Systems and methods for determination of focus and telecentricity, amelioration of metrology induced effects and application to determination of precision bossung curves

• Main Authors: HUNTER, JR. ROBERT O, SMITH ADLAI H
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 07.12.2010
• Subjects: ACCESSORIES THEREFOR; APPARATUS OR ARRANGEMENTS EMPLOYING ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USINGWAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; APPARATUS OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS OR FORPROJECTING OR VIEWING THEM; APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED THEREFOR; AUXILIARY PROCESSES IN PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY; MATERIALS THEREFOR; ORIGINALS THEREFOR; PHOTOGRAPHIC PROCESSES, e.g. CINE, X-RAY, COLOUR,STEREO-PHOTOGRAPHIC PROCESSES; PHOTOGRAPHY; PHOTOMECHANICAL PRODUCTION OF TEXTURED OR PATTERNED SURFACES,e.g. FOR PRINTING, FOR PROCESSING OF SEMICONDUCTORDEVICES; PHOTOSENSITIVE MATERIALS FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC PURPOSES; PHYSICS

An apparatus and method for the simultaneous determination of focus and source boresighting error for photolithographic steppers and scanners is described. A reticle containing custom arrays of box-in-box test structures specifically designed for performing source or exit pupil division using an aperture plate is exposed onto a resist coated wafer several times. The resulting exposure patterns are measured with a conventional overlay tool. The overlay data is processed with a slope-shift algorithm for the simultaneous determination of both focus and source telecentricity as a function of field position. Additionally, methods for ameliorating metrology induced effects and methods for producing precision Bossung curves are also described. This Abstract is provided for the sole purpose of complying with the Abstract requirement rules, it shall not be used to interpret or to limit the scope or the meaning of the claims.