High-throughput electrical characterization for robust overlay lithography control

Realizing sensitive, high throughput and robust overlay measurement is a challenge in current 14nm and advanced upcoming nodes with transition to 300mm and upcoming 450mm semiconductor manufacturing, where slight deviation in overlay has significant impact on reliability and yield. Exponentially increasing number of critical masks in multi-patterning litho-etch, litho-etch (LELE) and subsequent LELELE semiconductor processes require even tighter overlay specification .Here, we discuss limitations of current image- and diffraction- based overlay measurement techniques to meet these stringent processing requirements due to sensitivity, throughput and low contrast. We demonstrate a new electrical measurement based technique where resistance is measured for a macro with intentional misalignment between two layers. Overlay is quantified by a parabolic fitting model to resistance where minima and inflection points are extracted to characterize overlay control and process window, respectively. Analyses using transmission electron microscopy show good correlation between actual overlay performance and overlay obtained from fitting. Additionally, excellent correlation of overlay from electrical measurements to existing image- and diffraction- based techniques is found. We also discuss challenges of integrating electrical measurement based approach in semiconductor manufacturing from Back End of Line (BEOL) perspective. Our findings open up a new pathway for accessing simultaneous overlay as well as process window and margins from a robust, high throughput and electrical measurement approach.