Applied Materials, Santa Clara, Calif., introduces the new VeritySEM 5i 3D metrology system, which provides imaging innovations in advanced e-beam technology and image processing. The system enables fast, accurate on-device CD SEM metrology, allowing chipmakers to see, measure, and control their 3D devices during R&D, ramp, and volume production. Its state-of-the-art, high-resolution SEM column makes possible measurements as small as 6 nm.
Innovative image enhancement algorithms aid measurement of fine pattern details. An in-column tilt-beam enables 3D FinFET metrology, while back-scattered electron (BSE) metrology addresses high aspect ratio 3D NAND structures, and BEOL via-in-trench bottom CD and characterization metrology.
FinFETs challenge traditional metrology in such measurements as gate and fin heights, whose uniformity is critical to device performance and yield. Current in-line CD SEM technology can monitor only top-view dimension variations, not those in height and slope. The VeritySEM 5i system’s in-column beam tilt remedies these issues, enabling gate and fin heights to be calculated and controlled.
High-resolution BSE imaging enhances the signal received from within these structures, allowing the system to “see” deep into vias and trenches for precision measurement. This capability also improves metrology for via-in-trench bottom CD in BEOL processing, where the correct connectivity between underlying and overlaying metal layers must be achieved to minimize via resistance.
The system’s exceptional in-line accuracy and process control eliminate more time-consuming and costly off-line wafer cross-sectioning, while helping chipmakers to streamline process development, improve device performance and yield, and shorten ramp times to high-volume production.
An offline recipe generator (ORG) features recipe editing capabilities via an external server, enabling multiple users to create recipes from computer-aided design offline without the need for wafers. The recipes are automatically stored in the tool database. By eliminating recipe creation time loss, the ORG enables the user to maximize the tool’s utilization in production.
