A kind of measuring method of semiconductor chip sub-surface damage layer
Technical field
The present invention relates to the measuring method of semiconductor wafer field of measuring technique, particularly a kind of semiconductor chip sub-surface damage layer.
Background technology
The sub-surface damage layer of semiconductor wafer is usually located at submicron-scale scope under the wafer surface, is commonly considered as having the damage zone of high density dislocation, results from the wafer CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) process.Along with the semiconductor device chip size is small day by day, structure is increasingly sophisticated, sub-surface damage layer becomes more and more important to the influence of device, in particular for epitaxial material growth open the i.e. semiconductor wafer of usefulness of box, sub-surface damage layer directly has influence on the photoelectric properties of epitaxial material and even device.Though can remove sub-surface damage layer by the way of chemical corrosion, the chemical corrosion meeting causes the coarse injustice on surface, and this is very disadvantageous to epitaxial material growth and device production.
Methods such as employing light scattering, X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscope can be carried out sign to a certain extent to the sub-surface damage layer of wafer.Light scattering method is by measuring the sub-surface damage district scattering strength of laser to be characterized sub-surface damage, and the local scattered light that sub-surface damage is strong is also stronger.Laser facula carries out two-dimensional scan at sample surfaces, can obtain the space distribution information of chip sub-surface damage.Except sub-surface damage, the unequal other factors of rough surface also can produce light scattering, and the influence of how to deduct other factors is a problem of comparison difficulty.X-ray diffraction has utilized sub-surface damage layer that the broadening effect at X-ray diffraction peak is detected sub-surface damage, because X ray penetration depth big (penetrating tens of microns under the incident angle usually), and sub-surface damage layer has only micron dimension, therefore the broadening that is caused by sub-surface damage only accounts for a few percent, and measuring error is bigger.Transmission electron microscope can directly be observed the sub-surface damage of wafer, has advantage intuitively.But following three drawbacks limit its application; 1) destructively detecting 2) statistical error is bigger, and 3) detect the batten complicated process of preparation, the material and the cost of technology are big, detection time is long, efficient is low.Therefore be badly in need of finding a kind of sub-surface damage fast and convenient, that do not have destruction to characterize way.
Because dissimilar dislocation (for example and dislocation) forming can be different, dissimilar dislocation desities is different in the sub-surface damage layer, the result produces a clean anisotropic strain.Because elasto-optical effect, this anisotropic strain can produce optical anisotropy.Optically anisotropic size has directly reflected the anisotropic strain power of sub-surface damage just.Common this optical anisotropy just appears at the following 1 micron scope in surface, and is very faint, utilizes traditional optical polarization technology often can't measure.Utilize reflection of polarization difference spectral technology then this faint optical anisotropy input can be come out, thereby the sub-surface damage of wafer is characterized.Because what measure is optical anisotropy, will cancel each other from the optical signalling of sub-surface damage layer lower body material internal, do not appear in the RDS spectrum, so RDS is a kind of spectral technique of surface-sensitive.
Summary of the invention
The present invention is a kind of method of testing of semiconductor chip sub-surface damage, is called reflection of polarization difference spectrometry (being called for short the RDS method).This method is utilized the Polarization Modulation spectral technique, by the anisotropic spectrum of reflection coefficient on the orthogonal both direction in the measurement wafer surface, obtain the strong and weak information of material surface subdamage again according to the feature structure in band-gap energy or other critical point energy vicinity in the anisotropic spectrum.Thereby obtain the information of material surface subdamage.This method of testing does not have damaging for material, test process simple and fast, measuring accuracy height.
Technical scheme is as follows:
The core of this method of testing is to have adopted light polarization modulator, can measure the relevant anisotropic spectrum of sub-surface damage layer under the condition of not rotating optical element and sample.This method of testing comprises following equipment: continuous light source, polarizing prism, analyzing prism, reflection specimen holder, light polarization modulator, detector, lock-in amplifier and control acquisition system.
Wherein said continuous light source is xenon arc lamp or tungsten lamp.
Wherein said partial prism and analyzing prism adopt Glan Taylor type polarizing prism, and the main shaft of polarizing prism becomes 45 degree with the main shaft of wafer (x and y direction), and the major axes orientation of analyzing prism overlaps with one of wafer main shaft.Polarizing prism is installed in and can carries out on the swivel mount of angular adjustment.
The major axes orientation of wherein said light polarization modulator is parallel with the major axes orientation of polarizing prism, and being parallel to light wave component that major axes orientation passes through will increase the phase place that changes of cycle in time with respect to vertical component.
Wherein said detector converts the light signal of incident to electric signal, and its time response is faster than 1 microsecond.The light intensity signal that detector detects will comprise three part signals
R[1+2Re(Δr/r)J
2(φ)cos(2ωt)+2Im(Δr/r)J
1(φ)sin(ωt)]。
Wherein, R is the reflectivity of wafer, and ω is the modulating frequency of PEM, and Re () and Im () represent the real part and the imaginary part of argument in the bracket, J respectively
nThe Bessel's function on expression n rank.What the direct current component signal reflected is the reflectivity of sample; One frequency multiplication (ω) signal is proportional to the real part of Δ r/r, i.e. Re (Δ r/r); Two frequencys multiplication (2 ω) signal is proportional to the imaginary part of Δ r/r, i.e. Im (Δ r/r).
Wherein said lock-in amplifier (three) extracts DC component and Polarization Modulation frequency one frequency multiplication and two frequency multiplication components in the detector electroresponse signal respectively.
Wherein said control acquisition system comprises the control system of monochromator and light polarization modulator, data acquisition system (DAS) and data handling system.
A kind of method of testing of semiconductor material surface subdamage is characterized in that:
(1) measured semiconductor material has zincblende lattce structure, and its surface orientation is [001] or other direction of equal value;
(2) optical anisotropy that causes of sub-surface damage is typically implemented on the orthogonal both direction on the surface of material, is generally [110] and [110] direction (being designated hereinafter simply as x and y direction);
(3) test macro includes light source, monochromator, the polarizer, light polarization modulator, analyzer, photo-detector and the electronic signal process system with continuous spectrum;
(4) adopted light polarization modulator to modulate to penetrating polarized state of light, make the electromagnetic field component on the major axes orientation with respect to the component on the vertical major direction phase differential of cycle variation in time be arranged, light polarization modulator comprises photoelasticity modulator and electrooptic modulator (Pockels box);
(5) light that is sent by light source is through passing the polarizer, incides sample and reflected by sample in the mode of near vertical, and reflected light by light polarization modulator and analyzer, is surveyed by photo-detector then at last;
(6) in the light path described in (5), light source and position of detector can be exchanged;
(7) polarizer, light polarization modulator and analyzer have constituted the optical system for testing core, the orientation of three's optical axis and sample anisotropy optical axis will satisfy certain condition: the analyzer optical axis equates with sample x and y angular separation, with light polarization modulator spindle parallel or vertical, become miter angle with the main shaft of analyzer.
Light polarization modulator can carry out phase modulation (PM) to the transmitted light that is parallel to major axes orientation, the result makes in the transmittance component generation phase difference of parallel modulator main shaft and vertical modulation device main shaft both direction, this phase differential is a periodic function of doing sinusoidal variations in time, be Δ=φ sin ω t, wherein ω is the modulating frequency of modulator, and φ is the modulation amplitude of light polarization modulator to phase place.Detector detects to include in the electric signal and is proportional to the optically anisotropic electric signal of reflection coefficient, utilize phase lock amplifying technology can obtain this reflection anisotropy signal and common reflected signal, through theoretical calibration, can obtain semiconductor material reflection coefficient (r in the x and y direction
xAnd r
y) relative different (Δ r/r=2 (r
x-r
y)/(r
x+ r
y)) with wavelength change, i.e. optical anisotropy spectrum, this anisotropic spectrum has the spectral signature structure at critical point energy place, characterizes the power of surperficial subdamage with the power of this spectral composition, because reflection coefficient (r
xAnd r
y) be plural number, so Δ r/r anisotropic spectrum has real part and imaginary part two parts, that is Δ r/r=Re (Δ r/r)+iIm (Δ r/r).
Light source is selected for use and is adopted xenon arc lamp (light wave can cover visible light wave range from ultraviolet) or tungsten lamp (mainly being used in visible light to near-infrared band).
Description of drawings
In order to further specify feature of the present invention (and effect), the present invention is described further below in conjunction with accompanying drawing (and example), wherein:
Fig. 1 is the measuring system synoptic diagram of semiconductor chip sub-surface damage.
Fig. 2 is near the anisotropic light spectrograms of three Semi-insulating GaAs samples band-gap energy.
Fig. 3 is a semiconductor material sub-surface damage measuring principle synoptic diagram.
Embodiment
Among Fig. 1, from adopting 250 watts tungsten lamp is light source, through catoptron, the focusing of convex lens and chopper (chopping frequency 200Hz) back enters into monochromatic view (Chinese light BP300 type of standing upright monochromator) and obtains monochromatic light, adopt monochromatic light such as convex lens and cylindrical mirror to become directional light, this directional light passes and the polarizer (kalzit Glan Taylor ahrens prism successively, main shaft becomes 45 degree with surface level), photoelasticity modulator (the U.S. PEM90 of Hinds company type, the modulator main shaft is parallel with surface level, modulating flat rate is 50KHz), (wafer surface is vertical with surface level to incide wafer surface, the optical main axis of wafer becomes 45 degree with surface level, about 7 degree of angle of incidence of light), reflected light passes analyzer (kalzit Glan Taylor ahrens prism, main shaft is vertical with surface level), enter photo-detector (the silicon pin detector of band prime amplifier) through the spherical mirror focusing of aluminizing.The electric signal of detector divides three the tunnel to deliver to three lock-in amplifiers, obtains to be proportional to the voltage signal of reflectivity, Δ r/r imaginary part and real part respectively, and voltage signal enters computing machine through analog-to-digital conversion card and carries out data processing.Utilize the monochromatic view of computer settings wavelength, the point-to-point measurement wafer obtains the optical anisotropy spectrum (Δ r/r spectrum) of wafer in certain wavelength coverage at last at the optical anisotropy of each wavelength.
Fig. 2 is the optical anisotropy spectrum (real part of Δ r/r spectrum) of three Semi-insulating GaAs wafers of acquisition according to the present invention.Curve a and the homemade Semi-insulating GaAs wafer of b from different single crystal rods, the Semi-insulating GaAs wafer that sub-surface damage is arranged, the optical anisotropy spectrum demonstrates the spectral composition of a peak shape in band-gap energy (1.42eV) position of GaAs, illustrate that wafer has stronger optical anisotropy, the height at peak has reflected the power of sub-surface damage.Curve c comes from the wafer of the no sub-surface damage of external import, and whole spectrum is smooth straight, and the place does not have the spectrum structure at the GaAs transition energy, and optical anisotropy is almost nil.Obtain the concrete steps of this spectrum:
1, the light path adjustment before the spectral measurement:
1.1 monochromator and photoelasticity modulator are set to a certain specific wavelength (632 nanometer), configure the Polarization Modulation amplitude;
1.2 5 * 5 millimeters square (001) face semi-insulating GaAs wafers are put into specimen holder;
Make sample cleavage limit (along [110] and [1-10] direction, the anisotropy main shaft of sample) become 45 degree with surface level 1.3 adjust sample;
1.4 adjust the angle of specimen holder, make detector detect the reflected light signal maximum; Adjust the angle of the polarizer, analyzer and photoelasticity modulator, make it to meet the requirements;
2, spectral measurement (computer controlled automatic):
2.1 computer control is set to initial wavelength with monochromator and photoelasticity modulator;
2.2 voltage signal on three lock-in amplifiers of computer acquisition adds up with average, obtains the anisotropy signal at this wavelength place;
2.4 keep the Polarization Modulation amplitude of photoelasticity modulator constant, utilize computing machine that monochromator and photoelasticity modulator are set to a new wavelength, measure the optical anisotropy signal of wafer at new wavelength place; Repeat above 2.1-2.3 step, can obtain this gallium arsenide wafer optical anisotropy spectrum;
3, change sample, readjust light path and carry out spectral measurement.
Fig. 3 is a semiconductor material sub-surface damage measuring principle
Through the monochromatic light after the beam split of monochromatic view by behind the polarizer, its polarization direction vertically, with two optical main axis directions (x and y direction) the journey miter angle on the sample.If the anisotropic strain that does not have surperficial subdamage to cause in the sample exists, so through the polarization of reflected light direction after the sample reflection or along vertical direction.Like this, reflected light sunshine generation polarization interference not just during by light polarization modulator and analyzer, detector is surveyed less than modulation signal.If there is reflection coefficient (r on x and the y direction in the anisotropic strain that has surperficial subdamage to cause
xAnd r
y) just variant, the polarization of reflected light direction just has little rotating relative to vertical direction.In this case, polarization interference will take place by light polarization modulator and analyzer in light, occurs modulation signal in the detector.The power of this modulation signal directly is proportional to r
xAnd r
yDifference.
The present invention compares with technology in the past, and this invention has following meaning:
1) no sample preparation technology can select any zone of wafer to test;
2) sensitive, not damaged fast;
3) the Δ r/r signal that measures is an absolute magnitude, can compare at different sample rooms.