Patent ID: 11908716
Assignee: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC H  C  G | IPC C  G  H

Claim 8:
9. A processing system comprising:
a processing chamber having a viewing window disposed in a lid or side thereof, the viewing window being transparent to allow viewing of a sample during processing;
an imaging system comprising:
an illuminator source configured to generate electromagnetic radiation to illuminate a measurement area on the sample;
an imaging sensor configured to capture images of the measurement area on the sample;
an objective lens system disposed adjacent to the viewing window, wherein the objective lens system is telecentric, broadband, diffraction limited, and spectrally parfocalized;
a first optical fiber configured to transmit the electromagnetic radiation from the illumination source to at least part of the objective lens system for illumination of the measurement area on the sample;
a second optical fiber configured to transmit the images from the objective lens system to the imaging sensor; and
a controller configured to monitor an etch or deposition by performing steps comprising:
illuminating the measurement area on a sample using an input beam generated by the illumination source and transmitted to the objective lens system by the first optical fiber;
receiving portions of the input beam reflected from the measurement area at the imaging sensor as a reflected beam, the reflected beam transmitted from the objective lens system to the imaging sensor by the second optical fiber;
obtaining the images of the measurement area using the reflected beam received at the imaging sensor, each of the images obtained at a different time within a monitoring period, and each of the images comprising pixels corresponding to different parts of the measurement area;
determining a reflectance of one or more of the pixels within each of the images, the one or more of the pixels corresponding to areas of interest within the measurement area;
determining a change in the reflectance of the one or more of the pixels between adjacent ones of the images; and
monitoring the etch or deposition process based on the change in the reflectance.