Hybrid approach to reconstruct nanoscale grating dimensions using scattering and fluorescence with soft X-rays

TL;DR

This paper presents a hybrid measurement method combining soft X-ray scatterometry and fluorescence to improve the accuracy and resolve ambiguities in reconstructing nanoscale semiconductor grating structures.

Contribution

It introduces a hybrid approach that leverages fluorescence data to enhance the resolution and uniqueness of solutions in soft X-ray scatterometry for nanostructure analysis.

Findings

Hybrid method reduces solution ambiguity.

Improves accuracy of nanoscale shape reconstruction.

Demonstrates potential for better semiconductor metrology.

Abstract

Scatterometry is a tested method for measuring periodic semiconductor structures. Since the sizes of modern semiconductor structures have reached the nanoscale regime, the challenge is to determine the shape of periodic nanostructures with sub-nanometer accuracy. To increase the resolution of scatterometry, short-wavelength radiation like soft X-rays can be used. But, scatterometry with soft X-rays is an inverse problem whose solutions can be ambiguous and its sensitivity should be further increased to determine the shape of even more complicated periodic nanostructures made up of different materials. To achieve unique solutions with smaller uncertainties, scatterometry can leverage the excitation of low-Z materials with soft X-rays. Additional information from soft X-ray fluorescence analysis in a hybrid measurement approach can mitigate the problem of ambiguous solutions from soft X-ray scattering and could further decrease uncertainty. In this work, the hybrid approach is utilized to perform a comparison of solutions from the inverse problem and determine the actual solution over ambiguous solutions.