Metrology of Nanostructures by Tomographic Mueller-Matrix Scatterometry

Chen, Chao; Chen, Xiuguo; Shi, Yating; Gu, Honggang; Jiang, Hao; Liu, Shiyuan

doi:10.3390/app8122583

Open AccessArticle

Metrology of Nanostructures by Tomographic Mueller-Matrix Scatterometry

by

Chao Chen

,

Xiuguo Chen

^*,

Yating Shi

,

Honggang Gu

,

Hao Jiang

and

Shiyuan Liu

^*

State Key Laboratory for Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China

^*

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Appl. Sci. 2018, 8(12), 2583; https://doi.org/10.3390/app8122583

Submission received: 16 November 2018 / Revised: 7 December 2018 / Accepted: 10 December 2018 / Published: 12 December 2018

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Precision Dimensional Measurements)

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Abstract

The development of necessary instrumentation and metrology at the nanoscale, especially fast, low-cost, and nondestructive metrology techniques, is of great significance for the realization of reliable and repeatable nanomanufacturing. In this work, we present the application of a homemade novel optical scatterometer called the tomographic Mueller-matrix scatterometer (TMS), for the measurement of photoresist gratings. The TMS adopts a dual rotating-compensator configuration and illuminates the nanostructure sequentially under test conditions by a plane wave, with varying illumination directions and records. For each illumination direction, the polarized scattered field along various directions of observation can be seen in the form of scattering Mueller matrices. That more scattering information is collected by TMS than conventional optical scatterometry ensures that it achieves better measurement sensitivity and accuracy. We also show the capability of TMS for determining both grating pitch and other structural parameters, which is incapable by current zeroth-order methods such as reflectometry- or ellipsometry-based scatterometry.

Keywords: ellipsometry; scatterometry; Mueller matrix; diffraction grating; inverse scattering; pitch measurement

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MDPI and ACS Style

Chen, C.; Chen, X.; Shi, Y.; Gu, H.; Jiang, H.; Liu, S. Metrology of Nanostructures by Tomographic Mueller-Matrix Scatterometry. Appl. Sci. 2018, 8, 2583. https://doi.org/10.3390/app8122583

AMA Style

Chen C, Chen X, Shi Y, Gu H, Jiang H, Liu S. Metrology of Nanostructures by Tomographic Mueller-Matrix Scatterometry. Applied Sciences. 2018; 8(12):2583. https://doi.org/10.3390/app8122583

Chicago/Turabian Style

Chen, Chao, Xiuguo Chen, Yating Shi, Honggang Gu, Hao Jiang, and Shiyuan Liu. 2018. "Metrology of Nanostructures by Tomographic Mueller-Matrix Scatterometry" Applied Sciences 8, no. 12: 2583. https://doi.org/10.3390/app8122583

APA Style

Chen, C., Chen, X., Shi, Y., Gu, H., Jiang, H., & Liu, S. (2018). Metrology of Nanostructures by Tomographic Mueller-Matrix Scatterometry. Applied Sciences, 8(12), 2583. https://doi.org/10.3390/app8122583

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Metrology of Nanostructures by Tomographic Mueller-Matrix Scatterometry

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