Test site and a method of monitoring via etch depths for semicon

Details Test site and a method of monitoring via etch depths for semicon Test site and a method of monitoring via etch depths for semicon

1996-08-26

1997-12-30

Chaudhari, Chandra

Fishing, trapping, and vermin destroying

437192, 437195, H01L 2166

Patent

active

057029563

ABSTRACT:
The present invention provides a test site on a product wafer for measuring via etch depth and a method of monitoring the depth of the vias using the test site. A substrate is provided having a test site area and a circuit area. A test site via is formed in the test site area. The test site via is used in measuring the depth of the insulating layers remaining in a test site via and the depth of the test site via. The measurements are taking using an in-line non-destructible measurement tool, such as an ellipsometer or spectrophotometer. The test site is specifically designed to be large enough to have the via depth measured by an in-line measuring tool. The depth of the oxide remaining in the test site via is measured after the via etch and is correlated to the amount of titanium nitride removed from the tops of the metal lines in the circuit areas. The via etch process is then adjusted to center the via etch at the optimum point to ensure that enough the vias are deep enough without removing too much of the top barrier layer (e.g., titanium nitride) film over the metal lines.

REFERENCES:
patent: 4628590 (1986-12-01), Udo et al.
patent: 5210041 (1993-05-01), Kobayashi et al.
patent: 5229309 (1993-07-01), Kato
patent: 5451529 (1995-09-01), Hsu et al.
patent: 5494697 (1996-02-01), Blayo et al.

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