Unavoidable renaissance of electron metrology in the age of high numerical aperture extreme ultraviolet lithography

Abstract

Things are drastically changing in the field of metrology. The main reason for that is related to the daunting specification requirements for metrology imposed by high numerical aperture extreme ultraviolet lithography (high NA EUVL). We observe a variety of generation e-beam tools proliferating in imec unique ecosystem, from in-line transmission electron microscope (TEM) to voltage contrast (VC) overlay tools, from die to database (D2DB) large area scanning electron microscope (SEM) to high-voltage SEM, from artificial intelligence (AI)-based inspection tools to massive data acquisition e-beam system. We are facing a renaissance of e-beam metrology. We are going to describe the challenges as well as the latest evolutionary developments of e-beam metrology in the semiconductor industry.