Application of measurement configuration optimization for accurate metrology of sub-wavelength dimensions in multilayer gratings using optical scatterometry.

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Critical dimension measurement accuracy in optical scatterometry relies not only on the systematic noise level of instruments and the reliability of forward modeling algorithms, but also heavily on the measurement configuration. To construct a set of potentially high-accuracy configurations, we apply a general measurement configuration optimization method based on error propagation theory and singular value decomposition, by which the measurement accuracy is approximated as a function of a pseudo Jacobian with respect to the measurement configurations. Simulations and experiments for the optical metrology of a sub-wavelength deep-etched multilayer grating establish the feasibility of the proposed method.