Method and system to monitor a process apparatus

Abstract

A method involving determining a contribution that one or more process apparatuses make to a characteristic of a substrate after the substrate has been processed according to a patterning process by the one or more process apparatuses by removing from values of the characteristic of the substrate a contribution of a lithography apparatus to the characteristic and a contribution of one or more pre-lithography process apparatuses to the characteristic.

1 .- 15 . (canceled) 
     
     
         16 . A method, comprising:
 estimating, by a hardware computer system, a characteristic that will be imparted to a substrate to be processed by one or more process apparatuses by combining one or more values of one or more contributions to the characteristic by the one or more process apparatuses with one or more values of the characteristic, at least one of the one or more contributions to the characteristic being a first contribution of a chamber of an etch tool configured to etch one or more etchable layers and being a contribution separate from a second contribution to the characteristic by one or more other process apparatuses.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the characteristic is a property of a pattern on an etched substrate. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the property is a geometric asymmetry of the pattern. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the property is a critical dimension of the pattern or a sidewall angle of the pattern. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the characteristic is a fingerprint of the property across the etched substrate. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the first contribution is obtained from a model having a property of the one or more etchable layers as an input. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising adjusting one or more variables of the etch tool to reduce the first contribution. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the one or more variables are an operating temperature and/or etching rate. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the adjusting compensates at least partially the second contribution. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the second contribution is associated with a lithographic apparatus and/or a deposition tool. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising adjusting one or more variables of the chamber of the etch tool to match the second contribution. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the second contribution is a contribution from another chamber of the etch tool or a chamber of another etch tool. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the adjusting targets to reduce a deviation of the characteristic from a target value of the characteristic. 
     
     
         29 . A non-transitory computer program product comprising machine-readable instructions therein, the instructions, upon execution by a computer system, configured to cause the computer system to at least estimate a characteristic that will be imparted to a substrate to be processed by one or more process apparatuses by combining one or more values of one or more contributions to the characteristic by the one or more process apparatuses with one or more values of the characteristic, at least one of the one or more contributions to the characteristic being a first contribution of a chamber of an etch tool configured to etch one or more etchable layers and being a contribution separate from a second contribution to the characteristic by one or more other process apparatuses. 
     
     
         30 . The computer program product of  claim 29 , wherein the characteristic is a geometric asymmetry, critical dimension or a sidewall angle, of a pattern on an etched substrate. 
     
     
         31 . The computer program product of  claim 29 , wherein the instructions are further configured to determine the first contribution from a model having a property of the one or more etchable layers, such as a thickness, as an input. 
     
     
         32 . The computer program product of  claim 29 , wherein the instructions are further configured to determine an adjustment of one or more variables of the etch tool to reduce the first contribution. 
     
     
         33 . The computer program product of  claim 32 , wherein the one or more variables are an operating temperature and/or etching rate. 
     
     
         34 . The computer program product of  claim 29 , wherein the instructions are further configured to determine an adjustment of one or more variables of the chamber of the etch tool to match the second contribution, wherein the second contribution is a contribution from another chamber of the etch tool or a chamber of another etch tool. 
     
     
         35 . The computer program product of  claim 34 , wherein the determined adjustment targets to reduce a deviation of the characteristic from a target value of the characteristic.