Source: http://www.google.co.uk/patents/US7880880
Timestamp: 2013-05-21 20:38:50
Document Index: 425908815

Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 60', 'Application No. 60', 'Application No. 03075954', 'Application No. 03076422', 'Application No. 2008', 'Application No. 03077976', 'Application No. 03077974', 'Application No. 092125977']

Patent US7880880 - Alignment systems and methods for lithographic systems - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Advanced Patent Search | Web History | Sign inAdvanced Patent SearchPatentsAn alignment system for a lithographic apparatus has a source of alignment radiation; a detection system that has a first detector channel and a second detector channel; and a position determining unit in communication with the detection system. The position determining unit is constructed to process...http://www.google.co.uk/patents/US7880880?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US7880880 - Alignment systems and methods for lithographic systemsPublication numberUS7880880 B2Publication typeGrantApplication number11/294,367Publication date1 Feb 2011Filing date6 Dec 2005Priority date20 Sep 2002Also published asCN1495540ACN1495540BCN1506768ACN1506768BCN1534271ACN1534387ACN100337089CCN100476599CUS6844918US7112813US7297971US7329888US7330261US7332732US7619738US8139217InventorsJacobus BurghoornAllan Reuben DunbarPaul Christiaan HinnenJeroen HuijbregtseAndre Bernardus JeuninkRamon Navarro Y KorenBrian Young Bok LeeHenry MegensSicco Ian SchetsJohny Rutger SchuurhuisHubertus Johannes Gertrudus SimonsHoite Pieter Theodoor TolsmaFranciscus Bernardus Maria Van BilsenRichard Johannes Franciscus Van HarenHermanus Gerardus Van HorssenOriginal AssigneeAsml Netherlands B.V.U.S. Classification356/399257/797250/237.00G438/401International ClassificationG01B11/00H01L21/76H01L23/544G01D5/36G03F9/02H01L23/52G01B21/00G03F7/00H01S3/00G01B11/02G03F9/00G02B5/18H01L21/027G03F7/20H01L21/68H01L21/3205Cooperative ClassificationG03F9/7084G03F9/7049G03F9/7092G03F9/7076G03F9/7088G03F9/7046European ClassificationG03F9/70MG03F9/70DG03F9/70K6G03F9/70K2G03F9/70NG03F9/70B12ReferencesPatent Citations (112)Non-Patent Citations (14)External LinksUSPTOUSPTO AssignmentEspacenetAlignment systems and methods for lithographic systemsUS 7880880 B2Abstract An alignment system for a lithographic apparatus has a source of alignment radiation; a detection system that has a first detector channel and a second detector channel; and a position determining unit in communication with the detection system. The position determining unit is constructed to process information from said first and second detector channels in a combination to determine a position of an alignment mark on a work piece, the combination taking into account a manufacturing process of the work piece. A lithographic apparatus has the above mentioned alignment system. Methods of alignment and manufacturing devices with a lithographic apparatus use the above alignment system and lithographic apparatus, respectively.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/665,404, filed Sep. 22, 2003 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,332,732, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/411,861, filed Sep. 20, 2002, U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/413,601, filed Sep. 26, 2002, European Application No. 03075954.2, filed Apr. 1, 2003 and European Application No. 03076422.9, filed May 12, 2003. The entire contents of these applications are incorporated herein by reference.
The lithographic projection apparatus may be a stepping apparatus or a step-and-scan apparatus. In a stepping apparatus, the mask pattern is imaged in one shot on an IC area of the substrate. Subsequently, the substrate is moved with respect to the mask in such a way that a subsequent IC area will be situated under the mask pattern and the projection lens system and the mask pattern is imaged on the subsequent IC area. This process is repeated until all IC areas of the substrate are provided with a mask pattern image. In a step-and-scan apparatus, the above-mentioned stepping procedure is also followed, but the mask pattern is not imaged in one shot, but via scanning movement. During imaging of the mask pattern, the substrate is moved synchronously with the mask with respect to the projection system and the projection beam, taking the magnification of the projection system into account. A series of juxtaposed partial images of consecutively exposed parts of the mask pattern is imaged in an IC area. After the mask pattern has been completely imaged in an IC area, a step is made to a subsequent IC area. A possible scanning procedure is described in the article: �Sub-micron 1:1 Optical Lithography� by D. A. Markle in the magazine �Semiconductors International� of May 1986, pp. 137-142.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION Methods and devices according to this invention will now be described with reference to particular embodiments by way of example. The broad concepts of this invention are not limited to only these specifically described embodiments. The invention will be described with reference to an alignment system for a photolithography system that includes both an on-axis (also referred to as �axial�) and an off-axis (�off-axial�) alignment system that can be used in combination to obtain the eventual alignment of a mask with respect to a substrate (�workpiece�). The axial alignment system may have a separate source of radiation to illuminate alignment marks, such as in through-the-lens (TTL) or through-the-reticle (TTR) systems, or it may employ the same radiation as the exposure radiation. The following example will describe a TTL system in combination with an off-axial system (OAS) as an embodiment of this invention. Furthermore, the invention envisions application to photolithography systems that have refraction projection systems as well as to other types of lithography systems that use shorter wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation than currently employed, systems which use reflective and/or diffraction imaging optics, and/or systems which use other types of radiation such as charged-particle beams, e.g., electron beams that are imaged with magnetic, electromagnetic, and/or electrostatic imaging optics. Embodiments of this invention also envision integrating the alignment process of the lithography systems with other components of an Automated Process Control (APC) system such as a metrology tool that is used to measure the accuracy of an exposure of a photo-resist prior to further processing.
FIG. 3 shows the optical elements of a slightly modified alignment unit in greater detail. The double alignment unit comprises two separate and identical alignment systems AS1 and AS2 which are positioned symmetrically with respect to the optical axis A�A' of the projection lens system PL. The alignment system AS1 is associated with the mask alignment mark M2 and the alignment system AS2 is associated with the mask alignment mark M1. The corresponding elements of the two alignment systems are denoted by the same reference numerals, those of the system AS2 being primed so as to distinguish them from those of the system AS1.
X x −M.X r=0 (1) Y w −M.Y r=0 (2)Φz,w−φz,r=0 (3)
M 2 .Z w −Z r=0 (4) M.φ x,w−φx,r=0 (5) M.φ y,w−φy,r=0 (6)
In this plane, means are provided for further separating the different sub-beams. To this end, a plate may be arranged in this plane, which is provided with deflection elements in the form of, for example wedges 80-86. In FIG. 5, the wedge plate is denoted by WEP. The wedges 80-86 are provided on, for example, the rear side of the plate WEP. A prism 72 can then be provided on the front side of the plate WEP, with which an alignment beam coming from the radiation source 70, for example a He�Ne laser can be coupled into the alignment unit. This prism can also prevent the 0-order sub-beam from reaching the detectors 90-96. The number of wedges 80-86 corresponds to the number of sub-beams which is to be used. In the embodiment shown, there are six wedges per dimension for the plus orders so that the sub-beams can be used up to and including the 7-order for the alignment. All wedges have a different wedge angle so that an optimal separation of the different sub-beams is obtained.
NA n = sin ⁢ ⁢ N � λ ⁢ ) P ( 10 ) For a 7-order sub-beam and a substrate grating mark with a grating period p=16 μm and a wavelength λ=544 nm, the desired numerical aperture is approximately 0.24, which is a very acceptable number.
The above examples of predictive recipes may be viewed as static recipes in the sense that the information from the plurality of channels are combined with fixed coefficients. The term predictive recipe is intended to include the general concept of obtaining a mathematical representation of multichannel information and then using the mathematical representation to determine the position of the alignment mark. The concepts of this invention also include dynamic recipes, within the general concept of predictive recipes, in which information from the various channels are combined in a way that depends on measured quantities. For example, information from a plurality of diffraction order channels may be combined with coefficients which depend on the measured signal strength. Other measured quantities may also be used in dynamic recipes. For example, the output signal may be fit to an expected functional form, such as a sinusoid. The correlation coefficient in such a fit provides another measured quantity which can be used in a dynamic recipe for combining signals from the plurality of channels. The use of other input parameters, such as �mccr�, �minirepro�, �signal to noise ratio� �signal shape�, �signal envelope�, �focus� �tilt� �order channels position offset� �wavelength channels position offset�, �shift between segments�; and/or �coarse-fine position deviation�, possibly in combination with user input parameters, can enhance the performance.
Many of these parameters are related to the accuracy of the aligned position determination. The parameter �mcc� is the multiple correlation coefficient indicating how well the measured signal resembles the signal expected for a perfect alignment mark; the �minirepro� is the standard deviation of the aligned position of different sections or portions of an alignment measurement, indicating the accuracy of the aligned position; the �signal to noise ratio� is the fitted signal divided by the relative level of noise across the spectrum of the measured signal, while the �signal shape� is the relative level of a few discrete frequencies in this spectrum, generally at multiples of the base frequency; the �signal envelope� is variance of the signal strength during the measurement; the �focus� is the offset in wafer height with respect to the detector; the �tilt� is the angle between the wafer angle and the detector angle during the measurement; �order channels position. offset� is the measured difference in aligned position of the various channels of one wavelength; the �wavelength channels position offset� is the measured difference in aligned position of the various wavelength channels; the �shift between segments� is the measured difference in aligned position of the various segments of a multi segmented alignment mark; and the �coarse-fine position deviation� is the difference between the position of the alignment marks in the fine phase with respect to their expected position based on alignment mark measurements in the coarse phase.
The coefficients may also be determined by including the historical data of the process. For example, one can compare the information obtained for the diffraction order channels with the information from previous wafers. If the information of a certain channel differs significantly from the information for that channel on previous wafers, one could give that channel a lower weighted coefficient than when the information from that channel closely resembles the information from previous wafers. Another way of dealing with the information from the plurality of diffraction order channels, is to model the individual channels in terms of wafer grid parameters (translation, rotation, wafer expansion, orthogonality, asymmetric scaling and higher order parameters) for each of the channels. The residuals of the wafer model fit to the individual signals�the so-called grid residuals�are qualifiers for the relative importance of a certain diffraction channel. For example, if a residual for a channel on a certain position on the wafer closely resembles the historical residual distribution at that position, a larger weight factor is assigned than when the residual is way off the average residual on previous wafers. (Also see FIG. 29 for an illustration of a statistical distribution of wafer residuals σ1, σ2.) Historical data helps in that way to minimize the spread of the information obtained with the alignment system. One can also measure the information from a plurality of diffraction order channels and choose the channel(s) with the highest signal strength(s) for alignment and reject the information of diffraction order channels with lower signal strengths. Other measured quantities may also be used in such dynamic recipes.
FIG. 21 illustrates an example of signals produced in the seven diffraction-order channels 423A-423G for one of the two wavelengths as a grating, such as the target grating 416, is scanned at a constant rate under the field of view of the off axial alignment system OAS. As the image of the target grating 416 comes into alignment with the reference grating for the respective diffractive order, there is a maximum in the signal strength. Conversely, when the image of the target grating 416 on its respective reference grating is completely out of alignment, there is a minimum in the detected signal strength. One can thus see that with a substantially constant scanning motion, the output signals are substantially sinusoidal. The signals for the higher order channels are at a higher frequency than the lower order channels. Signals are obtained in all seven of the diffractive order channels as a target grating 416 is scanned through the field of view of the off-axial alignment system OAS for each of the two colors of the alignment system. The alignment marks 410 and 412 provide one example of a multi-target alignment mark. In this embodiment, the targets are diffraction gratings. The plurality of targets within the segmented alignment mark 410 is used to determine a position of the alignment mark 410. Similarly, the targets within the segmented alignment mark 412 are used to determine a position of the alignment mark 412. The concept of a multi-segmented alignment mark may be extended to include three, four or more segments within an alignment mark. In addition to alignment marks with two segments, as illustrated in FIG. 20, the instant inventors have found alignment marks that have four targets within the mark to be currently useful. FIG. 22 illustrates an embodiment of such a four target alignment mark 422 which has targets 424, 426, 428 and 430. In this embodiment, the targets 424, 426, 428 and 430 are each diffraction gratings and thus can also be referred to as target gratings. The target gratings 424, 426, 428 each have the same pitch, while the target grating 430 has a different pitch (not shown). Suitable pitches have been found to be 16.0 tm for the diffraction gratings 424, 426 and 428 and 17.6 μm for the diffraction grating 430 for current feature scales and some applications. In this embodiment, one may select each target 424, 426 and 428 to have a different detection characteristic. For example, one may select the targets 424 and 426 and 428 to be diffraction order-enhancing gratings which enhance different diffraction orders. (In the foregoing, this means that it enhances the �signals� of that diffraction order compared to that of a uniform diffraction grating.) For example, one may construct the alignment mark 422 such that the target 424 is a diffraction order-enhancing grating that enhances the third diffraction order. The target 426 may be selected to enhance the fifth diffraction order and the target 428 may be selected to enhance the seventh diffraction order.
Another embodiment of this invention is a system for an improved overlay strategy. The parameters for wafer alignment are important for an overlay strategy in building up a micro-device. Some of the important parameters are the number of alignment marks used, the alignment recipe, residual thresholds, and location of the marks on the wafer. FIG. 27 illustrates a multi-target mark according to an embodiment of this invention that may be used with a system that has improved overlay. The numerical values of corresponding to the grating pitches (one-half the pitch values) are provided as an example of values that are currently found to be useful and are not a limiting feature of the general concept. The alignment mark illustrated in FIG. 27 has three process targets that provide robust alignment on such marks over most processes currently used in a fabrication plant (�fab�) (i.e., CMP, PVD, STI, DT, Cu-Damascene, etc). Three process targets have been found to be useful, but one could use other numbers of process targets without departing from the scope of this invention. To enhance the robustness against processing for a specific process,. special process modules have been designed. Examples of process targets are described above with reference to FIGS. 24 and 26C. For example, in cases where the W thickness varies significantly during deposition, the process segmentations are chosen in such a way that the full range of W-thickness variation is covered. In that way, optimal alignment performance after the W-CMP & AL-PVD process steps is obtained.
In case of alignment failure, it is clear that a switch to another strategy should take place. However, in cases of dynamic global alignment strategies within a batch, switching to an alternative strategy is based on indirect indicators of overlay performance, since no external overlay data is available. Such indicators are for instance the order-to-order stability, residual analysis or signal quality analysis (SS, MCC). See, �Extended Athena alignment performance and application for the 100 nm technology node� by Ramon Navarro, Stefan Keij, Arie den Boef, Sicco Schets, Frank van Bilsen, Geert Simons, Ron Schuurhuis, Jaap Burghoorn. 26th annual international symposium on microlithography, Feb. 25-Mar. 2, 2001 in Santa Clara, Calif., the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference. Order-to-order (O2O) stability is a measure for the variation on the aligned position as induced by processing only. Residual analysis characterizes how well the modeled wafer grid fits into the measured positions e.g. , the Residual Overlay Performance Indicator (ROPI). The decision to switch to an alternative strategy can be implemented within a batch. However, when switching to an alternative strategy, usually new process corrections are required. In both cases (fallback and dynamic global alignment strategies), the determination of the correct process corrections is a problem. Since the process corrections are assumed to be stable over batches, those can be derived in the slow feedback APC system. Thus, the APC system does not determine the parameters of the new alignment strategy here, but determines the process corrections for all segments of the multi-target mark and sends those corrections to the lithography tool (LITHO). With these data on the lithography tool, a feedback loop can be implemented with switching of alignment strategy on a batch- to-batch basis.
In another embodiment of this invention, data collected from the alignment systems can be used to improve quality control during manufacture. Quality control WQ is performed on an overlay metrology tool on a few wafers that are usually randomly picked from each batch. Therefore, it is very well possible that non-representative wafers are chosen from a batch. Since the process corrections for the next batch are based on these overlay metrology measurements, this may result in overlay variations from batch-to-batch. In this embodiment, alignment data�that is available for every wafer�is used to identify the wafers to be measured on the overlay metrology tool. To determine which wafers are representative for a batch, one can for instance determine the wafer-to-wafer distribution of the wafer model parameters (translation, expansion, rotation) <W> and identify the wafers that are closest to the batch averaged wafer parameters. In particular, the wafer expansion and non-orthogonality are useful for this purpose. Alternatively, one can look at the grid residuals, i.e., the deviation of each measured position from a best grid fit to the measured positions. If the alignment marks have been exposed on a different machine, a systematic error can occur with the grid residuals. The alignment system will then measure each mark with a different offset. This offset gives a large contribution to the residuals, thereby obscuring true processing effects. By determining the residual distribution per mark location as shown in FIG. 27, the effect of the offset is excluded. Now it can be determined for all marks individually if they fit into the grid. Other qualifiers that can be used are the SS and MCC distribution across all marks and all wafers, or per mark across all wafers. Alternatively, one could also indicate the worst wafer and suspect wafer (flyer). For instance, the worst SS, MCC, or residual may be used. If these worst wafers are within specification on the overlay metrology tool (KLA), the entire batch is also within specification.
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