Line Edge Roughness and Cross Sectional Characterization of Sub-50 nm Structures Using Critical Dimension Small Angle X-ray Scattering

The need to characterize line edge and line width roughness in patterns with sub‐50 nm critical dimensions challenges existing platforms based on electron microscopy and optical scatterometry. The development of x‐ray based metrology platforms provides a potential route to characterize a variety of parameters related to line edge roughness by analyzing the diffracted intensity from a periodic array of test patterns. In this study, data from a series of photoresist line/space patterns featuring programmed line width roughness are measured by critical dimension small angle x‐ray scattering (CD‐SAXS). For samples with designed periodic roughness, CD‐SAXS provides the wavelength and amplitude of the periodic roughness through satellite diffraction peaks. For real world applications, the rate of decay of intensity, termed an effective “Debye‐Waller” factor in CD‐SAXS, provides an overall measure of the defects of the patterns. CD‐SAXS data are compared to values obtained from critical dimension scanning electron microscopy (CD‐SEM). Correlations between the techniques exist, however significant differences are observed for the current samples. A tapered cross sectional profile provides a likely explanation for the observed differences between CD‐SEM and CD‐SAXS measurements.