IP Library Granted Patent US 12,372,882
Granted Patent B2
US 12,372,882 · App. 18/217,199 · Granted Jul 29, 2025

Metrology in the presence of CMOS under array (CUA) structures utilizing an effective medium model with classification of CUA structures

Inventors: Zhaxylyk Kudyshev (Milpitas, CA); Chao Chang (Milpitas, CA); Derrick A. Shaughnessy (San Jose, CA); Houssam Chouaib (San Jose, CA)
Assignee: KLA Corporation
G03F7/706841G06F30/27G06F30/30
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,372,882
App. No.
18/217,199
Granted
Jul 29, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

A system, may include a controller configured to cause the processors to implement a measurement recipe by: receiving optical measurement data for training samples after a first process step for fabricating complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) under array (CuA) devices, wherein the CuA devices include first structures with a non-uniform spatial distribution; classifying the first structures into spatially-continuous regions based on unsupervised clustering; receiving optical measurement data for the training samples after a second process step, wherein the CuA devices after the second process step include periodic second structures above the first structures; developing effective medium models for the first structures; developing measurement models for determining measurements of the CuA devices; receiving optical measurement data for test samples after the second process step; and generating values of the metrology measurements of the second structures based on the optical measurement data for the test samples and the measurement models.

Claims (83)

1. A system, comprising:

a controller including one or more processors configured to execute program instructions causing the one or more processors to implement a measurement recipe by:

receiving optical measurement data for one or more training samples after a first process step for fabricating complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) under array (CuA) devices, wherein the CuA devices include first structures with a non-uniform spatial distribution after the first process step;

classifying the first structures into spatially-continuous regions based on unsupervised clustering of the optical measurement data for the one or more training samples after the first process step;

receiving optical measurement data for the one or more training samples after a second process step for fabricating the CuA devices, wherein the CuA devices after the second process step include periodic second structures above the first structures;

developing effective medium models for the spatially-continuous regions of the first structures;

developing measurement models for determining one or more measurements of the CuA devices based on the effective medium models for the spatially-continuous regions of the first structures and the optical measurement data for the one or more training samples after the second process step;

receiving optical measurement data for one or more test samples after the second process step for fabricating the CuA devices; and

generating values of the one or more metrology measurements of the second structures on the one or more test samples based on the optical measurement data for the one or more test samples and the measurement models.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first structures include CMOS structures.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first structures include CMOS structures and mold structures, wherein the mold structures include precursors to the second structures.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more measurements comprises:

an inspection measurement.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the inspection measurement comprises:

at least one of an identification or a classification of a defect in the second structures.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first structures on the one or more test samples have a common spatial distribution as the first structures on the one or more training samples.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first structures on the one or more test samples have a different spatial distribution than the first structures on the one or more training samples.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the effective dispersion models comprise:

at least one of a harmonic oscillator model, a Tauc-Lorentz model, a Cauchy model, a Bruggeman effective medium approximation (BEMA) model, or a nk-offset model.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein a particular one of the effective medium models describes a portion of the plurality of the first structures in a particular one of the spatially-continuous regions as one or more films.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the one or more measurements comprises:

a metrology measurement.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the metrology measurement comprises:

at least one of an overlay measurement, a critical dimension (CD) measurement, a shape measurement, a stress measurement, a composition measurement, a bandgap measurement, a measurement of electrical properties, or a measurement of process conditions.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein developing the effective medium model for at least one the spatially-continuous regions comprises:

determining at least one of dispersions or thicknesses of the one or more films through fitting to match the corresponding optical measurement data for the one or more training samples after the first process step.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the measurement models are based on light-matter interactions with the CuA devices.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the measurement models include machine learning models trained at least in part on synthesized data from models based on light-matter interactions with the CuA devices.

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein performing the unsupervised clustering of the optical measurement data for the one or more training samples after the first process step to identify the spatially-continuous regions is implemented using at least one of a k-nearest neighbor algorithm, a support vector machine, or a neural network.

16. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:

training a machine learning model based on the optical measurement data for the one or more training samples after the second process step and labels associated with the spatially-continuous regions based on unsupervised clustering of the optical measurement data for the one or more training samples after the first process step;

wherein generating the values of the one or more metrology measurements of the second structures on the one or more test samples based on the optical measurement data for the one or more test samples and the measurement models comprises:

selecting, for each location on the one or more test samples, one of the measurement models using the machine learning model with the associated optical measurement data from the locations on the one or more test samples; and

generating, for each location on the one or more test samples, values of the one or more metrology measurements based on the optical measurement data for the one or more test samples and the selected one of the measurement models.

17. The system of claim 1 , wherein the optical measurement data for at least one of the training samples after the first process step or after the second process step and the one or more test samples comprises:

at least one of ellipsometry data, reflectometry data, or scatterometry data.

18. A system, comprising:

an optical characterization system; and

a controller communicatively coupled with the optical characterization system, the controller including one or more processors configured to execute program instructions causing the one or more processors to implement a measurement recipe by:

receiving optical measurement data for one or more training samples after a first process step for fabricating complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) under array (CuA) devices from the optical characterization system, wherein the CuA devices include first structures with a non-uniform spatial distribution after the first process step;

classifying the first structures into spatially-continuous regions based on unsupervised clustering of the optical measurement data for the one or more training samples after the first process step;

receiving optical measurement data for the one or more training samples after a second process step for fabricating the CuA devices from the optical characterization system, wherein the CuA devices after the second process step include periodic second structures above the first structures;

developing effective medium models for the spatially-continuous regions of the first structures;

developing measurement models for determining one or more measurements of the CuA devices based on the effective medium models for the spatially-continuous regions of the first structures and the optical measurement data for the one or more training samples after the second process step;

receiving optical measurement data for one or more test samples after the second process step for fabricating the CuA devices from the optical characterization system; and

generating values of the one or more metrology measurements of the second structures on the one or more test samples based on the optical measurement data for the one or more test samples and the measurement models.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the optical characterization system comprises:

at least one of an ellipsometer, a reflectometer, or a scatterometer.

20. A method, comprising:

generating optical measurement data for one or more training samples after a first process step for fabricating complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) under array (CuA) devices, wherein the CuA devices include first structures with a non-uniform spatial distribution after the first process step;

classifying the first structures into spatially-continuous regions based on unsupervised clustering of the optical measurement data for the one or more training samples after the first process step;

generating optical measurement data for the one or more training samples after a second process step for fabricating the CuA devices, wherein the CuA devices after the second process step include periodic second structures above the first structures;

developing effective medium models for the spatially-continuous regions of the first structures;

developing measurement models for determining one or more measurements of the CuA devices based on the effective medium models for the spatially-continuous regions of the first structures and the optical measurement data for the one or more training samples after the second process step;

generating optical measurement data for one or more test samples after the second process step for fabricating the CuA devices; and

generating values of the one or more metrology measurements of the second structures on the one or more test samples based on the optical measurement data for the one or more test samples and the measurement models.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the first structures include complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) structures.

22. The method of claim 20 , wherein the first structures include CMOS structures and mold structures, wherein the mold structures include precursors to the periodic second structures.

23. The method of claim 20 , wherein the one or more measurements comprises:

a metrology measurement.

24. The method of claim 23 , wherein the metrology measurement comprises:

at least one of an overlay measurement, a critical dimension (CD) measurement, a shape measurement, a stress measurement, a composition measurement, a bandgap measurement, a measurement of electrical properties, or a measurement of process conditions.

25. The method of claim 20 , wherein the one or more measurements comprises:

an inspection measurement.

26. The method of claim 25 , wherein the inspection measurement comprises:

at least one of an identification or a classification of a defect in the second structures.

27. The method of claim 20 , wherein the first structures on the one or more test samples have a common spatial distribution as the first structures on the one or more training samples.

28. The method of claim 20 , wherein the first structures on the one or more test samples have a different spatial distribution than the first structures on the one or more training samples.

29. The method of claim 20 , wherein at least one of the effective dispersion models comprises:

at least one of a harmonic oscillator model, a Tauc-Lorentz model, a Cauchy model, a Bruggeman effective medium approximation (BEMA) model, or a nk-offset model.

30. The method of claim 20 , wherein a particular one of the effective medium models describes a portion of the plurality of the first structures in a particular one of the spatially-continuous regions as one or more films.

31. The method of claim 30 , wherein developing the effective medium model for at least one of the spatially-continuous regions comprises:

determining at least one of dispersions or thicknesses of the one or more films through fitting to match the corresponding optical measurement data for the one or more training samples after the first process step.

32. The method of claim 20 , wherein the measurement models are based on light-matter interactions with the CuA devices.

33. The method of claim 20 , wherein the measurement models include machine learning models trained at least in part on synthesized data from models based on light-matter interactions with the CuA devices.

34. The method of claim 20 , wherein performing the unsupervised clustering of the optical measurement data for the one or more training samples after the first process step to identify the spatially-continuous regions is implemented using at least one of a k-nearest neighbor algorithm, a support vector machine, or a neural network.

35. The method of claim 20 , further comprising:

training a machine learning model based on the optical measurement data for the one or more training samples after the second process step and labels associated with the spatially-continuous regions based on the unsupervised clustering of the optical measurement data for the one or more training samples after the first process step;

wherein generating the values of the one or more metrology measurements of the second structures on the one or more test samples based on the optical measurement data for the one or more test samples and the measurement models comprises:

selecting, for each location on the one or more test samples, one of the measurement models using the machine learning model with the associated optical measurement data from the locations on the one or more test samples; and

generating, for each location on the one or more test samples, values of the one or more metrology measurements based on the optical measurement data for the one or more test samples and the selected one of the measurement models.

36. The method of claim 20 , wherein the optical measurement data for at least one of the training samples after the first process step or after the second process step and the one or more test samples comprises:

at least one of ellipsometry data, reflectometry data, or scatterometry data.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 24, 2023
From: KUDYSHEV, ZHAXYLYK; CHANG, CHAO; SHAUGHNESSY, DERRICK A.; CHOUAIB, HOUSSAM
To: KLA CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 064699/0046 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20250004384A1 · Jan 2, 2025
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