Patent · US Active

Method of detecting and measuring contact alignment shift relative to gate structures in a semicondcutor device

US9269639B2 · kind B2 · utility

1Cited by
2References
11Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateSep 30, 2013
Grant dateFeb 23, 2016
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 30, 2033

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH01L22/30
  • WIPO fieldSemiconductors
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The present invention provides a method of detecting and measuring the alignment shift of the contacts relative to the gate structures. The method comprises: designing a test model array having different test model regions on the substrate; forming second conductivity type doped well regions, gate structures, and first conductivity type doped active regions in each of the test model regions; forming contacts in each of the test model region; scanning the test model array by an electron-beam inspector to obtain light-dark patterns of the contacts; and detecting and measuring the alignment shift of the contacts relative to the gate structures according to the light-dark patterns of the contacts and the critical dimensions of the transistors in the test model regions.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.