{"title":"Metal-free high-contrast wafer-level step height standards with large height-range based on all-dielectric multilayers.","authors":"Jinming Gou, Yuying Xie, Xiao Deng, Jingyuan Zhu, Siyu Dong, Chao Feng, Dongbai Xue, Lifeng Duan, Gang Sun, Lingling Ren, Xinbin Cheng, Tongbao Li","doi":"10.1088/1361-6528/ade720","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Wafer-level step height standards with high optical contrast are crucial in order to improve the accuracy of automatic image recognition in integrated circuits inspection instruments. While conventional Si-SiO<sub>2</sub>single-layer film step height standards typically employ metal coatings to address low contrast issues at low step heights, this approach can be problematic due to the introduction of metal particle contamination. In this paper, we propose a high-contrast wafer-level step height standard based on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) dielectric multilayers. The SOI multilayers, composed of Si-SiO<sub>2</sub>-Si layers are designed to achieve consistent high optical contrast across varying step heights by maximizing reflectance ratio. We designed three step height standards of 20 nm, 100 nm, 500 nm with different SOI multilayers. All were fabricated on 8 inch wafers by merging film deposition, electron-beam lithography and dry etching. The maximum contrast was two orders higher than single-layer film steps of the same height, while maintaining precision in step height measurement. This novel wafer-level step height standards have the potential to enhance image recognition efficiency while mitigating the risk of metal contamination to detection systems and production lines.</p>","PeriodicalId":19035,"journal":{"name":"Nanotechnology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Nanotechnology","FirstCategoryId":"88","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6528/ade720","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"MATERIALS SCIENCE, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Wafer-level step height standards with high optical contrast are crucial in order to improve the accuracy of automatic image recognition in integrated circuits inspection instruments. While conventional Si-SiO2single-layer film step height standards typically employ metal coatings to address low contrast issues at low step heights, this approach can be problematic due to the introduction of metal particle contamination. In this paper, we propose a high-contrast wafer-level step height standard based on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) dielectric multilayers. The SOI multilayers, composed of Si-SiO2-Si layers are designed to achieve consistent high optical contrast across varying step heights by maximizing reflectance ratio. We designed three step height standards of 20 nm, 100 nm, 500 nm with different SOI multilayers. All were fabricated on 8 inch wafers by merging film deposition, electron-beam lithography and dry etching. The maximum contrast was two orders higher than single-layer film steps of the same height, while maintaining precision in step height measurement. This novel wafer-level step height standards have the potential to enhance image recognition efficiency while mitigating the risk of metal contamination to detection systems and production lines.
期刊介绍:
The journal aims to publish papers at the forefront of nanoscale science and technology and especially those of an interdisciplinary nature. Here, nanotechnology is taken to include the ability to individually address, control, and modify structures, materials and devices with nanometre precision, and the synthesis of such structures into systems of micro- and macroscopic dimensions such as MEMS based devices. It encompasses the understanding of the fundamental physics, chemistry, biology and technology of nanometre-scale objects and how such objects can be used in the areas of computation, sensors, nanostructured materials and nano-biotechnology.