Nanoscale grating characterization using EUV scatterometry and soft x-ray scattering with plasma and synchrotron radiation

Applied Optics, vol. 62, pp. 117

Abstract

Modern semiconductor structures reach sizes in the nanometer regime. Optical metrology characterizes test structures for the quality assessment of semiconductor fabrication. The limits of radiation to resolve nanometer structure sizes can be overcome by shortening the wavelength. The compact source extreme ultraviolet (EUV) scatterometer presented here characterizes samples in the EUV spectral range using plasma radiation. Reference measurements with synchrotron radiation are carried out using a beamline scatterometer. A comparison including Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling shows that the compact source and beamline setups can both determine the given dimensional parameters of a nanoscale grating with uncertainties in the sub-nanometer range. Grating characterization based on soft x ray scattering has increased accuracy.

Authors 6

1. Leonhard M. Lohr
2. Richard Ciesielski
3. Sven Glabisch Aachen

   Jülich Aachen Research Alliance · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   JARA—Fundamentals of Future Information Technology

   RWTH Aachen University TOS—Chair for Technology of Optical Systems

4. Sophia Schröder Aachen

   Jülich Aachen Research Alliance · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   JARA—Fundamentals of Future Information Technology

   RWTH Aachen University TOS—Chair for Technology of Optical Systems

5. Sascha Brose Aachen

   Jülich Aachen Research Alliance · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   JARA—Fundamentals of Future Information Technology

   RWTH Aachen University TOS—Chair for Technology of Optical Systems

6. Victor Soltwisch