Full-wafer mapping and response surface modeling techniques for thin film deposition processes

• Published in: Journal of crystal growth 2009-06, Vol.311 (13), p.3399-3408
• Main Authors: León, María del Pilar, Adomaitis, Raymond A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: A1. Computer simulation; A1. Growth models; A1. Metrology; A3. Chemical vapor deposition processes; Chemical vapor deposition (including plasma-enhanced cvd, mocvd, etc.); Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Exact sciences and technology; Materials science; Methods of deposition of films and coatings; film growth and epitaxy; Physics
• ISSN: 0022-0248; 1873-5002
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jcrysgro.2009.02.032

Computational techniques for representing and analyzing full-wafer metrology data are developed for chemical vapor deposition and other thin-film processing applications. Spatially resolved measurement data are used to produce “virtual wafers” that are subsequently used to create response surface models for predicting the full-wafer thickness, composition, or any other property profile as a function of processing parameters. Statistical analysis tools are developed to assess model prediction accuracy and to compare the relative accuracies of different models created from the same wafer data set. Examples illustrating the use of these techniques for film property uniformity optimization and for creating intentional film-property spatial gradients for combinatorial CVD applications are presented.