Pattern measuring apparatus, and pattern measuring method and program

1. A pattern measuring apparatus for determining coordinates of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) contour of a circuit pattern formed by transferring design data via a photomask, comprising:

a storage for storing data on coordinates and luminance values of pixels of an image of the circuit pattern;

an image contour acquiring unit configured to acquire a position of an image contour of the circuit pattern by scanning across a boundary between a region without the circuit pattern and a region with the circuit pattern to obtain the luminance values of the pixels of the image and to determine a position of a pixel with a maximum luminance value as the position of the image contour;

a shape structure classifying unit configured to classify a contour shape of the design data into one or more shape structures characterizing the contour shape of the design data;

a normal direction calculating unit configured to calculate, for each shape structure, normal directions to an approximation line obtained by approximating the shape structure with a smooth line;

an arranging unit configured to arrange sections on the image contour in such a positional relation with each other as to form a same shape as the contour shape of the design data so that a circumferential ratio of each of the sections to the image contour is equal to a circumferential ratio of a corresponding one of the shape structures to the design data; and

a SEM-contour position acquiring unit configured to acquire the coordinates of the SEM contour by scanning across the image contour in the normal directions calculated for the shape structures corresponding to the sections arranged on the image contour to acquire luminance values of pixels in the normal directions, and to multiply maximum luminance values of the acquired luminance values by a given factor to determine coordinates of pixels with luminance values thus obtained as the coordinates of the SEM contour.

2. The pattern measuring apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more shape structures are each any one of a line segment, a CORNER and a LINE end, or a combination of two or more of these.

3. The pattern measuring apparatus of claim 1 , wherein

the SEM-contour position acquiring unit is configured to set a rectangular region for each normal direction in such a manner that the rectangular region extends to cross the image contour, the rectangular region having long sides extending in the direction of the normal direction and short sides crossing the long sides at a right angle and serving as a width of the rectangular region,

wherein each rectangular region contains one or more scanlines in a number determined according the width of the rectangular region, and

when one of the rectangular regions contains multiple scanlines, luminance values of pixels on the multiple scanlines in the rectangular region are averaged in the direction of the multiple normal vectors, then a maximum luminance value of the luminance values acquired by the averaging is multiplied by a given factor to determine coordinates of a pixel with a luminance value thus obtained as the coordinates of the SEM contour.

4. The pattern measuring apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the longer a line segment crossing a rectangular region is, the wider the width of the rectangular region is.

5. The pattern measuring apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the contour shape of the design data is a contour shape of design data with or without OPC (Optical Proximity Correction).

6. The pattern measuring apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the arranging unit is configured to perform computation to reduce geometric differences between the respective shape structures and respective corresponding portions of the image contour for arranging the sections on the image contour with the circumferential ratio of each of the sections to the image contour being equal to the circumferential ratio of a corresponding one of the shape structures to the design data.

7. The pattern measuring apparatus of claim 1 , wherein

the SEM-contour position acquiring unit is configured to acquire two or more positions of respective SEM contours respectively from two or more critical dimension scanning electron microscope (CD-SEM) image data items on the same circuit pattern,

the arranging unit is configured to arrange sections on each of the acquired SEM contours, instead of the image contour, so that circumferential ratios of each of the sections to the respective SEM contours are equal to a circumferential ratio of a corresponding one of the shape structures to the design data, and

the pattern measuring apparatus further comprises a unit configured to cut the SEM contours into segments corresponding to circumferences of the sections, to perform statistical processing on positions of sections of each of same kinds to calculate a single SEM contour portion for each kind of segments, and to connect the calculated SEM contour portions to composite a contour serving as the SEM contour.

8. A pattern measuring method applied to a pattern measuring apparatus for determining coordinates of a SEM contour of a circuit pattern formed by transferring design data via a photomask, the pattern measuring apparatus comprising a storage for storing data on coordinates and luminance values of pixels of an image of the circuit pattern,

the pattern measuring method comprising:

an image contour acquiring step of acquiring a position of an image contour of the circuit pattern by scanning across a boundary between a region without the circuit pattern and a region with the circuit pattern to obtain the luminance values of the pixels of the image and determining a position of a pixel with a maximum luminance value as the position of the image contour;

a shape structure classifying step of classifying a contour shape of the design data into one or more shape structures characterizing the contour shape of the design data;

a normal direction calculating step of calculating, for each shape structure, normal directions to an approximation line obtained by approximating the shape structure with a smooth line;

an arranging step of arranging sections on the image contour in such a positional relation with each other as to form a same shape as the contour shape of the design data so that a circumferential ratio of each of the sections to the image contour is equal to a circumferential ratio of a corresponding one of the shape structures to the design data; and

a SEM-contour position acquiring step of acquiring the coordinates of the SEM contour by scanning across the image contour in the normal directions calculated for the shape structures corresponding to the sections arranged on the image contour to acquire luminance values of pixels in the normal directions, and multiplying maximum luminance values of the acquired luminance values by a given factor to determine coordinates of pixels with luminance values thus obtained as the coordinates of the SEM contour.

9. A pattern measuring apparatus for determining coordinates of a SEM contour of a circuit pattern formed by transferring design data via a photomask, comprising:

a storage for storing data on coordinates and luminance values of pixels of an image of the circuit pattern;

an image contour acquiring unit configured to acquire a position of an image contour of the circuit pattern by scanning across a boundary between a region without the circuit pattern and a region with the circuit pattern to obtain the luminance values of the pixels of the image and to determine a position of a pixel with a maximum luminance value as the position of the image contour;

a simulation unit configured to perform exposure simulation to calculate a simulation image contour of the circuit pattern, overlay the simulation image contour onto the image contour, and to store into the storage a position of the simulation image contour overlaid on the image contour;

a shape structure classifying unit configured to classify a contour shape of the design data into one or more shape structures characterizing the contour of the design data;

a normal direction calculating unit configured to calculate, for each shape structure, normal directions to an approximation line obtained by approximating the shape structure with a smooth line;

an arranging unit configured to arrange sections on the simulation image contour in such a positional relation with each other as to form a same shape as the contour shape of the design data so that a circumferential ratio of each of the sections to the simulation image contour is equal to a circumferential ratio of a corresponding one of the shape structures to the design data; and

a SEM-contour position acquiring unit configured to acquire the coordinates of the SEM contour by scanning across the image contour in the normal directions calculated for the shape structures corresponding to the sections arranged on the simulation image contour to acquire luminance values of pixels in the normal directions, and to multiply maximum luminance values of the acquired luminance values by a given factor to determine coordinates of pixels with luminance values thus obtained as the coordinates of the SEM contour.