US 12,230,546 B2
Wafer registration and overlay measurement systems and related methods
Nikolay A. Mirin, Boise, ID (US); Robert Dembi, Boise, ID (US); Richard T. Housley, Boise, ID (US); Xiaosong Zhang, Boise, ID (US); Jonathan D. Harms, Meridian, ID (US); and Stephen J. Kramer, Boise, ID (US)
Assigned to Micron Technology, Inc., Boise, ID (US)
Filed by Micron Technology, Inc., Boise, ID (US)
Filed on Dec. 15, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/644,414.
Application 17/644,414 is a division of application No. 16/122,106, filed on Sep. 5, 2018, granted, now 11,251,096.
Prior Publication US 2022/0108927 A1, Apr. 7, 2022
Int. Cl. H01L 21/66 (2006.01); G03F 7/00 (2006.01); H01L 21/302 (2006.01); H01L 21/68 (2006.01); H01L 23/544 (2006.01)
CPC H01L 22/12 (2013.01) [G03F 7/70633 (2013.01); G03F 7/70655 (2023.05); H01L 21/302 (2013.01); H01L 21/682 (2013.01); H01L 23/544 (2013.01); H01L 2223/54426 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A registration system, comprising:
a substrate support for supporting a wafer;
an optical microscope imaging or scatterometry system configured to recognize at least locations of visible elements on a wafer;
a sensor movable over the wafer and configured to detect magnetic attributes of non-visible elements of the wafer; and
a controller operably coupled to the substrate support, the sensor and the optical microscope imaging or scatterometry system, the controller comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the controller to:
receive data related to detected magnetic attributes of the non-visible elements from the sensor;
responsive to the received data related to detected magnetic attributes, determine at least locations of the non-visible elements within the wafer;
receive date related to recognized at least locations of visible elements on a wafer;
responsive to the received data related to recognized at least locations of visible elements, determine at least locations of the visible elements on the wafer; and
responsive to a determined at least locations of at least one non-visible element and at least one visible element, calculate a positional offset between the at least one non-visible element and the at least one visible element.