In advanced DRAM semiconductor manufacturing, there is a need to reduce the overlay fingerprints. Reducing on device fingerprints with very high spatial frequency remains one of the bottlenecks to achieve sub-2nm on device overlay. After-etch device overlay measurements using the YieldStar in-device metrology (IDM)[1] allow for previously unassessed and uncontrolled fingerprints to be corrected employing higher-order overlay corrections. This is because this technology allows dramatically increased overlay metrology sampling at affordable throughputs. This paper reports considerations for enabling dense after-etch overlay based corrections in a high volume manufacturing environment. Results will be shown on a front end critical layer of SK hynix that has been sampled with IDM with high density wafer sampling, over dozens of lots spanning several weeks.
In next generation 3D-NAND devices, accurately determining after-etch overlay for the multi-layer stack is a major challenge. This is especially the case for the multi-tier 3D-NAND structures, where the overlay of the channel holes is an important performance parameter. The most commonly used after-etch metrology suffer both from the high aspect ratio of the channel holes and from the potential presence of large tilts.
Using In-Device Metrology (IDM), we show results of non-destructive overlay measurements on 3D-NAND memory holes. Once the overlay signal has been determined, the remaining asymmetry information in the measurement can be used to characterize tilt phenomena densely through the memory array.
Using hyper-dense in-device measurements show the overlay effects of intra-die stress. A new lithography scanner model is used to correct specifically for such intra-die overlay fingerprints.
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