JP6147879B2 - Overlay measuring device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an overlay measurement method, a measurement apparatus, a scanning electron microscope, and a GUI, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for measuring an overlay using an image captured using a charged particle microscope.

  In general, a semiconductor product requires a plurality of exposure steps in order to form a circuit pattern necessary for operation. For example, in the manufacture of a semiconductor product composed of a plurality of circuit patterns, an exposure process for forming holes connecting the layers is required in addition to an exposure process for forming circuit patterns of the layers. In recent years, double patterning has been performed to form fine circuit patterns with high density.

  In semiconductor manufacturing, it is important to adjust the position of a circuit pattern formed by a plurality of exposure processes within an allowable range. If it does not fall within the allowable range, appropriate electrical characteristics cannot be obtained and the yield decreases. Therefore, a circuit pattern misalignment (overlay) between exposures is measured and fed back to the exposure apparatus.

  As a method for performing overlay measurement, US Pat. No. 7,181,557 (hereinafter referred to as US Pat. No. 7,718,157) forms a circuit pattern for measurement on a wafer, takes an image of the pattern for measurement using an optical microscope, and performs overlay measurement from a signal waveform obtained from the image. Patent Document 1). Since the measurement pattern needs to have a size of about several tens of μm, it is generally formed on a scribe line around the semiconductor die. Therefore, it is not possible to directly measure an overlay at a place where a circuit pattern (actual pattern) of an actual device is formed, and it is necessary to estimate by an interpolation or the like. However, with the recent miniaturization of semiconductor processes, the allowable range of overlay has also been reduced, making it difficult to obtain the required measurement accuracy.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-351888 (Patent Document 2) and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-142321 (Patent Document 3) describe a method of capturing an image of a real pattern using a scanning electron microscope and measuring an overlay. Patent Document 2 describes a method of measuring an overlay by comparing contour information of a circuit pattern extracted from a captured image with design information (CAD data) of a semiconductor product. In Patent Document 3, the relative position between the circuit pattern formed by the first exposure and the circuit pattern formed by the second exposure is calculated, and the relative position is compared with a reference value obtained from CAD data. A method for measuring the overlay is described.

US7181857 JP 2006-351888 A JP 2011-142321 A

As described above, the overlay measurement method described in Patent Document 1 cannot measure the overlay on the actual pattern. As a method for solving this problem, Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3 describe a method of measuring an overlay using an image obtained by capturing an actual pattern. However, the overlay measurement method described in Patent Document 2 requires CAD data. Generally, the CAD data of a semiconductor product is several GB, and requires labor for preparation and handling. In addition, since the circuit pattern shape formed on the wafer and the circuit pattern shape in the CAD data are generally different, it is expected that it is difficult to measure a correct overlay when the difference is large. . In addition, the overlay measurement described in Patent Document 3 calculates the relative position of the circuit pattern, and it is expected that a correct overlay cannot be calculated when a part of the circuit pattern disappears due to a defective formation of the circuit pattern. The
Further, it is necessary to compare the calculated relative position with a reference value, and the reference value needs to be calculated in advance using CAD data or the like.

  As described above, it is difficult to measure the overlay simply and robustly in the prior art. Therefore, the present invention provides an overlay measurement method and a measurement apparatus that easily and robustly measure overlay without requiring CAD data.

  In order to solve the above problems, for example, the configuration described in the claims is adopted.

  The present application includes a plurality of means for solving the above-described problems. To give an example, an imaging step for capturing images of a plurality of regions of a semiconductor device, and a plurality of captured images captured in the imaging step. A reference image setting step for setting a reference image, a difference quantification step for quantifying a difference between the reference image set in the reference image setting step and the plurality of captured images captured in the imaging step, and the difference An overlay calculation step of calculating an overlay based on the difference quantified in the quantification step is provided.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an overlay measurement method and a measurement apparatus that easily and robustly measure an overlay on an actual pattern without requiring handling of CAD data other than a captured image and inputting a reference value of a relative position. it can.

  Problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will be clarified by the following description of embodiments.

It is a block diagram of the scanning electron microscope (SEM) provided with the overlay measuring apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a block diagram of the control part memory | storage part and calculating part of the overlay measuring device which concerns on this invention. It is a figure showing a chip coordinate system and a wafer coordinate system. It is explanatory drawing regarding the overlay to measure. It is a figure showing the example of an overlay measurement object image, and a cross-sectional structure. It is a figure showing the flow of the overlay measurement method which concerns on this invention. It is a figure showing the flow of the image pick-up process concerning this invention. It is a figure showing the structure of the image difference quantification part and overlay calculation part which concern on this invention. It is a processing flow which quantifies the difference of a reference | standard image and a to-be-measured image. It is an example of an image of overlay measurement object. It is a figure showing the intermediate result of the process which quantifies the difference of a reference | standard image and a to-be-measured image. It is a figure showing the intermediate result of the process which quantifies the difference of a reference | standard image and a to-be-measured image. It is a processing flow for recognizing a circuit pattern region from an image. It is an example of the histogram of an image. It is a figure showing an example of the interface which sets a measurement coordinate. It is a figure showing an example of the interface which sets measurement conditions. It is a figure showing an example of the interface which displays a measurement result. It is a figure showing the structure of the image difference quantification part which concerns on this invention. It is a processing flow which quantifies the difference of the reference | standard image which concerns on this invention, and a to-be-measured image. It is a figure showing the intermediate result of the process which quantifies the difference of a reference | standard image and a to-be-measured image. It is a figure showing an example of the interface which designates a circuit pattern area. It is a block diagram of the memory | storage part and calculating part of the overlay measuring device which concerns on this invention. It is a figure showing the structure of the image difference quantification part and overlay calculation part which concern on this invention. It is a processing flow which quantifies the difference of the reference | standard image which concerns on this invention, and a to-be-measured image. It is a figure showing an example of the regression model. It is a processing flow which creates a regression model. It is a processing flow which acquires the image used for regression model creation. It is a block diagram of the regression model calculation part which concerns on this invention. It is an example of the result of having plotted the relationship of the overlay of the feature-value of a difference part. It is a figure showing an example of the interface which displays a measurement result. It is a figure showing the flow of the overlay measurement process which concerns on this invention. It is a figure showing an example of the interface which adjusts a processing parameter.

  The overlay measuring apparatus and measuring method according to the present invention will be described below. In this embodiment, a case where overlay measurement is performed using an image captured by a scanning electron microscope (SEM) provided with an overlay measurement means will be described. However, the imaging apparatus according to the present invention may be other than SEM, such as ions. An imaging apparatus using charged particle beams may be used.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) provided with an overlay measuring apparatus according to the present invention, and includes an SEM 101 that captures an image of an object to be inspected, and a control unit 102 that performs overall control. A storage unit 103 that stores image pickup results in a magnetic disk or semiconductor memory, a calculation unit 104 that performs calculations according to a program, and an external storage medium that inputs and outputs information to and from an external storage medium connected to the device An output unit 105, a user interface unit 106 that controls input / output of information with a user, and a network interface unit 107 that communicates with other devices via a network are provided.
The user interface unit 106 is connected to an input / output terminal 113 including a keyboard, a mouse, a display, and the like.
The SEM 101 includes a movable stage 109 on which the sample wafer 108 is mounted, an electron source 110 for irradiating the sample wafer 108 with an electron beam, a detector 111 that detects secondary electrons and reflected electrons generated from the sample wafer, and an electron beam. A digital image is generated by digitally converting a signal from an electron lens (not shown) that converges on the sample, a deflector (not shown) for scanning an electron beam on the sample wafer, and the detector 111 The image generating unit 112 and the like are configured. These are connected via the bus 114 and can exchange information with each other.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a detailed configuration of the control unit 102, the storage unit 103, and the calculation unit 104 of the scanning electron microscope (SEM) provided with the overlay measuring apparatus according to the present invention shown in FIG.

The control unit 102 includes a wafer transfer control unit 201 that controls wafer transfer, a stage control unit 202 that controls the stage, a beam shift control unit 203 that controls the irradiation position of the electron beam, and a beam scan that controls scanning of the electron beam. A control unit 204 is provided.
The storage unit 103 stores an image storage unit 205 that stores acquired image data, a recipe storage unit 206 that stores imaging conditions (for example, acceleration voltage, probe current, number of added frames, imaging field size, and the like), processing parameters, and the like. A measurement coordinate storage unit 207 that stores the coordinates of the location to be measured is provided.
The calculation unit 104 includes a reference image synthesis unit 208 that synthesizes a reference image based on a captured image, an image difference quantification unit 209 that quantifies a difference between the reference image and the measured image, an overlay calculation unit 210 that calculates an overlay, An image processing unit 211 is provided.
Note that 208 to 210 may be configured as hardware designed to perform each calculation, or configured to be implemented as software and executed using a general-purpose arithmetic device (for example, a CPU or a GPU). May be.

  Next, a method for acquiring an image of designated coordinates will be described. First, the wafer 108 to be measured is placed on the stage 109 with the robot arm operating under the control of the wafer transfer control unit 201. Next, the stage 109 is moved by the stage control unit 202 so that the imaging field of view is included in the beam irradiation range. At this time, in order to absorb the movement error of the stage, the stage position is measured and the beam irradiation position is adjusted by the beam shift control unit 203 so as to cancel the movement error. The electron beam is irradiated from the electron source 110 and scanned within the imaging field by the beam scan control unit 204. Secondary electrons and reflected electrons generated from the wafer by beam irradiation are detected by the detector 111 and converted into a digital image through the image generator 112. The captured image is stored in the image storage unit 205 together with supplementary information such as an imaging condition and an imaging date and time.

Here, the measurement coordinates that are one of the inputs of overlay measurement according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a chip 301 coordinate system and a wafer 302 coordinate system on a semiconductor wafer.
The chip coordinate system is a coordinate system with one point on the chip as the origin, and the wafer coordinate system is a coordinate system with one point on the wafer as the origin. Usually, a plurality of chips are laid out on the wafer, and the relationship between the chip coordinates (cx, cy) and the wafer coordinates (x, y) in the chip at the position (u, v) is expressed by Equation 1. Mutual conversion is easy. However, W, H are 1 chip width and _height, o x, _{o y} represents the offset of the x and y coordinates.
Therefore, the user only has to specify the chip coordinates of the overlay measurement target and the measurement target chip. For example, if n chip coordinates are specified and m measurement target chips are specified, n × m measurement coordinates are obtained. The overlay measurement method according to the present embodiment treats images having the same chip coordinates as one group. In order to group the images, a position ID assigned to each chip coordinate is given as image auxiliary information at the time of image capturing (in the above example, position IDs: 1 to n).

(Equation 1)
x = u × W + cx + ox, y = v × H + cy + oy

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram regarding the overlay to be measured. The overlay measured by the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
An SEM image 401 is a schematic diagram of an SEM image obtained by imaging a circuit pattern having a cross-sectional shape indicated by 402. In the circuit pattern of this example, after the circuit pattern 404 is formed on the base 403 by the first exposure, the circuit pattern 405 is formed by the second exposure.
The SEM image 406 is obtained by imaging a portion different from the SEM image 401 on the semiconductor wafer. Similarly, after the circuit pattern 409 is formed on the base 408 by the first exposure, the circuit pattern 410 is formed by the second exposure.
However, in the part where the SEM image 406 is captured, the circuit pattern 410 formed by the second exposure is shifted by dx (412) in the x direction compared to the part where the SEM image 401 is captured. . In the method according to the present embodiment, when an arbitrary image (for example, SEM image 401) is a reference image and an arbitrary image (for example, SEM image 406) is a measured image, the circuit pattern formation position in the measured image, The overlay is measured by quantifying the difference from the formation position of the circuit pattern in the reference image independently for each circuit pattern formed by each exposure.
FIG. 4 shows an example in which the overlay in the second exposure is measured using the circuit pattern formed by the first exposure as a reference pattern, but the circuit pattern formed by the second exposure may be used as the reference pattern. . In this case, the magnitude of the shift amount does not change, but the sign of the calculated value is inverted. The n-th exposure here is not limited to the n-th exposure, but is simply an index representing a difference in the exposure process, and n is hereinafter referred to as an exposure index. The “circuit pattern formed by exposure” is not limited to the circuit pattern formed only by the exposure process, and indicates a circuit pattern formed including an etching process after the exposure process.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of an overlay measurement target image and a cross-sectional structure. An example of an overlay measurement target other than that shown in FIG. 4 is shown.
Reference numerals 501 to 505 schematically represent SEM images and cross-sectional structures.
Reference numeral 501 denotes a state in which the circuit pattern 506 formed by the first exposure and the circuit pattern 507 formed by the second exposure are stacked.
Similarly, reference numeral 502 denotes a state in which the circuit pattern 508 formed by the first exposure and the circuit pattern 509 formed by the second exposure are stacked.
Reference numeral 503 denotes a state in which the film 511 and the circuit pattern 512 formed by the second exposure are stacked on the circuit pattern 510 formed by the first exposure. Thus, even when the film is laminated on the circuit pattern formed by the first exposure, the shape of the circuit pattern 510 formed by the first exposure is observed by adjusting the acceleration voltage of the SEM. It is possible.

Reference numeral 504 denotes a circuit pattern formed by double patterning. Double patterning is a technique for forming a circuit pattern with high density by forming a circuit pattern 513 by first exposure and forming a circuit pattern 514 by second exposure.
Reference numeral 505 denotes an image of the hole process, and shows a state in which the circuit pattern 515 formed by the first exposure is observed from the opening of the circuit pattern 516 formed by the second exposure.
In either case, overlay measurement of the circuit pattern formed by the first exposure and the circuit pattern formed by the second exposure is important. Note that the structure of the circuit pattern that enables overlay measurement according to the present embodiment is not limited to these. For example, in an image in which a circuit pattern formed by a total of three exposures is observed, the overlay between each exposure can be measured.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the overlay measurement method according to the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a detailed flowchart of the image capturing process step (S601) of the measured image in the flow of the overlay measurement method according to the present invention.
First, an image of the measurement location (image to be measured) is acquired according to the flow shown in FIG. 7 (S601). After obtaining the image to be measured, in order to perform processing for each position ID, images having the same position ID are extracted (S602). Note that the processing order for each position ID may be set arbitrarily, or only the image of the position ID specified by the user may be processed. Since the extracted image has the same chip coordinates, a similar circuit pattern is captured. A reference image is set based on these measured images (S603). The reference image may be selected by the user from the measured image, or the reference image may be synthesized from the measured image using the reference image synthesis unit 208. For example, after the images are aligned, the average gray value of the corresponding pixels may be used as the gray value of the synthesized image. Further, the exposure index of the reference pattern may be specified when setting the reference image.
After setting the reference image, the difference between the image to be measured and the reference image is quantified (S604), and an overlay is calculated based on the quantification result (S605). The above processes S604 to S605 are repeated until completion for all the extracted images (S606). And it repeats until it completes process S602-S606 about target position ID (S607). Hereinafter, details of the processes S601, S604, and S605 will be described.

The measurement image acquisition process (S601) will be described with reference to FIG.
First, the wafer 108 to be measured is loaded on the stage 109 (S701), and a recipe corresponding to the wafer is read from the recipe storage unit 206 (S702). Next, the measurement coordinates are read from the measurement coordinate storage unit 207 (S703). After reading the coordinates (or in parallel), wafer alignment is performed (S704). After the wafer alignment, the SEM 101 is controlled by the above-described method, and an image of the designated coordinates is taken (S705). At this time, the position ID is given to the captured image as supplementary information. It repeats until all the imaging is completed (S706), and finally unloads the wafer (S707).

Next, the process (S604) for quantifying the difference between the image to be measured and the reference image will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a processing flow for quantifying the difference between the reference image and the image to be measured, FIG. 10 is an example of an overlay measurement target image, and FIGS. 11 and 12 are processes for quantifying the difference between the reference image and the image to be measured. FIG.
This process is performed using the image difference quantification unit 209. 801 in FIG. 8 shows the configuration of the image difference quantifying unit according to the present embodiment, and corresponds to 209 in FIG. FIG. 9 is a flow of processing for quantifying the difference between the reference image and the image to be measured using the image difference quantification unit 209. In this process, the reference image is input 802 and the image to be measured is input 803. Hereinafter, the reference image 1001 and the measured image 1002 shown in FIG. 10 are used as image examples for explanation.

First, the circuit pattern area recognition unit 804 is used to recognize a circuit pattern area formed by each exposure for the reference image (S901). FIG. 11 shows an example of processing results, and an image 1101 is an example of a result of recognizing a circuit pattern region of the reference image 1001. Next, using the gray value extraction unit 805, an image BU (806) obtained by extracting the gray value of the circuit pattern area formed by the p-th and subsequent exposures from the reference image based on the recognition result of the circuit pattern area. An image BL (807) is created (S903), in which the gray value of the circuit pattern region formed by the exposure before the p-1th is extracted from the reference image (S903). Examples of the image BU and the image BL are shown in an image 1102 and an image 1103, respectively.
The circuit pattern region is similarly recognized for the image to be measured (S905), and an image TU (808) is generated by extracting the gray value of the circuit pattern region formed by the pth and subsequent exposures from the image to be measured (S905). ), An image TL (809) obtained by extracting the gray value of the circuit pattern region formed by the exposure before the p-1th from the image to be measured is created (S906). Note that p is a parameter designated by the user, and is a threshold value when the circuit pattern is divided by the exposure index. For example, when p = 3, the overlay of the circuit pattern formed by the third and subsequent exposures and the circuit pattern formed by the second and previous exposures is measured.
An example of the recognition result of the circuit pattern region in the measured image is shown in an image 1104, and examples of the image TU and the image TL are shown in an image 1105 and an image 1106, respectively. Next, alignment of the image BU (806) and the image TU (808) is performed using the template matching unit 810, and a deviation amount dux (812) in the x direction and a deviation amount duy (813) in the y direction are output. (S907). Similarly, the image BL (807) and the image TL (809) are aligned, and the shift amount dlx (814) in the x direction and the shift amount dly (815) in the y direction are output (S908).

  FIG. 12 shows an example of the result of template matching. The shift amounts dux and duy correspond to 1203 and 1204, respectively, and the shift amounts dlx and dly correspond to 1207 and 1208, respectively. When a circuit pattern having the same shape is repeatedly formed as in the memory cell portion, there are a plurality of matching portions. Therefore, inconsistency may occur when template matching between the image BU and the image TU and template matching between the image BL and the image TL are performed independently. In order to solve this problem, the template matching unit 819 is used to roughly align the reference image and the image to be measured, and the template matching unit 810 performs template matching around the matching position 820. You can do it.

  The above has shown the method of dividing the circuit pattern region into two groups based on p. However, the positional deviation amount between the non-defective image and the image to be measured may be calculated independently for the first to m exposure patterns. .

Next, the overlay calculation process (S605) will be described. This process is performed using the overlay calculation unit 210. An overlay calculation unit 811 in FIG. 8 shows the configuration of the overlay calculation unit 210 according to the present embodiment in FIG. The input of this process is the shift amount (dux 812, duy 814) of the circuit pattern formed by the pth and subsequent exposures, which is the output of the image difference quantification unit, and the shift of the circuit pattern formed by the exposure before the p-1th. Quantity (dlx813, dly815). In this process, the subtraction unit 816 is used to calculate the overlay dx (817) in the x direction using Equation 2, and the overlay dy (818) in the y direction is calculated using Equation 3. The above is a calculation method when the circuit pattern formed by the exposure before the p-1th is used as the reference pattern. When the circuit pattern formed by the exposure after the pth is used as the reference pattern, the calculation method is several. What is necessary is just to invert the value of the value calculated by 2 and Formula 3.
(Equation 2)
dx = dux−dlx
(Equation 3)
dy = duy-dly
Here, the recognition processing in the circuit pattern region recognition unit 804 will be described. The semiconductor manufacturing process is composed of a number of processes, and the appearance of images acquired by differences in processes and products varies. When recognizing the circuit pattern area, the easiest process is when the gray value of the circuit pattern area differs for each exposure process in which the circuit pattern is formed. For example, when the circuit pattern formed by the first exposure is different from the material of the circuit pattern formed by the second exposure, the gray value is different because the number of secondary electrons and the number of reflected electrons generated are different.
Further, when the circuit pattern formed by the second exposure is stacked on the circuit pattern formed by the first exposure, etc., the gray level value varies depending on the detection rate of the generated secondary electrons and reflected electrons. There may be differences.

FIG. 13 is a flow of recognition processing for an image in which the grayscale value of the circuit pattern region is different for each exposure process in which the circuit pattern is formed. First, preprocessing such as noise removal is performed on the image (S1301). Next, an image histogram is created (S1302). In the created histogram, as shown in FIG. 14, a plurality of distributions corresponding to the exposure index are observed together. A threshold for separating each distribution is calculated from the histogram (S1303). Next, a grayscale threshold is applied to each pixel in the image, and an exposure index is recognized for each pixel (S1304). After a threshold value is independently applied to each pixel, a minute misrecognition region may occur due to the influence of noise or the like. Therefore, the region is shaped by performing expansion / reduction processing (S1305).
The circuit pattern region recognition method is not limited to the method shown in FIG. For example, the edge may be detected from the image, the appearance feature may be quantified for the closed region surrounded by the edge, and the exposure index of each closed region may be recognized from the appearance feature.

  Next, processing in the template matching units 810 and 819 will be described. In this process, the degree of coincidence of image density in the overlapping region of two images is evaluated while changing the amount of deviation between the two images, and the amount of deviation when the degree of coincidence of the images is maximized is output. As the evaluation value of the degree of coincidence, a normalized cross correlation value may be used, or a sum of squares of differences may be used.

  Hereinafter, the user interface according to the present invention will be described.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of an interface for setting measurement coordinates.
In this interface, an interface 1501 for displaying a list of registered chip coordinates, a button 1502 for calling an interface for registering a new chip coordinate, a button 1503 for calling an interface for correcting a registered chip coordinate, and a registered chip coordinate. A delete button 1504 is provided. Further, an interface 1505 for selecting a measurement target chip, an interface 1506 for displaying an image of registered measurement coordinates and information related thereto, and an interface 1507 for displaying a list of measurement coordinates to be imaged are provided. Further, a button 1509 for reading a list of previously registered measurement coordinates and a button 1510 for naming and saving the list of registered measurement coordinates are provided.

An example of an interface for setting overlay measurement conditions according to the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of an interface for setting measurement conditions.
This interface includes an interface 1601 for displaying a list of acquired images, an interface 1602 for displaying the position of the chip that has captured the image, a button 1603 for setting the selected image as a reference image, and a plurality of images selected by the interface 1601. A button 1604 for calling a process for synthesizing a reference image from an image or all captured images, a button 1605 for storing the set reference image in the image storage unit 205, and a button 1606 for reading an image from the image storage unit 205 and setting it as a reference image Prepare. Further, a button 1607 for setting a processing parameter and a button 1608 for executing the above-described processing S602 to S607 on the measured image to be measured are provided.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example of an interface for displaying the overlay measurement result according to the present embodiment.
This interface includes an interface 1701 for displaying an overlay measurement result on a wafer, an interface 1702 for displaying a histogram regarding the size of the overlay, and an interface 1703 for designating a measurement result to be displayed on a wafer map or histogram. In addition, as an interface for confirming the image, an interface 1704 for displaying the reference image and the measured image side by side, and an interface 1705 for displaying the reference image and the measured image in a superimposed manner after matching the positions of the reference image and the measured image with a designated reference are provided.

FIG. 32 is a diagram illustrating an example of an interface for adjusting processing parameters according to the present embodiment.
This interface is an interface 3201 for displaying the recognition result of the reference image and the circuit pattern area, the maximum value of the exposure index observed in the image, the threshold p when dividing the circuit pattern by the exposure index, and the exposure index of the reference pattern Is provided with an interface 3202.

  As described above, the amount of positional deviation of the circuit pattern between the reference image and the image to be measured is quantified for each circuit pattern formed by each exposure, and the positional deviation calculated for each circuit pattern formed by each exposure. By calculating the amount difference, overlay can be measured in the actual pattern. Therefore, unlike the method described in Patent Document 1, it is not necessary to form a dedicated pattern for overlay measurement on the wafer. Further, according to the method described in the present embodiment, it is not necessary to handle CAD data unlike the method described in Patent Document 2, and it is possible to easily measure the overlay. In addition, the reference image and the image to be measured are aligned by template matching. Compared to the method of comparing relative vectors of coordinates as in the method described in Patent Document 3, the circuit pattern is deformed due to defective formation or the like. Robust against it.

  In the first embodiment, the method of recognizing the circuit pattern region for each of the reference image and the image to be measured, quantifying the amount of displacement for each circuit pattern formed by each exposure, and measuring the overlay has been described. In the second embodiment, a technique for recognizing a circuit pattern region only for a reference image, quantifying a positional deviation amount for each circuit pattern formed by each exposure, and measuring an overlay will be described.

  The apparatus configuration according to the present embodiment is the same as that shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 shown in the first embodiment. Also, the measurement flow is the same as in FIGS. The interface is the same as that shown in FIGS. 15, 16, and 17. The difference is the configuration of the image difference quantification unit 209 (corresponding to 801 in FIG. 8) and the flow of the image difference quantification process. Hereinafter, only parts different from the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

  18 is a diagram showing the configuration of the image difference quantifying unit according to the present invention, FIG. 19 is a processing flow for quantifying the difference between the reference image and the measured image according to the present invention, and FIG. 20 is the reference image and the measured image. FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example of an interface for designating a circuit pattern region.

  As described above, the overlay measurement method according to the second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in the method for quantifying the difference between the reference image and the measured image. FIG. 18 shows the configuration of the image difference quantification unit 209 according to the second embodiment, and FIG. 19 shows the processing flow. In this process, the reference image is input 1801 and the image to be measured is input 1802. First, a circuit pattern area recognition unit 1803 is used to recognize a circuit pattern area formed by each exposure for a reference image (S1901). Next, using the gray value extraction unit 1804, an image BU (1805) obtained by extracting the gray value of the circuit pattern region formed by the p-th and subsequent exposures from the reference image based on the recognition result of the circuit pattern region. An image BL (1806) is created (S1903), and the gray value of the circuit pattern area formed by the exposure before the p-1th is extracted from the reference image (S1903). Note that p is a threshold value when the circuit pattern is divided by the exposure index, and may be designated by the user or a predetermined parameter. After the gray value extraction, the template matching unit 1807 is used to align the image BU (1805) and the image to be measured (1802), the x-direction deviation amount dux (1808), and the y-direction deviation amount duy (1809). ) Is output (S1904). Similarly, the image BL (1806) and the image to be measured (1802) are aligned, and the shift amount dlx (1810) in the x direction and the shift amount dly (1811) in the y direction are output (S1905). This process will be supplemented by using a processing result example shown in FIG. An image 2001 is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of a reference image, and an image 2002 is an example of an image to be measured. The image is an image of a structure in which the circuit pattern formed by the second exposure is laminated on the circuit pattern formed by the first exposure as shown in FIG. Images 2003 and 2004 are images showing an image BU and an image BL when p = 2. An image 2005 is a diagram showing the result of aligning the image to be measured (2002) and the image BU (2003) by template matching. The shift amounts dux and duy correspond to 2006 and 2007, respectively. An image 2008 is a diagram showing a result of positioning the measured image (2002) and the image BL (2004) by template matching. At this time, since the image to be measured (2002) includes the density of the circuit pattern area formed by the p-th and subsequent exposures, an area 2009 in which the density of the image does not match may occur. However, when the ratio occupied by this area is small, alignment can be performed correctly, and the shift amounts dlx and dly are 2010 and 2011, respectively.

  In this embodiment, the circuit pattern area is not recognized from the image to be measured. The circuit pattern area of the reference image need not be recognized every time a plurality of measured images are processed, and the recognized result is stored in the image storage unit 205 and is read as necessary. Also good. As a result, the time required for recognizing the circuit pattern region can be reduced, and the measurement time can be shortened.

  Further, it is not necessary to automatically recognize the circuit pattern area of the reference image, and the user may designate the area of the circuit pattern formed by each exposure. An example of an interface for designating an area is shown in FIG. This interface includes an interface 2101 for displaying the reference image set in S603, an interface 2102 for adding and deleting area information, and various tool buttons 2103 for defining areas. Thereby, for example, the appearance of the circuit pattern formed by the first and second exposures is similar, such as double patterning, and it is possible to cope with the case where discrimination is difficult by the circuit pattern recognition process.

  According to the method and apparatus configuration described above, in addition to the effects described in the first embodiment, it is possible to measure the overlay at high speed.

  In the first and second embodiments, the method of recognizing the circuit pattern region from the reference image and the image to be measured, quantifying the displacement amount for each circuit pattern formed by each exposure, and measuring the overlay is described. In the third embodiment, a method for quantifying the difference between the image grayscale values of the reference image and the measured image and measuring the overlay will be described. This method is effective when the image field of view of the image is widened to increase the pixel size and it is difficult to automatically recognize the circuit pattern region.

  The apparatus configuration according to this embodiment is the same as that shown in FIG. Also, the measurement flow is the same as in FIGS. Further, the same interface as that shown in FIGS. 15 and 16 is provided. Compared with the first embodiment, the configuration of the image difference quantification unit 209 and the overlay calculation unit 210, and the flow of the process of quantifying the difference between the image to be measured and the reference image (S604) and the overlay calculation process (S605) are as follows. Different. Hereinafter, only parts different from the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 22 is a configuration diagram of the storage unit 103 and the calculation unit 104 of the overlay measurement apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 23 is a diagram showing the configuration of the image difference quantification unit and the overlay calculation unit according to the present invention, and FIG. It is a processing flow (S604) which quantifies the difference of the reference | standard image which concerns on, and a to-be-measured image.

  22 includes a regression model storage unit 2201 and a regression model calculation unit 2202 in addition to the configuration described in the first embodiment.

  In the process of quantifying the difference between the reference image and the image to be measured shown in FIG. 24 (S604), the reference image is input 2302 and the image to be measured is input 2303. First, using the difference detection unit 2304, a difference is detected from the image to be measured by comparison inspection with the reference image (S2401). As a comparative inspection method, for example, after the reference image and the image to be measured are aligned, the difference between the gray values is calculated, and an area composed of pixels in which the difference value is a certain value or more is detected as the difference portion. After the difference portion is detected, the appearance feature of the difference portion is quantified using the difference portion feature amount calculation portion 2305 (S2402). As the features, for example, the area of the difference portion, the circularity, the average value of the gradation values, the average gradation difference between the reference image and the image to be measured are quantified. Next, the difference filtering unit 2306 is used to extract only the difference having characteristics that match the specified condition from the extracted difference (S2403). Finally, using the feature amount totaling unit 2307, the feature amounts of the different portions extracted in step S2403 are totaled (S2404). As a method of aggregation, for example, an average of feature amounts obtained from a plurality of different parts may be calculated, or a maximum value, a minimum value, or the like may be calculated.

  An overlay calculation process (S605) using the overlay calculation unit 2308 according to the present embodiment will be described. The configuration of the overlay calculation unit 2308 is shown in FIG. In this processing, the feature quantity 2309 calculated from the difference portion detected from the image to be measured is input. In this processing, the regression model substitution unit 2310 is used to substitute a feature amount into a regression model obtained in advance by a method to be described later, thereby calculating an overlay 2311 in the x direction and an overlay 2312 in the y direction.

  FIG. 25 shows an example of a regression model showing the relationship between the difference area f and the overlay (dx) in the X direction. An overlay 2311 in the x direction is calculated by substituting the feature quantity 2309 into f of the regression model 2501. Here, the regression model related to the X-direction overlay is shown, but if the regression model related to the Y-direction overlay is used, the Y-direction overlay 2312 can be calculated.

  Next, a method for creating a regression model will be described.

26 is a flow of regression model creation processing, FIG. 27 is an image capture flow for creating a regression model, and FIG. 28 is a diagram showing a configuration of the regression model calculation unit 2202 according to the present invention.
Hereinafter, the processing procedure will be described with reference to FIG. First, in accordance with the image capturing flow shown in FIG. 27, an image obtained by capturing measurement coordinates with the first and second pixel sizes is acquired (S2601).
At this time, the first pixel size is larger than the second pixel size. Next, a reference image is set (S2602). The reference image may be selected by the user from the measured image, or the reference image may be synthesized from the measured image using the reference image synthesis unit 208. Next, the feature amount of the difference portion is calculated using the image having the first pixel size (S2603). Further, overlay is measured using an image of the second pixel size (S2604). The above processes S2603 and S2604 are repeated until all the images are completed (S2605). Next, a regression model is created by regression analysis (S2606). Hereinafter, the details of the processes S2601, S2603, S2604, and S2606 will be described.

Details of the process (S2601) of acquiring the measured image with the first and second pixel sizes will be described with reference to the process flow of FIG.
First, the wafer 108 to be measured is loaded on the stage 109 (S2701), and a recipe corresponding to the wafer is read from the recipe storage unit 206 (S2702). Next, the measurement coordinates are read from the measurement coordinate storage unit 207 (S2703). After reading the coordinates (or in parallel), wafer alignment is performed (S2704). After the wafer alignment, the SEM 101 is controlled to capture an image with the first pixel size at the designated coordinates (S2705). Next, an image is picked up with the second pixel size for the same coordinates (S2706). At this time, the position ID is given as supplementary information to each captured image. It repeats until all the imaging is completed (S2707), and finally unloads the wafer (S2708). Note that the first pixel size is larger than the second pixel size. In order to change the pixel size, the sampling pitch of the pixels may be changed or the size of the imaging field of view may be changed.

Next, the details of the process of calculating the feature amount of the difference portion using the image of the first pixel size (S2603) and the process of measuring the overlay using the image of the second pixel size (S2604) will be described.
The process (S2603) of calculating the feature amount of the difference part using the image of the first pixel size is performed using the first image difference quantification part 2805. The first image difference quantification unit 2805 has the same configuration as the image difference quantification unit 2301 shown in FIG. 23, and the processing procedure is the same as the flow shown in FIG. The process of measuring the overlay using the image of the second pixel size (S2604) is performed using the second image difference quantification unit 2806 and the overlay calculation unit 2807. The second image difference quantification unit 2806 has the same configuration as the image difference quantification unit (801 in FIG. 8) shown in the first embodiment, and the processing procedure is the same as the flow of FIG. 9 shown in the first embodiment. . The overlay calculation unit 2807 has the same configuration as the overlay calculation unit (811 in FIG. 8) shown in the first embodiment, and the processing procedure is the same as the procedure shown in the first embodiment.

  Next, details of the process of creating a regression model by regression analysis (S2606) will be described. The regression analysis process (S2606) is performed using the regression analysis unit 2811. The regression analysis unit 2811 receives the feature value 2808 of the difference portion output from the first image difference quantification unit 2805, the overlay 2809 in the X direction output from the second image difference quantification unit, and the overlay 2810 in the Y direction. . FIG. 29 is an example in which the calculation result of the feature amount 2808 of the difference portion and the overlay 2809 in the X direction at a plurality of measurement coordinates is plotted. The regression analysis unit 2811 calculates the regression model (formula) representing the relationship between the feature quantity of the difference part as the explanatory variable and the overlay as the objective variable by regression analysis. A least square method or the like may be used as a regression analysis method. Further, the feature amount to be used may not be one type, and for example, multiple regression analysis may be performed using the difference area and the average gray value. As described above, the regression model calculation unit 2202 outputs the regression model 2812 related to the X-direction overlay and the regression model 2813 related to the Y-direction overlay.

  The configuration of the second image difference quantification unit 2806 may be the same as that of the image difference quantification unit (FIG. 18) shown in the second embodiment. In addition, the overlay serving as an input of the regression analysis unit 2811 may be manually calculated from an image, or may be a result of measurement using another measurement device such as a CD-SEM.

  FIG. 30 shows an example of an interface for displaying the overlay measurement result according to the present embodiment. This interface includes an interface 3001 for displaying overlay measurement results on a wafer, an interface 3002 for displaying a histogram on the size of the overlay, and an interface 3003 for designating measurement results to be displayed on a wafer map or histogram. Further, an interface 3004 for displaying the reference image, the measured image, and the difference detection result side by side, and an interface 3005 for displaying the calculated regression model are provided.

  As described above, the difference between the reference image and the image to be measured is detected by the difference part, the feature of the difference part is quantified as the feature quantity, and the feature quantity is applied to the regression model obtained in advance, so that the overlay in the actual pattern Can be measured. This method can measure the overlay even when the pixel size is large and it is difficult to recognize the circuit pattern region with high accuracy and robustness. As a result, overlay can be measured even from an image obtained by imaging a wide field of view, and the measurement area per unit time can be widened.

  In the first and second embodiments, the method of recognizing the circuit pattern region from the reference image and the image to be measured, quantifying the displacement amount for each circuit pattern formed by each exposure, and measuring the overlay is described. In the third embodiment, the method of quantifying the difference between the reference image and the image to be measured as the feature amount of the difference portion and measuring the overlay has been described. In the fourth embodiment, a method for measuring overlay with high accuracy while widening the measurement area per unit time by combining the above-described embodiments will be described.

The apparatus configuration according to this embodiment is the same as that shown in FIGS. The flow of overlay measurement processing in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 31 is a diagram showing the flow of overlay measurement processing according to the present invention.
First, the wafer 108 to be measured is loaded on the stage 109 (S3101), and a recipe corresponding to the wafer is read from the recipe storage unit 206 (S3102). Next, the regression model created in advance is read from the regression model storage unit 2201 (S3103). Next, a preset reference image is read from the image storage unit 205 (S3104). Next, the measurement coordinates are read from the measurement coordinate storage unit 207 (S3105). After reading the coordinates (or in parallel), wafer alignment is performed (S3106). After the wafer alignment, the SEM 101 is controlled to capture an image with the first pixel size at the designated coordinates (S3107). Next, the difference between the image to be measured and the reference image is quantified using the image difference quantification unit 2301 shown in the third embodiment and the processing procedure shown in FIG. 24 for the first pixel size image. (S3108). Next, overlay calculation is performed using the overlay calculation unit 2308 shown in the third embodiment (S3109). Next, the overlay calculated in step S3109 is compared with a preset threshold value (S3110). When the calculated overlay is larger than the threshold value, the SEM 101 is controlled to capture an image with the second pixel size for the designated measurement coordinate (S3111). Next, the difference between the image to be measured and the reference image is quantified using the image difference quantification unit 801 shown in the first embodiment and the processing procedure shown in FIG. 9 for the second pixel size image. (S3112). Next, overlay calculation is performed using the overlay calculation unit 811 shown in the first embodiment (S3113). The above processes S3107 to S3113 are repeatedly executed until completion for all measurement coordinate points (S3114). Finally, the wafer is unloaded (S3115).

  According to the method described above, it is possible to widen the measurement area per unit time by measuring the overlay using the image of the first pixel size having a wide imaging field of view. In addition, when the overlay measured from the image of the first pixel size is larger than the threshold value and more accurate measurement is required, the overlay of the second pixel size is used with high accuracy. It can be measured.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 ... Scanning electron microscope (SEM), 112 ... Image generation part, 207 ... Measurement coordinate memory | storage part, 208 ... Reference | standard image synthetic | combination part, 209 ... Image difference quantification part, 210. .. Overlay calculation unit, 412... Overlay, S601... Step for acquiring inspection image, S603... Reference image setting step, S604... Quantifying difference between image to be measured and reference image , S605 ... overlay calculation step, 801 ... configuration example of image difference quantification unit, 811 ... configuration example of overlay calculation unit, S901 ... step of recognizing circuit pattern region of reference image, S902 ..Step of creating image BU, S903... Step of creating image BL, S904... Step for recognizing circuit pattern region of image to be measured S905... Step for creating image TU, S906... Step for creating image TL, S907... Step for calculating misregistration amount (dux, duy), S908. dlx, dly) calculating step 1203 ... example of dux, 1204 ... example of duy, 1207 ... example of dlx, 1208 ... example of dly, 2201 ... regression model storage unit, 2202 ... Regression model calculation unit, 2301 ... Image difference quantification unit, 2304 ... Difference detection unit, 2305 ... Difference feature quantity calculation unit, 2308 ... Overlay calculation unit, 2310 ... Regression model substitution unit, S2401 ... Step for detecting a difference portion, S2402 ... Step for calculating a feature amount of the difference portion, 2501 ... Regression model One example, S2603... Calculating the feature amount of the difference using an image of the first pixel size, S2604... Measuring the overlay using an image of the second pixel size, S2606. A step of measuring an overlay using an image of the second pixel size, S2705... A step of capturing an image of measurement coordinates with the first pixel size, S2706... An image of measurement coordinates with the second pixel size. 2805... Means for calculating the feature amount of the difference portion using the image of the first pixel size, 2806... Means for measuring the overlay using the image of the second pixel size, 2811 ... means for creating a regression model of the feature quantity and overlay of the difference part, S3109 ... step for measuring the overlay from the image of the first pixel size. , S3110... Comparing the overlay calculated from the image of the first pixel size with a threshold, S3111... Capturing the image of the measurement coordinates with the second pixel size, S3113. Measuring overlay from an image of pixel size 2

Claims (4)

An apparatus for measuring an overlay of a semiconductor device on which a circuit pattern is formed by a plurality of exposure processes,
An imaging unit that captures images of a plurality of regions of the semiconductor device;
A circuit pattern recognition unit for recognizing each of the circuit pattern regions formed by the first to m-th exposures formed on the semiconductor device among the plurality of captured images captured by the imaging unit;
An input unit for designating an exposure index of a circuit pattern for dividing the circuit pattern into two groups of the first and second groups;
An overlay measuring apparatus for measuring an overlay generated between circuit patterns belonging to the first and second groups. The overlay measurement apparatus according to claim 1,
The overlay measurement apparatus, wherein the input unit for designating the exposure index has a part for inputting a threshold value of an exposure index to be divided into the two groups. The overlay measurement apparatus according to claim 2,
An exposure index threshold value p is obtained from a portion where the threshold value is input,
A first image obtained by extracting the gray value of the circuit pattern area formed by the exposure after the pth from the captured image, and a second image obtained by extracting the gray value of the circuit pattern area formed by the exposure before the p-1th. An overlay measuring apparatus having a gray value extraction unit for creating an image of the above. The overlay measurement apparatus according to claim 2,
A reference image setting unit for setting a reference image from a plurality of captured images captured by the imaging unit;
An exposure index threshold value p is obtained from a portion where the threshold value is input,
A first image obtained by extracting the gray value of the circuit pattern area formed by the p-th and subsequent exposures from the reference image set by the reference image setting unit, and a circuit pattern formed by the exposure before the p-1th exposure Create a second image that extracts the shade value of the region,
A third image obtained by extracting the gray value of the circuit pattern area formed by the exposure after the pth from the image to be measured, and a fourth image obtained by extracting the gray value of the circuit pattern area formed by the exposure before the p-1th. Create an image of
Further, a positional deviation amount (dux, duy) between the first image and the third image, and a positional deviation amount between the second image and the fourth image are calculated (dlx, dly).
An overlay measuring apparatus that calculates a difference between the dux and the dlx as an overlay dx in the x direction and a difference between the duy and the dly as an overlay dy in the y direction.

Images