Granted Patent B2

US 12,730,079 · App. 18/662,651 · Granted Sep 8, 2026

Inventors: Seong Yun Choi (Osan-si, KR); Sun Gyun Kim (Seoul, KR)

Assignee: AUROS Technology, Inc.

G01N21/9501G01N21/8806G01N21/8851G01N2021/8861

Abstract

Claims (55)

1 . An overlay measurement apparatus comprising:

a light source configured to direct light to a plurality of overlay targets formed on a wafer;

a lens unit including:

an objective lens configured to focus the light on a measurement position of one of the plurality of overlay targets; and

a lens focus actuator configured to adjust a distance between the objective lens and a surface of the wafer at the measurement position;

a detector configured to acquire a focus image at the measurement position based on a beam reflected from the measurement position;

a stage on which the wafer is seated; and

a controller configured to:

control the lens unit, the detector, and the stage to measure a preset collection-purposed overlay target among the plurality of overlay targets, the collection-purposed overlay target being used to generate the correction value;

collect a target coordinate of the collection-purposed overlay target spaced apart from a center of a field of view (FOV) of the lens unit;

calculate a correction value based on the target coordinate;

move the stage under application of the correction value; and

control the lens unit, the detector, and the stage to measure at least one application-purposed overlay target among the plurality of overlay targets, after application of the correction value to movement of the stage,

wherein the controller includes:

a stage actuator configured to control the movement of the stage;

a storage for storing therein an image of the collection-purposed overlay target and an image of the application-purposed overlay target obtained using the detector;

an offset calculator configured to calculate a distance between the target coordinate of the collection-purposed overlay target and the center of the field of view of the lens unit; and

a correction value calculator configured to calculate the correction value based on the target coordinate,

wherein the correction value calculator is configured to calculate the correction value using distances between a plurality of the target coordinates repeatedly measured by the detector and the center of the field of view of the lens unit.

2 . The overlay measurement apparatus of claim 1 wherein in measuring the collection-purposed overlay target, the stage actuator is configured to control the stage such that the collection-purposed overlay targets are measured sequentially in an order from the collection-purposed overlay target formed at a site closest to a center of the wafer to the collection-purposed overlay target formed at a site farthest from the center of the wafer.

3 . The overlay measurement apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the correction value calculator is configured to calculate, as the correction value, an average of distances respectively between a plurality of the target coordinates and the center of the field of view of the lens unit.

4 . The overlay measurement apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the offset calculator is configured to calculate a distance between a target coordinate of the application-purposed overlay target and the center of the field of view of the lens unit.

5 . An overlay measurement method comprising:

a collection-purposed overlay target measurement step including:

moving a stage on which a wafer is seated;

measuring at least one collection-purposed overlay target among a plurality of overlay targets using a lens unit and a detector, the collection-purposed overlay target being used for generating the correction value;

collecting a target coordinate of the collection-purposed overlay target spaced from a center of a field of view of the lens unit; and

measuring an overlay value of the collection-purposed overlay target;

a correction value calculation step of calculating a correction value based on the target coordinate, wherein an error occurring due the movement of the stage is corrected based on the correction value; and

an application-purposed overlay target measurement step including:

applying the correction value to move the stage;

measuring at least one application-purposed overlay target among the plurality of overlay targets using the lens unit and the detector, after applying the correction value to movement of the stage; and

measuring an overlay value of the application-purposed overlay target,

wherein the correction value calculation step of calculating the correction value using distances between a plurality of target coordinates repeatedly measured in the collection-purposed overlay target measurement step and the center of the field of view of the lens unit.

6 . The overlay measurement method of claim 5 , wherein the collection-purposed overlay target measurement step includes:

a first stage moving step of moving the stage on which the wafer is seated so that the lens unit is positioned on top of a site where the collection-purposed overlay target is formed;

a first pattern measurement step of measuring the collection-purposed overlay target using the lens unit and the detector; and

an offset calculation step of calculating a distance between the target coordinate of the collection-purposed overlay target and the center of the field of view of the lens unit.

7 . The overlay measurement method of claim 5 , wherein the collection-purposed overlay target measurement step includes:

measuring a first collection-purposed overlay target, a second collection-purposed overlay target to an n-th collection-purposed overlay target among the plurality of overlay targets; and

collecting a first target coordinate of the first collection-purposed overlay target, a second target coordinate of the second collection-purposed overlay target to an n-th target coordinate of the n-th collection-purposed overlay target spaced apart from the center of the field of view of the lens unit.

8 . The overlay measurement method of claim 7 , wherein the first collection-purposed overlay target, the second collection-purposed overlay target to the n-th collection-purposed overlay target are arranged in an increasing order of a spacing thereof from a center of the wafer,

wherein the collection-purposed overlay target measurement step includes:

moving the stage to a position where the first collection-purposed overlay target located at a site closest to the center of the wafer is formed, and measuring the first collection-purposed overlay target; and

moving the stage to a position where the second collection-purposed overlay target located at a site second closest to the center of the wafer is formed, and measuring the second collection-purposed overlay target.

9 . The overlay measurement method of claim 5 , wherein the correction value calculation step of calculating, as the correction value, an average of distances respectively between a plurality of target coordinates and the center of the field of view of the lens unit.

10 . The overlay measurement method of claim 5 , wherein the application-purposed overlay target measurement step includes:

a second stage moving step of applying the correction value to move the stage so that the lens unit is located on top of a site where the application-purposed overlay target is formed; and

a second pattern measurement step of measuring the application-purposed overlay target using the lens unit and the detector.

11 . The overlay measurement method of claim 5 , wherein the application-purposed overlay target measurement step includes:

measuring a first application-purposed overlay target, a second application-purposed overlay target to an n-th application-purposed overlay target among the plurality of overlay targets; and

applying the correction value in moving the stage for measuring the first application-purposed overlay target, the second application-purposed overlay target to the n-th application-purposed overlay target.

12 . The overlay measurement method of claim 5 , wherein the method further comprises, after the application-purposed overlay target measurement step, repeating the correction value calculation step,

wherein the application-purposed overlay target measurement step includes calculating a distance between an additional target coordinate of the application-purposed overlay target and the center of the field of view,

wherein the correction value calculation step includes calculating the correction value, further based on the additional target coordinate.

Assignments (1)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (18)