Complementary use of scatterometry and SEM for photoresist profile and CD determination

Scatterometry is gaining acceptance as a technique for critical dimension (CD) metrology that complements the more established scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. Scatterometry determines the dimensions of the submicron structures by inverse diffraction calculations. SEM and scatterometry are complementary in many respects. Therefore, they are likely to coexist in the foreseeable future. Scatterometry and CD-SEM instruments can be integrated to take advantage of the complementary nature of the two techniques. To explore the joint use of scatterometry and SEM measurements, we measured a set of photoresist grating samples with CDs ranging from 240 nm through 40 nm by scatterometer (Sensys CD-i) and cross-section SEM (Hitachi S-4700). Although a cross-section SEM was used as an absolute standard for comparison of profiles and CDs, our conclusions range to include CD-SEM techniques. It was found that for measurements of profiles that were patterned with high uniformity within the measurement area, scatterometry was very effective, and correlated best with SEM measurements. However, in cases of substantial line-to-line profile variations, or for isolated or non-periodic lines, SEM is the more appropriate measurement method.