Sem iconductorPhysicsLaboratoryCo.Ltd.

1
Semilab Technologies for
Semilab Technologies for
450mm Wafer Metrology
450mm Wafer Metrology
Tibor Pavelka
Semilab Semiconductor Physics
Laboratory Co. Ltd.
Sem iconductorPhysicsLaboratoryCo.Ltd. 2
Outline
Outline

Short introduction to Semilab

Technologies with potential
for 450mm

Non-destructive, capable of in-

line process control

Contamination monitoring

Epi layer monitoring

Implant monitoring

Dielectric characterization

Metal layer characterization

Characterization of etched
structures

Destructive / analytical tools
Sem iconductorPhysicsLaboratoryCo.Ltd. 3
Short Introduction
Short Introduction

Semilab Facts
Semilab Facts

Main activity: Development, manufacturing and
marketing of metrology equipment for the
semiconductor and photovoltaic industries.

Revenue exceeds $ 50 million (2008)

Employees: 258

worldwide, 152

in Hungary

Laboratory, office and manufacturing space: 11,000
m
2
,

about 3,000 m
2

in the US

76

physicists employed (43

in Hungary)

25 employees

holding a

Ph. D.

in physics

(5

in
Hungary)

Installed

base: more than 2,300 units

Patents: wholly owned

90, applications

8,
lincensed

41

Listed as 35
th

among the 50 fastest growing Central-

East

European

technology companies (Deloitte) in
2008
Sem iconductorPhysicsLaboratoryCo.Ltd. 4
History of Semilab
History of Semilab
Sem iconductorPhysicsLaboratoryCo.Ltd. 5
History of the Semilab Group
History of the Semilab Group
1990
2004
2008
2008
2008
2009
2009
Sem iconductorPhysicsLaboratoryCo.Ltd. 6
Semilab around the World
Semilab around the World
Sem iconductorPhysicsLaboratoryCo.Ltd. 7
Semilab People
Semilab People
Hungary
59%
UK
Germany
1%
Singapore
China
6%
Japan
5%
France
6%
USA
23%
PhD
10%
PhD
students
3%
University/
College
without PhD
59%
Other
28%
Administrative
11%
Engineers
35% Physicists
29%
Manufacturing
& Assembly
24%
Others
1%
Semilab Worldwide Qualifications
Tasks
Sem iconductorPhysicsLaboratoryCo.Ltd. 8
Semilab in European Cooperations
Semilab in European Cooperations

Successful participation in the
SEA-NET project

MetalMap: lifetime monitoring and
metal contamination measurement
on bare wafers

Lead It: contactless sheet
resistance measurement via
junction photo-voltage technique

Member of the EEMI450

Participant in other projects under
development or evaluation

Becoming an active player in
European cooperation
Sem iconductorPhysicsLaboratoryCo.Ltd. 9
Contamination Monitoring I.
Contamination Monitoring I.

Lifetime Measurement (
Lifetime Measurement (

-
-
PCD)
PCD)

Minority charge
carrier lifetime:
effective parameter

to characterize the
purity of
semiconductor
material

-PCD method:
simple, robust,
powerful technique
for lifetime
monitoring

Available in WT
wafer testers (from
bench-top platform
to fully automated
300mm tool)

Possible application
in 450mm lines

bulk
Thermal

equilibrium
Excitation

(generation
of excess
charge
carriers)
Redistribution

of carriers
diffusion of
carriers

to the
surface
surface

recombination
bulk

recombination

surface

diff
surf diff bulk meas
1 1 1
+
+ =
S 2
d

D
d

p n,
2
2

=
surf
diff

D: diffusion constant
of minority carriers
d: wafer thickness
S: Surface
recombination velocity

meas

: measured lifetime

surface

: surface recombination lifetime

diff

: characteristic time for diffusion to the
surface from the bulk

bulk

: bulk recombination lifetime
Sem iconductorPhysicsLaboratoryCo.Ltd. 10
Contamination Monitoring II.
Contamination Monitoring II.

SPV
SPV
Diffusion Length Measurement
Diffusion Length Measurement

Diffusion length: key parameter for
semiconductor characterization,
especially for metal contamination
monitoring

Fast, non-contact, non-destructive
whole wafer mapping

Measurement principle:

Excess charge carrier pairs are
generated by laser pulse surface
photovoltage appears

V
SPV

~n, V
SPV

: measured surface
photovoltage, n: number of excess
charge carriers

Measurement with different lasers

The following equation is fulfilled:

: photon flux density

L: diffusion lengtjh

1/: penetration depth
1/ [m] 1/
(1)
1/
(2)
L [m]
V
SPV

( )
( )
1
1
V
SPV

( )
( )
2
2
V
SPV
SPV Plot
Integrated SPV Measuring Unit
Computer
SPV
electronics
Lock-in
detection
Lasers
Capacitive sensor
Silicon wafer
Periodic
excitation

+ =

1
L C
V
SPV
Sem iconductorPhysicsLaboratoryCo.Ltd. 11
Epi Layer Monitoring I.
Epi Layer Monitoring I.

Dopant and
Dopant and
Resistivity Profiling by Airgap CV
Resistivity Profiling by Airgap CV

EPIMET

real-time,
non-contact, non-

destructive
production line
control for epi
processes

No need for monitor
wafers

Pre-treatment is
integrated

Resistivity and dopant
profile plotting

Wafer mapping

Excellent repeatability
(<1%) in the range of 1

100 cm
LED
bellows
air filter
material
guard
electrode
silicon wafer
wafer vacuum chuck
air bearing
Sem iconductorPhysicsLaboratoryCo.Ltd. 12
Epi Layer Monitoring II.
Epi Layer Monitoring II.

Surface
Surface
Charge Profiling
Charge Profiling

Measurement of n/p,
n/n, p/p, p/n epi even
over buried layers

Measures

Doping
concentration

Resistivity

Depletion layer width

Surface
recombination
lifetime

Conductivity type

Based on high
frequency AC surface
photo-voltage
Illumination
~~~~
W
d
V
s
W
d
h
e
h
R
e
R
h
Dark
Bulk

p-type
h
High frequency surface photo-voltage
Low intensity:

V
s

< 0.05 kT/q
Wavelength < 400 nm

V
s

~W
d

~1/C
sc

W
d-inv
= (Nsc)
Sem iconductorPhysicsLaboratoryCo.Ltd. 13
Epi Layer Monitoring III.
Epi Layer Monitoring III.

Fast
Fast
Gate
Gate

Non-penetrating
Elastic Metal probe
for rapid
monitoring of epi
layers

EM-probe: non-

destructive probe
for capacitance
measurements and
IV-profiling

Small tip diameter
to enable sheet
resistance profiling

CV profiling
Sem iconductorPhysicsLaboratoryCo.Ltd. 14
Implant Monitoring I.
Implant Monitoring I.

Carrier
Carrier
Illumination
Illumination

In-line, non-contact,
pre-anneal monitoring
of

Implant Dose

PAI depth

Junction depth

BX-3000 Carrier
Illumination
Technology

Generation laser
creates excess
carriers

Excess carriers
gradient forms index
of refraction gradient

Probe laser reads out
index of refraction to
determine junction
properties
Objective
lens
Generation
laser
(830 nm red)
Probe laser
(980 nm IR)
Beam
splitter
Cognex
PatMax
Vision
system
Detector
Deep
Shallow
BX-10 Xj

measured
contour
Sem iconductorPhysicsLaboratoryCo.Ltd. 15
Implant Monitoring II.
Implant Monitoring II.

Junction
Junction
Photo
Photo
-
-
Voltage
Voltage

Control the implant and
anneal by measuring sheet
resistance (R
s

) of the
implanted layer after anneal

LED generates charge
carriers which spread
laterally

Spreading is detected
capacitively, R
s

is
calculated

Non-contact, non-

destructive

Fast, high resolution
mapping

Good repeatability

Good correlation with
conventional techniques

Works from USJs to deep
implants
Si substrate
Junction
+
+
+
LED
Pickup electrodes
0
200
400
600
800
1000
0 200 400 600 800 1000
S
h
e
e
t

r
.

4
p
p

[
O
h
m
/
s
q
.
]
JPV Sheet resistance [Ohm/sq.]
Vendor 1
Vendor 2
Sem iconductorPhysicsLaboratoryCo.Ltd. 16
Dielectric Characterization I.
Dielectric Characterization I.

Spectroscopic Ellipsometry
Spectroscopic Ellipsometry

GES5E: R&D Spectroscopic Ellipsometer

to
meet requirements of emerging technologies

/

materials

Measures complex reflectance ratio

Parameters:

Spectral range:

from 190 nm to 2.5 m high resolution

and/or fast measurement mode

Unique combination with further

techniques:

Grazing X-Ray Reflectance

FT Infra-Red Spectroscopic Ellipsometry

up to
33 m

Adsorption, EPA: Ellipsometric

Porosimeter

(EP)
at atmospheric pressure
( ) T k n f e
r
r
i
s
p
, , tan = = =

cos , tan
cos
tan
Wavelength
Sem iconductorPhysicsLaboratoryCo.Ltd. 17
Dielectric Characterization II.
Dielectric Characterization II.

Non
Non
-
-
Contact MOS CV (VQ) for SiO
Contact MOS CV (VQ) for SiO
2 2

and High
and High
-
-

Non-destructive
measurement technique to
replace traditional C-V
measurements for qualifying
oxide or other dielectric
along with interface
properties

in silicon wafers

Measured parameters

T
ox

: Electrical oxide
thickness

V
fb

: Flatband

voltage

D
it

: Interface state density

Q
m

: Mobile charge

V
ox

: Oxide voltage

Q
eff

: Effective charge

E
tunnel

: Tunneling electric
field

V
s

: Surface potential

V
surf

: Surface voltage

V
tunnel

: Tunnel voltage

Hight throughput: complete
analysis in 15 minutes
Corona discharge Kelvin Probe
Illumination
VQ curve T
ox

map
Sem iconductorPhysicsLaboratoryCo.Ltd. 18
Dielectric Characterization III.
Dielectric Characterization III.

Near Field
Near Field
Scanning Microwave Microscope for
Scanning Microwave Microscope for
Low
Low
-
-

Non-contact microwave
technique to measure the
dielectric constant of low-k

materials on production
wafers

Potential unique
application: sidewall
damage monitoring

Near field antenna (10m
tip size << wavelength) at
100nm distance from the
sample

Resonant frequency
depends on sample
properties

With suitable calibration,
from resonant frequency
measurements, -value can
be determined
Sem iconductorPhysicsLaboratoryCo.Ltd. 19
Low
Low
-
-

and Metal Layer Characterization
and Metal Layer Characterization

Surface Acoustic Wave
Surface Acoustic Wave

Non-contact, non-

destructive tool to
obtain

Layer thickness

Bilayer thickness

Material properties
(resistivity, grain size)

Laser excitation
generates acoustic
waves which
propagate

Propagation is
monitored, waveform
and spectrum is
analyzed
1. Dark signal before wave
excitation.
2. Wave excitation with striped
pattern.
3. Wave motion and diffraction
of probe beam to detector.
Waveform and frequency
spectrum.
Sem iconductorPhysicsLaboratoryCo.Ltd. 20
Characterization of 3D Etched Structures and
Characterization of 3D Etched Structures and
Threnches
Threnches

Model Based Infrared Reflectometry
Model Based Infrared Reflectometry

Thickness, depth,
CD, and composition

can be determined

Sample is illuminated
by IR light

Reflections &
absorptions from
trenches and films
determine shape of
reflectance spectrum

Spectrum is analyzed
with a model of the
sample structure,
and parameters are
determined by fitting
the model spectrum
Reflectance Spectrum
Interference
fringes
Absorption
bands
Exp. Data
Model Fit
R
e
f
l
e
c
t
a
n
c
e
Wavenumber (cm
-1
)
Layers of
Interest
45
Infrared
Light
1.4

20
microns
wavelength
Detector
Sem iconductorPhysicsLaboratoryCo.Ltd. 21
Destructive / Analytical Tools
Destructive / Analytical Tools

Potential for 450 mm

DLTS: Deep Level
Transient
Spectroscopy for
contamination analysis

LST: Light Scattering
Tomography for bulk
microdefect
characterization

SIRM: Scanning
Infrared Microscopy for
bulk defect
characterization

SRP: Sheet Resistance
Profiling