chin-Chen Wang, Hsinchu (TW); and Ying Ying Wang, Hsinchu (TW)
Assigned to TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY LTD., Hsinchu (TW)
Filed by TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY LTD., Hsinchu (TW)
Filed on Oct. 27, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/081,800.
Application 17/081,800 is a division of application No. 15/992,000, filed on May 29, 2018, granted, now 10,831,110.
Prior Publication US 2021/0041792 A1, Feb. 11, 2021
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G03F 7/20 (2006.01); G03F 7/00 (2006.01); G03F 9/00 (2006.01); H01L 21/68 (2006.01)
CPC G03F 7/70633 (2013.01) [G03F 7/70775 (2013.01); G03F 7/70783 (2013.01); G03F 9/7003 (2013.01); G03F 9/7046 (2013.01); G03F 9/7073 (2013.01); G03F 9/7088 (2013.01); H01L 21/682 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising:
receiving a wafer;
measuring a surface topography of the wafer;
calculating a topographical variation based on the surface topography measurement;
performing a single-zone alignment compensation when the topographical variation is less than a predetermined value, or performing a multi-zone alignment compensation when the topographical variation is greater than the predetermined value; and
performing a wafer alignment according to the single-zone alignment compensation or the multi-zone alignment compensation,
wherein the multi-zone alignment compensation further comprises:
defining a plurality of zones over the wafer, wherein each zone includes a plurality of fields; and
performing the multi-zone alignment compensation for each of the plurality of zones by a controller according to an equation (1),
wherein the equation (1) is:
dXm=αm*Z1+βm*Z2+γm*Z3+ . . . ωm*Zn  (1)
wherein n is a positive integer greater than 1, m indicates that the zone undergoes the multi-zone alignment compensation and m is a positive integer less than or equal to n, dXm indicates the compensation value to be adjusted during the wafer alignment, Z1 to Zn indicate a first zone to an Nth zone of the plurality of zones, αm indicates a weighting for the fields in the first zone during performing of the multi-zone alignment compensation for an mth zone, βm indicates a weighting for the fields in the second zone during performing of the multi-zone alignment compensation for the mth zone, γm indicates a weighting for the fields in the third zone during performing of the multi-zone alignment compensation for the mth zone, and ωm indicates a weighting for the fields in the Nth zone during performing of the multi-zone alignment compensation for the mth zone.