KR20110077984A - Method for measuring registration of mask pattern - Google Patents

Method for measuring registration of mask pattern Download PDF

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Publication number
KR20110077984A
KR20110077984A KR1020090134687A KR20090134687A KR20110077984A KR 20110077984 A KR20110077984 A KR 20110077984A KR 1020090134687 A KR1020090134687 A KR 1020090134687A KR 20090134687 A KR20090134687 A KR 20090134687A KR 20110077984 A KR20110077984 A KR 20110077984A
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KR
South Korea
Prior art keywords
pattern
coordinates
patterns
measurement
measuring
Prior art date
Application number
KR1020090134687A
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Korean (ko)
Inventor
손재식
Original Assignee
주식회사 하이닉스반도체
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Application filed by 주식회사 하이닉스반도체 filed Critical 주식회사 하이닉스반도체
Priority to KR1020090134687A priority Critical patent/KR20110077984A/en
Publication of KR20110077984A publication Critical patent/KR20110077984A/en

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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
    • G03F—PHOTOMECHANICAL PRODUCTION OF TEXTURED OR PATTERNED SURFACES, e.g. FOR PRINTING, FOR PROCESSING OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; MATERIALS THEREFOR; ORIGINALS THEREFOR; APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED THEREFOR
    • G03F1/00—Originals for photomechanical production of textured or patterned surfaces, e.g., masks, photo-masks, reticles; Mask blanks or pellicles therefor; Containers specially adapted therefor; Preparation thereof
    • G03F1/38—Masks having auxiliary features, e.g. special coatings or marks for alignment or testing; Preparation thereof
    • G03F1/44—Testing or measuring features, e.g. grid patterns, focus monitors, sawtooth scales or notched scales
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
    • G03F—PHOTOMECHANICAL PRODUCTION OF TEXTURED OR PATTERNED SURFACES, e.g. FOR PRINTING, FOR PROCESSING OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; MATERIALS THEREFOR; ORIGINALS THEREFOR; APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED THEREFOR
    • G03F1/00—Originals for photomechanical production of textured or patterned surfaces, e.g., masks, photo-masks, reticles; Mask blanks or pellicles therefor; Containers specially adapted therefor; Preparation thereof
    • G03F1/68—Preparation processes not covered by groups G03F1/20 - G03F1/50
    • G03F1/70—Adapting basic layout or design of masks to lithographic process requirements, e.g., second iteration correction of mask patterns for imaging
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
    • G03F—PHOTOMECHANICAL PRODUCTION OF TEXTURED OR PATTERNED SURFACES, e.g. FOR PRINTING, FOR PROCESSING OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; MATERIALS THEREFOR; ORIGINALS THEREFOR; APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED THEREFOR
    • G03F7/00—Photomechanical, e.g. photolithographic, production of textured or patterned surfaces, e.g. printing surfaces; Materials therefor, e.g. comprising photoresists; Apparatus specially adapted therefor
    • G03F7/70—Microphotolithographic exposure; Apparatus therefor
    • G03F7/70483—Information management; Active and passive control; Testing; Wafer monitoring, e.g. pattern monitoring
    • G03F7/70605—Workpiece metrology
    • G03F7/70616—Monitoring the printed patterns
    • G03F7/70633—Overlay, i.e. relative alignment between patterns printed by separate exposures in different layers, or in the same layer in multiple exposures or stitching
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
    • G03F—PHOTOMECHANICAL PRODUCTION OF TEXTURED OR PATTERNED SURFACES, e.g. FOR PRINTING, FOR PROCESSING OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; MATERIALS THEREFOR; ORIGINALS THEREFOR; APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED THEREFOR
    • G03F9/00—Registration or positioning of originals, masks, frames, photographic sheets or textured or patterned surfaces, e.g. automatically
    • G03F9/70—Registration or positioning of originals, masks, frames, photographic sheets or textured or patterned surfaces, e.g. automatically for microlithography
    • G03F9/7088—Alignment mark detection, e.g. TTR, TTL, off-axis detection, array detector, video detection
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/67—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
    • H01L21/67005—Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
    • H01L21/67242—Apparatus for monitoring, sorting or marking
    • H01L21/67259—Position monitoring, e.g. misposition detection or presence detection
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/67—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
    • H01L21/67005—Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
    • H01L21/67242—Apparatus for monitoring, sorting or marking
    • H01L21/67288—Monitoring of warpage, curvature, damage, defects or the like

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Condensed Matter Physics & Semiconductors (AREA)
  • Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
  • Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
  • Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
  • Power Engineering (AREA)
  • Multimedia (AREA)
  • Exposure And Positioning Against Photoresist Photosensitive Materials (AREA)

Abstract

After extracting repeating patterns that are periodically repeated in the die area of the photo mask, selecting measurement patterns among the repeating patterns, measuring the coordinates of the measurement patterns, and measuring the coordinates and the coordinates on the original design layout of the measurement patterns. We propose a method of measuring the registration coordinates of a mask pattern to extract the overlay degree by comparing with.

Photomask, overlay, measure, coordinate, overlay key

Description

Method for measuring registration of mask pattern

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to lithography techniques, and more particularly, to a method of measuring the registration of a mask pattern on a photo mask.

As the degree of integration of semiconductor devices increases and design rules are sharply reduced, process margins for overlays between layers deposited for semiconductor device manufacturing are lacking. The patterns patterned on the respective layers must be accurately overlaid, and securing such overlay margin is very important for ensuring the reliability of the semiconductor device. Due to the lack of overlay margin, we try to improve overlay reliability by measuring and checking the degree of overlay.

In the case of a photo mask, in order to confirm registration of a mask pattern formed on a transparent substrate, a scribe line region between a die region where the main pattern of masks are disposed and a die region is disposed. ), A registration pattern of the pattern is measured by inserting and forming an overlay pattern of a crisscross shape in a region covered with a resist and a resist and measuring the coordinates of the overlay pattern. That is, by measuring the actual coordinates formed in the overlay pattern, it is confirmed whether the main mask patterns are formed in a position corresponding to the designed bar. However, the registration coordinate measurement method of such a pattern is a substantially indirect measurement method, so that even when the overlay degree is determined to be within an allowable range when measuring the registration coordinate of the overlay pattern, the main patterns in the actual die area are located at coordinate positions outside the overlay allowable range. Cases may be caused. This is due to the fact that deformations such as unwanted pattern shifts can be caused between the overlay pattern and the main patterns in the actual die area.

Such a method of measuring the overlay degree by measuring the coordinates of the overlay pattern may not represent the coordinates of the actual main pattern, and thus may not represent the overlay margin between the actual patterns to be formed in other layers on the wafer. Accordingly, even though the registration coordinates of the overlay pattern of the mask pattern are periodically checked, the pattern overlay between the layers on the actual wafer may be insufficient to cause an overlay failure.

The present invention is to provide a method for measuring the registration coordinates of the mask pattern to measure the actual registration coordinates of the mask pattern to more precisely measure the overlay between the patterns, thereby suppressing the overlay failure between the patterns.

One aspect of the present invention includes the steps of: extracting repeating patterns that are periodically repeated in the die region of the photo mask; Selecting measurement patterns from the repeating patterns; Measuring coordinates of the measurement patterns; And extracting an overlay degree by comparing the measured coordinates with coordinates on the original design layout of the measurement patterns.

The repeating pattern may be extracted as a pattern in which equivalent pattern shapes are repeatedly arranged in the die region in the vertical direction.

The measurement pattern may be extracted as a pattern located at the center of which the same pattern shape is repeatedly arranged in a vertical direction among the repeating patterns.

The coordinate measurement may be measured by X-axis and Y-axis coordinates of a half point of the width between the outer edge lines in the mutually perpendicular X-axis and Y-axis directions of the measurement pattern.

The coordinate measurement may include measuring coordinates for a plurality of the measurement patterns; And extracting a coordinate value obtained by averaging the measured coordinates as a representative value.

An embodiment of the present invention proposes a coordinate measuring method that directly measures the actual position of the mask patterns by measuring the actual registration coordinates of the actual mask patterns formed in the die region of the photo mask. By measuring the registration coordinates based on the positions of the actual mask patterns and comparing the coordinates with the coordinates on the design layout, the actual overlay degree of the mask pattern can be directly confirmed. Accordingly, more direct overlay measurement can be made more precisely, and thus a registration coordinate measuring method of a mask pattern capable of effectively suppressing an overlay failure between patterns formed on a wafer can be proposed.

Embodiments of the present invention can directly measure the registration coordinates of the main mask pattern in the die area between the layers, thereby more directly comparing the overlay values between the layers. In the embodiment of the present invention, a repeating pattern that is periodically repeated among the main mask patterns in the die area is extracted, and registration coordinates are measured for the repeating pattern.

After extracting a plurality of repetitive patterns that are the target of the coordinate measurement to measure the actual registration coordinates, it is averaged and used as actual coordinates for the main pattern in the actual die area. By comparing the measured coordinates with the pattern coordinates on the design layout, overlay measurements and evaluations can be performed to confirm and evaluate whether mask patterns in the die area are formed at locations that deviate from the coordinates on the design layout. Since these overlay measurements do not use a separate overlay pattern, the coordinate measurement is directly performed on the pattern representing the positions of the main patterns formed in the actual die area, so the overlay measurement result is the main one to check the actual overlay. This is done between the patterns. Accordingly, the overlay measurement result can be evaluated as a result directly representing a more real situation, thereby effectively suppressing the overlay failure between patterns that can be caused between layers of the wafer.

1 and 2 are diagrams illustrating a method of measuring registration coordinates of a mask pattern according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

1 and 2, a method of measuring registration coordinates of a mask pattern according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is performed for repeating patterns 100 that are periodically repeated in the die area of a photo mask. In the die region of the photo mask, main mask patterns having a shape to be transferred onto the wafer are formed. Among the mask patterns, patterns in which substantially identical patterns are repeated to the left and right and up and down are extracted as the repeating pattern 100 ( 201 of FIG. 2). In the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the pattern measurement for confirming the overlay is performed on the mask pattern actually formed in the die region without using an overlay pattern provided separately in the scribe line region or the like. Since it is difficult to perform measurements on all mask patterns, the repeated patterns 100 repeatedly arranged are extracted as the measurement targets. Since the repeating pattern 100 is a repeating shape, the measurement reliability is relatively high when selecting the measurement target.

The measurement patterns 101 are selected from the repeating patterns 100 (203 of FIG. 2). When considering the X-axis and Y-axis coordinate systems, which are vertical coordinate systems that are perpendicular to each other, for example, the vertical patterns among the repeating patterns 100, the repeating pattern 100 having the same pattern shape repeatedly arranged in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction. Among them, the pattern 101 located at the center of repetition is extracted as the measurement pattern 101. The measurement pattern 101 may be selected in a plurality of different positions in one die area or in a plurality of equivalent positions in another die area. This is to increase the reliability of the measured coordinate values by statistically extracting the average value as the representative value.

The coordinates of the center point 103 of the measurement patterns 101 are measured (205 of FIG. 2). The coordinate 103 of the center point 103 selects the outer edge lines 104 and 106 in the X-axis and Y-axis directions that are perpendicular to each other with respect to the outer shape of the measurement pattern 101. After setting the edge lines 104 for the X-axis direction and setting the edge lines 106 for the Y-axis direction, a half point of the width between these edge lines 104, 106, i.e. , X-axis and Y-axis coordinates of the center point 103 is measured. These coordinates are obtained as X coordinate and Y coordinate values, and when a plurality of measurement patterns 101 are selected, the respective X coordinate and Y coordinate values are extracted.

The measured coordinate values are compared with the coordinates of the pattern on the original design layout corresponding to the measurement pattern 101 (207 of FIG. 2). By such a comparison, it is possible to confirm whether the mask pattern formed in the die region is substantially shifted and formed, and the degree of overlay. At this time, since the measurement standard is made for the measurement pattern 101, which is one of the repeating patterns 100 in the die area, the result of overlay comparison and confirmation corresponds to a more direct evaluation result of the actual pattern. Therefore, the degree of overlay of the mask pattern can be checked more directly (209 of FIG. 2). Accordingly, by using a photo mask having a mask pattern, it is possible to secure overlay margin and suppress overlay defects between patterns between layers on the wafer after pattern transfer onto the wafer.

As described above, in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the degree of overlay of the actual pattern may be directly checked by measuring the coordinates of the actual mask pattern in the die area and comparing the coordinates with the coordinates on the original design layout data. Accordingly, comparison of the die overlay between the layers may be performed based on the measurement of the direct pattern registration coordinates, thereby more effectively realizing the die overlay margin and suppressing the overlay failure.

1 is a view showing a method of measuring the registration coordinates of the mask pattern according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of measuring registration coordinates of a mask pattern according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (5)

Extracting repeating patterns that are periodically repeated within the die region of the photo mask; Selecting measurement patterns from the repeating patterns; Measuring coordinates of the measurement patterns; And And comparing the measured coordinates with the coordinates on the original design layout of the measurement patterns to extract an overlay degree. The method of claim 1, The repeating pattern is The registration coordinate measuring method of the mask pattern extracted in the pattern in which the equivalent pattern shape is repeatedly arrange | positioned in the said die area | region in the up-down-left-right direction. The method of claim 2, The measurement pattern is The method of measuring the registration coordinates of the mask pattern is extracted as a pattern located in the center of the repeating pattern of the same pattern shape in the vertical repeating direction of the repeating pattern. The method of claim 1, The coordinate measurement And a method of measuring registered coordinates of a mask pattern measured at X- and Y-axis coordinates of a half point of a width between outer edge lines in the X- and Y-axis directions that are perpendicular to each other. The method of claim 1, The coordinate measurement Measuring coordinates for a plurality of the measurement patterns; And And extracting a coordinate value obtained by averaging the measured coordinates as a representative value.
KR1020090134687A 2009-12-30 2009-12-30 Method for measuring registration of mask pattern KR20110077984A (en)

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KR1020090134687A KR20110077984A (en) 2009-12-30 2009-12-30 Method for measuring registration of mask pattern

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KR1020090134687A KR20110077984A (en) 2009-12-30 2009-12-30 Method for measuring registration of mask pattern

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Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN113533356A (en) * 2021-09-16 2021-10-22 武汉精创电子技术有限公司 Method, device and equipment for detecting crystal grain array defects and readable storage medium

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN113533356A (en) * 2021-09-16 2021-10-22 武汉精创电子技术有限公司 Method, device and equipment for detecting crystal grain array defects and readable storage medium

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