Monitoring the high aspect ratio etch profiles in state-of-the-art three-dimensional NAND memory fabrication processes has pushed metrology technologies to new limits. Here, we discuss how a mid-infrared ellipsometric measurement can yield angstrom level discrimination in critical dimension changes of memory channel hole (CH) profiles across such a memory chip. Using finite-difference time-domain and rigorous coupled-wave analysis simulations, we demonstrate how dispersion mitigated mid-infrared beam penetration into these memory structures permits parameter decorrelation and the measurement of the full CH profile. |
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Mid-IR
Etching
Critical dimension metrology
Silicon
Finite-difference time-domain method
Spectroscopy
Absorption