Patent ID: 7767956
Filing Date: 2010-08-03
Classification: G01N,G03F,H01L,Y10S

Abstract:
1. A wafer measurement system for use within a wafer process tool, comprising: a wafer handler associated with the wafer process tool for feeding wafers between a cassette and any one or more of a plurality of stations of the wafer process tool; a wafer measurement station forming one of the stations of the wafer process tool, the measurement station having a wafer support in communication with the wafer handler, the measurement station also having therein an optical measurement system forming a scatterometry instrument, the optical measurement system operable to direct a light beam as a spot onto patterned features of a wafer on the wafer support and to obtain characteristic optical signatures for the patterned features; and a data processor analyzing the characteristic optical signatures to obtain a measure of the patterned features on the wafer so that a process carried out by the wafer process tool can be analyzed, the data processor altering wafer processing parameters of at least one of the plurality of the stations of the wafer process tool based upon the characteristic optical signatures such that a first portion of one of the wafers is processed with a first set of process conditions during a step of the process and such that a second portion of the one of the wafers is processed with a second set of process conditions during the step, wherein the first set is different than the second set.