Nanometrics has designed two computerized optical measurement systems for use in micro-electronics photomask and wafer process control. The NanoSpec/AFT Automatic Film. Thickness Measurement System car measure with good precision the thickness of silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, polysilicon, photoresist and other films from. several hundred angstroms to several microns. A nine micron diameter measuring spot is employed which allows gates and pads as small as 10 microns to be measured. Recently its use has been extended to thickness measurement of photo and electron beam resists on chromium photomasks as well as wafers. The Nano-line Critical Dimension Computer is a line-width measuring instrument comprised of a micro-densitometer adapted to a high-magnification microscope and interfaced to a digital micro-processor computer. It can measure lines from less than one micron to 100 microns on masks and wafers with good precision. Both systems employ similar computer methods, are non-destructive, and very reliable in the manufacturing environment. They also provide results which minimize operator error. Their computers incorporate large memory capacity to store statistical data which allows the manufacturing engineer to determine and correct process variations and drift on a prompt basis.

Date Published: 17 July 1979
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 0174, Developments in Semiconductor Microlithography IV, (17 July 1979); doi: 10.1117/12.957194

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 0174:
Developments in Semiconductor Microlithography IV
James W. Dey, Editor(s)