Diffracting, aperiodic targets for overlay metrology and method to detect gross overlay

1. A method for optically inspecting and evaluating a test sample, said test sample having a plurality of layers formed by a lithography process, said test sample including a pair of reflectively symmetric overlay targets, the method comprising:

obtaining individual difference spectrums for one or more calibration samples where each calibration sample includes a pair of reflectively symmetric overlay targets, where the difference spectrum is defined as the difference in reflectivity for the two overlay targets included in the reflectively symmetric pair and where the overlay of each calibration sample is known;

constructing a gross overlay indicator from the difference spectrums of the calibration samples;

obtaining a difference spectrum for the test sample;

determining if the overlay of the test sample exceeds the predetermined limit using a function of the difference spectrum of the test sample and the gross overlay indicator; and

adjusting the lithography process in response to the results of the determination step.

2. A method as recited in claim 1 , that further comprises:

forming a positive semi-definite matrix S as a summation of the difference spectrums of the calibration samples multiplied by their respective matrix transposes; and

forming a matrix Q by finding the n largest nonzero eigen-values of S and the corresponding normalized eigen-vectors.

3. A method as recited in claim 1 , in which each difference spectrum includes a series of measurements obtained at different wavelengths.

4. A method as recited in claim 1 , in which the difference spectrum for a calibration or test sample is obtained by focusing a probe beam on the reflectively symmetric overlay targets within the calibration or test sample and gathering the reflected probe beam to obtain images of the two overlay targets included in the reflectively symmetric pair.

5. A method as recited in claim 4 , in which each overlay target includes at least one grating stack and each image is obtained without resolving the unit cells of the grating stacks with each grating stack having a substantially uniform color within its image.

6. A method as recited in claim 4 , in which each grating stack includes at least one aperiodic structure.

7. A method as recited in claim 4 , in which each grating stack includes a fine overlay pattern and a gross overlay pattern.

8. An apparatus for optically inspecting and evaluating a test sample, said test sample including a pair of reflectively symmetric overlay targets, the method comprising:

an illumination source that generates an optical probe beam;

illumination optics configured to direct the probe beam to be reflected by the test sample;

collection optics configured to gather some portion of the reflected probe beam and to form a corresponding image;

a detector configured to convert the image formed by the collection optics into corresponding output signals; and

a processor configured to:

convert the output signals of the detector into a difference spectrum corresponding to the difference in reflectivity for said pair of reflectively symmetric overlay targets; and

determining the gross overlay within the sample by comparing the difference spectrum with a gross overlay indicator obtained by evaluating a series of calibration samples where the overlay of each calibration sample is known.

9. An apparatus as recited in claim 8 , where the processor is configured to obtain individual difference spectrums for the series of calibration samples by measuring the difference in reflectivity for a pair of reflectively symmetric overlay targets included in each calibration sample.

10. An apparatus as recited in claim 9 , in which the processor is configured to form the gross overlay indicator by:

forming a positive semi-definite matrix S as a summation of the difference spectrums of the calibration samples multiplied by their respective matrix transposes; and

forming a matrix Q by finding the n largest nonzero eigen-values of S and the corresponding normalized eigen-vectors.

11. An apparatus as recited in claim 8 , that further comprises one or more optical components for controlling the spectral content of the probe beam and where each difference spectrum includes a series of measurements obtained at different wavelengths.

12. An apparatus as recited in claim 8 , in which the numerical aperture of the optics used to focus the probe beam is smaller than the numerical aperture of the optics used to gather the probe beam.

13. An apparatus as recited in claim 8 , in which each overlay target includes at least one grating stack and each image is obtained without resolving the unit cells of the grating stacks with each grating stack having a substantially uniform color within its image.

14. An apparatus as recited in claim 13 , in which each grating stack includes at least one aperiodic structure.

15. An apparatus as recited in claim 13 , in which each grating stack includes a fine overlay pattern and a gross overlay pattern.

16. A method for optically inspecting and evaluating a test sample, said sample having a plurality of layers formed by a lithography process, the method comprising:

obtaining a difference spectrum for the test sample where the difference spectrum corresponds to the difference in reflectivity for a pair of reflectively symmetric overlay targets included in the test sample;

determining if the overlay of the test sample exceeds the predetermined limit using a function of the difference spectrum of the test sample and a gross overlay indicator; and

adjusting the lithography process in response to the results of the determination step.

17. A method as recited in claim 16 , that further comprises:

obtaining individual difference spectrums for one or more calibration samples each having a known overlay; and

constructing the gross overlay indicator from the difference spectrums of the calibration samples.

18. A method as recited in claim 17 , that further comprises:

forming a positive semi-definite matrix S as a summation of the difference spectrums of the calibration samples multiplied by their respective matrix transposes; and

forming a matrix Q by finding the n largest nonzero eigen-values of S and the corresponding normalized eigen-vectors.

19. A method as recited in claim 16 , in which each difference spectrum includes a series of measurements obtained at different wavelengths.

20. A method as recited in claim 16 , in which the difference spectrum for a calibration or test sample is obtained by focusing a probe beam on the reflectively symmetric overlay targets within the calibration or test sample and gathering the reflected probe beam to obtain images of the two overlay targets included in the reflectively symmetric pair.

21. A method as recited in claim 20 , in which each overlay target includes at least one grating stack and each image is obtained without resolving the unit cells of the grating stacks with each grating stack having a substantially uniform color within its image.

22. A method as recited in claim 20 , in which each grating stack includes at least one aperiodic structure.

23. A method as recited in claim 20 , in which each grating stack includes a fine overlay pattern and a gross overlay pattern.