There is provided a film thickness measurement method which measures a film thickness of a specific film to be measured in a multilayer film in situ in a film formation system that forms the multilayer film on a substrate, the method comprising: regarding a plurality of films located under the film to be measured as one underlayer film, measuring a film thickness of the underlayer film, and deriving an optical constant of the underlayer film by spectroscopic interferometry; and after the film to be measured is formed, deriving a film thickness of the film to be measured by spectroscopic interferometry using the film thickness and the optical constant of the underlayer film.

First, it is judged whether the diamond film is the single-crystal diamond film or the polycrystalline diamond film according to ellipsometric spectrum data and absorption spectrum data, and different calculation methods are selected to obtain the optical constants and the thickness of the diamond film according to spectral data (e.g., the ellipsometric spectrum data and the absorption spectrum data). Additionally, in the single-crystal diamond film, the optical constants and the thickness of the diamond film are obtained through calculation using the Cauchy model. In the polycrystalline diamond film, the spectral region is selected, and the optical constants and the thickness of the diamond film are obtained through calculation according to the oscillator model and the evaluation function MSE.

A system includes a reflector attached to a liner of a processing chamber. A light coupling device is to transmit light, from a light source, through a window of the processing chamber directed at the reflector. The light coupling device focuses, into a spectrometer, light received reflected back from the reflector along an optical path through the processing chamber and the window. The spectrometer detects, within the focused light, a first spectrum representative of a deposited film layer on the reflector using reflectometry. An alignment device aligns, in two dimensions, the light coupling device with the reflector until maximization of the focused light received by the light coupling device.

Various embodiments set forth techniques for characterizing films on optically clear substrates using ellipsometry. In some embodiments, a spectroscopic ellipsometer is configured to generate a light beam that has a relatively small spot size and is substantially absorbed by an optically clear substrate, thereby reducing or eliminating reflections from an interface between the substrate and air. Optical simulations can be performed to determine values for various parameters associated with the ellipsometer that minimize the reflections from the interface between the substrate and air and maximize reflections from an interface between a film and the substrate. In addition, graded films that include multiple layers can be analyzed using models of multiple layers.

A spectroscopic ellipsometry system and method for thin film measurement with high spatial resolution. The system includes a rotating compensator so that spectroscopic ellipsometric and imaging ellipsometric data are collected simultaneously with the same measurement beam. Collecting both ellipsometric data sets simultaneously increases the information content for analysis and affords a substantial increase in measurement performance.

Techniques and systems for critical dimension metrology are disclosed. Critical parameters can be constrained with at least one floating parameter and one or more weight coefficients. A neural network is trained to use a model that includes a Jacobian matrix. During training, at least one of the weight coefficients is adjusted, a regression is performed on reference spectra, and a root-mean-square error between the critical parameters and the reference spectra is determined. The training may be repeated until the root-mean-square error is less than a convergence threshold.

According to one embodiment, there is provided a measuring apparatus including a measurement section and a control section. The measurement section is configured to acquire a response from a sample. The control section is configured to compare a loading obtained by performing principal component analysis in advance with a first evaluation-use loading obtained by performing principal component analysis onto the response acquired from the sample, and to generate a first reliability index for measurement using principal component analysis, in accordance with a comparison result.

An optical property evaluation apparatus evaluates an optical property of an evaluation object, and includes a light source, a polarization beam splitter, a polarization adjuster, a first detector, a second detector, and an analyzer. The analyzer obtains a reflectance when linearly polarized light in a specific direction is incident on the evaluation object based on the detection result by the first detector when the light with which the evaluation object is irradiated is set to be the linearly polarized light in the specific direction. The analyzer obtains a phase property at the reflection of the evaluation object based on the detection result by the first detector or the second detector when the light with which the evaluation object is irradiated is set to have a polarization state different from the linearly polarized light in the specific direction, and a Jones matrix.

The present invention relates to a normal incidence ellipsometer and a method for measuring the optical properties of a sample by using same. The purpose of the present invention is to provide: a normal incidence ellipsometer in which a wavelength-dependent compensator is replaced with a wavelength-independent linear polarizer such that equipment calibration procedures are simplified while a measurement wavelength range expansion can be easily implemented; and a method for measuring the optical properties of a sample by using same.

Methods and systems for measuring optical properties of transistor channel structures and linking the optical properties to the state of strain are presented herein. Optical scatterometry measurements of strain are performed on metrology targets that closely mimic partially manufactured, real device structures. In one aspect, optical scatterometry is employed to measure uniaxial strain in a semiconductor channel based on differences in measured spectra along and across the semiconductor channel. In a further aspect, the effect of strain on measured spectra is decorrelated from other contributors, such as the geometry and material properties of structures captured in the measurement. In another aspect, measurements are performed on a metrology target pair including a strained metrology target and a corresponding unstrained metrology target to resolve the geometry of the metrology target under measurement and to provide a reference for the estimation of the absolute value of strain.