Test Structures for Referencing Electronics Linewidth Measurements to Silicon Lattice Parameters Using HRTEM

Published

April 8, 2002

Author(s)

Richard A. Allen, Michael W. Cresswell, Christine E. Murabito, William F. Guthrie, Loren W. Linholm, Colleen E. Hood, E. Hal Bogardus

Abstract

A technique has been developed to certify the linewidths of the features of a prototype reference materials for the calibration of CD (Critical-Dimension) metrology instruments. The reference features are fabricated in mono-crystalline-silicon with the sidewalls aligned to the (111) lattice planes. The calibration procedure consists of primary calibration via lattice-plane counting of selected samples using High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM) with a transfer calibration via Electrical CD (ECD) test-structure metrology. A number of these prototype reference materials were calibrated and provided by the International SEMATECH for evaluation by its member companies. In this paper, we will describe the calibration procedure and show how the total uncertainty of less than 15 nm was derived.

Proceedings Title

Proc., 2002 ICMTS

Conference Dates

April 9-11, 2002

Conference Location

Cork, 1, EI

Conference Title

IEEE 2002 International Conference on Microelectronic Test Structures

Pub Type

Conferences

Keywords

critical dimension, linewidth, metrology, semiconductor process control, standard , test structure, VLSI

Citation

Allen, R. , Cresswell, M. , Murabito, C. , Guthrie, W. , Linholm, L. , Hood, C. and Bogardus, E. (2002), Test Structures for Referencing Electronics Linewidth Measurements to Silicon Lattice Parameters Using HRTEM, Proc., 2002 ICMTS, Cork, 1, EI (Accessed April 25, 2024)