Optically monitoring and controlling nanoscale topography during semiconductor etching

Chris Edwards; Amir Arbabi; Gabriel Popescu; Lynford L Goddard

doi:10.1038/lsa.2012.30

Go to Nature Website

Your Location：

Home >

Browse articles >

Optically monitoring and controlling nanoscale topography during semiconductor etching

Original Article

- Optically monitoring and controlling nanoscale topography during semiconductor etching
- Light: Science & Applications Vol. 1, Issue 1, (2012)
- Affiliations：
  
  Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
- Author bio：
  
  Dr LL Goddard, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 208 N. Wright St., MNTL 2254, Urbana, IL 61801, USA E-mail: lgoddard@illinois.edu
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1038/lsa.2012.30
  CLC：
- Published：2012-03，
  
  Published Online：28 September 2012，
  
  Received：26 January 2012，
  
  Revised：19 June 2012，
  
  Accepted：20 June 2012
- Accepted：
Scan QR Code
Edwards, C. et al. Optically monitoring and controlling nanoscale topography during semiconductor etching. Light: Science & Applications, 1, e30 (2012).
DOI：

Edwards, C. et al. Optically monitoring and controlling nanoscale topography during semiconductor etching. Light: Science & Applications, 1, e30 (2012). DOI： 10.1038/lsa.2012.30.

摘要

Abstract

We present epi-diffraction phase microscopy (epi-DPM) as a non-destructive optical method for monitoring semiconductor fabrication processes in real time and with nanometer level sensitivity. The method uses a compact Mach–Zehnder interferometer to recover quantitative amplitude and phase maps of the field reflected by the sample. The low temporal noise of 0.6 nm per pixel at 8.93 frames per second enabled us to collect a three-dimensional movie showing the dynamics of wet etching and thereby accurately quantify non-uniformities in the etch rate both across the sample and over time. By displaying a gray-scale digital image on the sample with a computer projector

we performed photochemical etching to define arrays of microlenses while simultaneously monitoring their etch profiles with epi-DPM.

关键词

Keywords

microscopynanoscale metrologyphotochemical etchingquantitative phase imagingsemiconductor process monitoring

references

Maynard HL, Layadi N, Lee JTC. Plasma etching of submicron devices:in situmonitoring and control by multi-wavelength ellipsometry.Thin Solid Films1998;313/314: 398–405..

Langereis E, Heil SBS, Knoops HCM, Keuning W, van de Sanden MCMet al.In situspectroscopic ellipsometry as a versatile tool for studying atomic layer deposition.J Phys D: Appl Phys2009;42: 073001..

Losurdo M, Bergmair M, Bruno G, Cattelan D, Cobet Cet al. Spectroscopic ellipsometry and polarimetry for materials and systems analysis at the nanometer scale: state-of-the-art, potential, and perspectives.J Nanopart Res2009;11: 1521–1554..

Aspnes DE, Bagley BG. Method for optical monitoring in materials fabrication. US Patent 4,332,833, 1982.

Hall R. Phase sensitive optical monitor for thin film deposition. USPatent 4,906,844, 1990.

Rebey A, Boufaden T, Jani BE.In situoptical monitoring of the decomposition of GaN thin films.J Crystal Growth1999;203: 12–17..

Song YM, Chang KS, Na BH, Yu JS, Lee YT. Precise etch-depth control of microlens-integrated intracavity vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers byin-situlaser reflectometry and reflectivity modeling.Thin Solid Films2009;517: 5773–5778..

Tosaka H, Minami K, Esashi M. Opticalin situmonitoring of silicon diaphragm thickness during wet etching.J Micromech Microeng1995;5: 41–46..

Burrow GM, Gaylord TK. Multi-beam interference advances and applications: nano-electronics, photonic crystals, metamaterials, subwavelength structures, optical trapping, and biomedical structures.Micromachines2011;2: 221–257..

Mackus AJM, Heil SBS, Langereis E, Knoops HCM, van de Sanden MCMet al. Optical emission spectroscopy as a tool for studying, optimizing, and monitoring plasma-assisted atomic layer deposition processes.J Vac Sci Technol A2010;28: 77–87..

Guinn KV, McNevin SC. Process for device fabrication in which the plasma etch is controlled by monitoring optical emission. US Patent 5,877,032, 1999.

Wurstbauer U, Röling C, Wurstbauer U, Wegscheider W, Vaupel Met al. Imaging ellipsometry of graphene.Appl Phys Lett2010;97: 231901..

Rauscher H, Stapelmann K, Kylian O, Denis B, Rossi F. Monitoring plasma etching of biomolecules by imaging ellipsometry.Vaccum2009;84: 75–78..

Popescu G.Quantitative phase imaging of cells and tissues. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011.

Popescu G, Ikeda T, Dasari RR, Feld MS. Diffraction phase microscopy for quantifying cell structure and dynamics.Opt Lett2006;31: 775–777..

Park YK, Best CA, Auth T, Gov N, Safran SAet al. Metabolic remodeling of the human red blood cell membrane.Proc Natl Acad Sci USA2010;107: 1289–1294..

Park YK, Best CA, Badizadegan K, Dasari RR, Feld MSet al. Measurement of red blood cell mechanics during morphological changes.Proc Natl Acad Sci USA2010;107: 6731–6736..

Park YK, Diez-Silva M, Popescu G, Lykotrafitis G, Choi Wet al. Refractive index maps and membrane dynamics of human blood cells parasitized byPlasmodium falciparum.Proc Natl Acad Sci USA2008;105: 13730–13735..

Ikeda T, Popescu G, Dasari RR, Feld MS. Hilbert phase microscopy for investigating fast dynamics in transparent systems.Opt Lett2005;30: 1165–1167..

Ghiglia DC, Pritt MD.Two-dimensional phase unwrapping: theory, algorithms, and software. New York: Wiley, 1998.

Khmaladze A, Kim M, Lo CM. Phase imaging of cells by simultaneous dual-wavelength reflection digital holography.Opt Exp2008;16: 10900–10911..

Kubota S, Goodman JW. Very efficient speckle contrast reduction realized by moving diffuser device.Appl Opt2010;49: 4385–4391..

Williams KR, Gupta K, Wasilik M. Etch rates for micromachining processes—part Ⅱ.J Micromechan Syst2003;12: 761–778..

Houle FA. Photochemical etching of silicon: the influence of photogenerated charge carriers.Phys Rev B1989;39: 10120–10132..

Look DC.Semiconductors and semimetals. New York: Academic, 1983.

Noguchi N, Suemune I. Luminescent porous silicon synthesized by visible light irradiation.Appl Phys Lett1993;62: 1429–1431..

Ouyang H, Deng Y, Knox WH, Fauchet PM. Photochemical etching of silicon by two photon absorption.Phys Status Solidi2007;204: 1255–1259..

Trichas E, Kayambaki M, Illiopoulos E, Pelekanos NT, Savvidis PG. Resonantly enhanced selective photochemical etching of GaN.Appl Phys Lett2009;94: 173505..

Views

Downloads

CSCD

Alert me when the article has been cited

Submit

Tools

Publicity Resources

Two-color multiphoton in vivo imaging with a femtosecond diamond Raman laser

Realization of the first sub-shot-noise wide field microscope

Point spread function estimation from projected speckle illumination

Adaptive optical microscopy: the ongoing quest for a perfect image

Related Author

Jeremy W Jarrett

Andrew K Dunn

Hsin-Chih Yeh

David J Spence

Andrei Bonteanu

John R Goldak

Daniel C Fernée

Ahmed Hassan

Related Institution

Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin

Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Austin

MQ Photonics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Macquarie University

INRIM, Strada delle Cacce 91, I- Torino

Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24,- Torino

⁰