Patent ID: 7462814
Filing Date: 2008-12-09
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 for receiving a wafer from the wafer handler, the measurement station comprising an optical measurement system forming a scatterometry instrument that is moveable to specified locations over a wafer in the wafer measurement station to direct a light beam as a spot onto patterned features of the wafer and to obtain characteristic optical signatures for the patterned features; and a data processor operable for receiving and analyzing the characteristic signatures to analyze the wafer after processing in any of the plurality of the stations of the wafer process tool, the data processor being further operable to alter wafer processing parameters of at least one of the plurality of the stations of the wafer process tool to be used for processing subsequent wafers based upon the characteristic signatures such that a first portion of one of the subsequent wafers is processed with a first set of process conditions during a step of a process performed by the wafer process tool and such that a second portion of the one of the subsequent wafers is processed with a second set of process conditions during the step, wherein the first set is different than the second set.