US 12,422,376 B2
Imaging reflectometry for inline screening
John Charles Robinson, Austin, TX (US); Stilian Pandev, Santa Clara, CA (US); Shifang Li, Pleasanton, CA (US); Mike Von Den Hoff, Munich (DE); Justin Lach, Portage, MI (US); Barry Saville, Gansevoort (GB); David W. Price, Austin, TX (US); Robert J. Rathert, Mechanicsville, VA (US); Chet V. Lenox, Lexington, TX (US); Thomas Groos, Mengerskirchen (DE); and Oreste Donzella, San Ramon, CA (US)
Assigned to KLA Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US)
Filed by KLA Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US)
Filed on Jun. 4, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/339,531.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/165,155, filed on Mar. 24, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2022/0307990 A1, Sep. 29, 2022
Int. Cl. G01N 21/95 (2006.01); G01B 11/27 (2006.01); G01N 21/55 (2014.01); G06N 20/00 (2019.01)
CPC G01N 21/9501 (2013.01) [G01B 11/27 (2013.01); G01N 21/55 (2013.01); G06N 20/00 (2019.01)] 44 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A die screening system comprising:
a controller communicatively coupled to one or more in-line metrology tools, wherein the controller includes one or more processors configured to execute program instructions causing the one or more processors to:
receive die-resolved metrology data for a plurality of dies on one or more samples from the one or more in-line metrology tools after one or more fabrication steps, wherein the die-resolved metrology data includes one or more images generated using one or more measurement configurations of the one or more in-line metrology tools, wherein the die-resolved metrology data provides a plurality of measurement channels per die of the plurality of dies, wherein each measurement channel corresponds to a particular pixel of a particular image generated by a particular in-line metrology tool after a particular processing step;
generate screening data for the plurality of dies from the die-resolved metrology data, wherein the screening data includes a subset of the plurality of measurement channels of the die-resolved metrology data, wherein the die-resolved metrology data comprises at least one of critical dimension measurement data, overlay measurement data, sidewall angle measurement data, feature height measurement data, film composition measurement data, focal position data, or dose data, wherein the subset of the plurality of measurement channels in the screening data are sensitive to process variations associated with fabrication of the one or more samples;
screen the plurality of dies into two or more disposition classes based on variability in the screening data, from the die-resolved metrology data, between multiple dies, wherein the two or more disposition classes include at least a set of pass dies and a set of outlier dies; and
provide one or more adjustments to one or more fabrication tools for processing one or more layers of one or more additional dies based on the variability of the plurality of dies.