Finite difference algorithm in real-time optical CD applications

In real-time optical CD applications of shallow trench isolation (STI), shallow trench removal (STR), deep trench isolation (DTI), and deep trench removal (DTR), a single recipe is required for each type of application to accommodate wide ranges of process windows by monitoring parameters such as bottom CD (BCD), middle CD (MCD), top CD (TCD) and side wall angle (SWA). The modeling of the grating profiles of silicon trenches with nitride caps requires a large number of slices (> 10) to generate smooth shapes for top rounding of the nitride, curvature of the silicon trench waist, and the silicon trench footing or undercut. The number of orders for Fourier expansion is also high (larger than 13 in the best case). With these requirements we found that the rigorous coupled wave analysis (RCWA) algorithm is generally too slow to calculate the CD profiles from the raw scatterometry spectra. In this paper we present a finite difference (FD) algorithm and its applications to real-time CD scatterometry. The mathematical analysis of the FD algorithm was published elsewhere. We demonstrate that the FD algorithm has an advantage over RCWA in terms of calculation speed (up to a factor of 10 improvement), better capture of profile shapes in comparison with cross sectional SEM (X-SEM) and more robust in terms of numerical stability. Details of comparisons between FD and RCWA will be shown for the applications of STR and DTR.