Integration of Reflectometry into a FOUP for Improved Cycle Time

A novel optical reflectometry solution, capable of measuring planar, blanket thin films on 300mm Si wafers within a self-contained and portable Front Opening Unified Pod (FOUP)-based compact metrology system, the Metrology- FOUP (M-FOUP) System, is introduced. Key applications of the new instrument are presented by demonstrating measurement of unpatterned film thickness on samples representing typical daily qualification of process equipment. Benchmark data on characteristic samples from semiconductor production fab are presented, together with comparing the test results to that measured by conventional (stand-alone) metrology tools.