Evaluation of the effect of data quality on the profile uncertainty of critical dimension small angle x-ray scattering

Abstract

A line grating prepared via a self-aligned quadruple patterning method was measured using critical dimension small angle x-ray scattering. A Monte Carlo Markov chain algorithm was used to analyze the uncertainty of the model fit over subsets of the full angular range and for a time series with decreasing signal-to-noise in order to determine the effect of the data quality on the final profile shape uncertainty. These results show how the total measurement time can be reduced while maintaining satisfactory profile shape uncertainty. We found that the typical measurement conditions are highly oversampled and can be reduced considerably with only marginal effect on the shape uncertainty. A comparison is made between the synchrotron measurements and a laboratory system, demonstrating that both measurements result in similar structures.