Patent ID: 7003149
Filing Date: 2006-02-21
Classification: G01N,G03F,H01L

Abstract:
1. A method for monitoring fabrication processes of structured surfaces in a semiconductor production, the method which comprises: generating reference signatures of structured surfaces by measuring an intensity distribution of images varying at least a wavelength and a polarization of an electromagnetic radiation, the polarization of the electromagnetic radiation being varied by a rotation apparatus rotating an electromagnetic radiation source, the images being selected from the group consisting of diffraction images and scattered light images of a plurality of individual structures of surfaces of production prototypes having a specified quality; providing at least one of a neural network and a fuzzy logic having a learning capability by adjusting a weighting of the at lease one of the neural network and the fuzzy logic as a function of the reference signatures; measuring at least one signature of a test specimen surface to be monitored by simultaneously registering a plurality of individual structures of the test specimen surface to be monitored by using an intensity distribution of images varying at least a wavelength and a polarization of an electromaqnetic radiation, the polarization of the electromagnetic radiation being varied by a rotation apparatus rotating an electromagnetic radiation source, the images being selected from the group consisting of diffraction images and scattered light images for providing a measured signature; performing measurements for both the reference signatures and the at least one signature of the test specimen surface to be monitored one at a time; comparing the measured signature with the reference signatures for providing comparison results by using at least one of the fuzzy logic and the neural network to evaluate similarity between the reference signatures and the measured signature; and if a similarity between the reference signatures and measured signature has been found in the comparison step, then performing the step of: or otherwise performing the steps of: