The technology evolution of 3D-NAND storage devices requires an extensive research and development (R and D) phase with frequent process changes during the film deposition, lithography and etching steps. These process changes might have an impact on the accuracy of overlay measurements, thereby influencing the on-product overlay performance. Besides, by increases of 3D-NAND storage density, the available space for overlay metrology error is significantly reduced. The combination of frequent process changes in R and D phase and tighter overlay metrology budget, increases the necessity of an accurate, yet robust overlay metrology solution that can be adopted for 3D-NAND development phase. In addition to that, such a metrology solution needs to have the ability of being smoothly transferred to the ramp and eventually to the high volume manufacturing (HVM) stage, where the metrology throughput is playing a significant role in terms of cost of ownership reduction. In this paper, we report the YieldStar multi-wavelength diffraction-based overlay (μDBO) metrology as a solution to address the above challenges. Unlike the conventional optical overlay metrology methods which use single light wavelength, this diffraction based technique uses multiple wavelengths to measure every single overlay metrology targets, which proves to be robust against process variation induced metrology errors. In order to demonstrate the advantages of this new metrology solution, the accuracy, robustness, and throughput performance of the multiwavelength μDBO metrology technique are evaluated in the YMTC 3D-NAND manufacturing process. In addition, a well-defined application strategy is developed for reducing the number of measurement wavelengths by the maturity level of process which results in a robustness gain without impacting the HVM throughput requirements.
Advancing technology nodes in DRAM continues to drive the reduction of on-product overlay (OV) budget. This gives rise to the need for OV metrology with greater accuracy. However, the ever increasing process complexity brings additional challenges related to metrology target deformation, which could contribute to a metrology error. Typically, an accurate OV measurement involves several engineering cycles for target and recipe optimization. In particular, process optimization in either technology development (TD) phase or high volume manufacturing (HVM) phase might influence metrology performance, which requires re-optimization. Therefore, a comprehensive solution providing accuracy and process robustness hereby minimizing the cycle time is highly desirable. In this work, we report multi-wavelength µDBO enhanced with accuracy aware pixel selection as a solution for robust OV measurement against process changes as well as improved accuracy in HVM. Accuracy aware pixel selection is capable of tackling intra-target processing variations and is established on a multi-wavelength algorithm with immunity to target asymmetry impact. DRAM use cases in FEOL critical layers will be discussed in this paper. Superior robustness and accuracy will be demonstrated together with improved on-product OV performance, promising a process of record metrology solution in specific applications throughout the TD and HVM.
Metrology requirements at advanced nodes are not only tightening on specifications but also broadening in terms of flexibility needed to cover variety of product stacks. Metrology targets need to be process compatible and at the same time these targets should also be readable by the metrology system. In some cases, process conditions require a target pitch that is large compared to the wavelength used by the metrology system. Examples of these situations include for instance topography transfer or stacks with thick resist (for e.g. 3D-NAND). Traditionally overlay is extracted from the asymmetry in the positive and negative first diffraction order generated from μDBO targets. However, when the pitch is large, the targets generate multiple higher diffraction orders. Current state-of-the-art diffraction based overlay systems do not take into account the effect of these higher diffraction orders and typically only select the first diffraction order. This is done by reducing the pitch of the target, tuning the wavelength or by changing the angle of incidence of the illumination light. To address wavelength over pitch flexibility an advanced algorithm was introduced on a new metrology system in the fab, providing full flexibility in the selection of measurement wavelength and pitch. To obey the specifications on accuracy and throughput, we will present a new metrology system that is, compared to its predecessor, about 2x faster and able to measure more accurately because of the ability to measure multiple wavelengths within the same time frame.
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