Patent ID: 11921063
Assignee: APPLIED MATERIALS ISRAEL LTD.
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G  H | IPC G  H

Claim 0:
1. A computerized system of measuring a lateral recess in a semiconductor specimen, the semiconductor specimen comprising a stack of a first type of one or more first layers and a second type of one or more second layers deposited alternately on each other, the second layers being at least partially etched, thereby forming a lateral recess between each given second layer and two first layers adjacent thereto, the system comprising:
an electron beam tool configured to:
scan the semiconductor specimen using an electron beam with a landing energy specifically selected to penetrate to a predefined depth corresponding to a target second layer of the specimen; and
acquire a first image by collecting secondary electrons (SE) emitted from a surface of the specimen, and acquire a second image by collecting backscattered electrons (BSE) scattered from an interior region of the specimen between the surface and the target second layer, the first image informative of a surface profile of the specimen, the second image informative of an interior structure of the interior region; and

a processing and memory circuitry (PMC) operatively connected to the electron beam tool and configured to:
generate a first gray level (GL) waveform informative of GL intensity distribution of the first image, and a second GL waveform informative of GL intensity distribution of the second image;
estimate a first width of the one or more first layers based on the first GL waveform and a second width with respect to at least the target second layer based on the second GL waveform; and
measure a lateral recess with respect to the target second layer based on the first width and the second width.