Process controls for improved wafer uniformity using integrated or standalone metrology

摘要

A method and apparatus is provided for measuring multiple locations on a wafer for controlling a subsequent semiconductor processing step to achieve greater dimensional uniformity across that wafer. The method and apparatus maps a dimension of a feature at multiple locations to create a dimension map, transforms the dimension map into a processing parameter map, and uses the processing parameter map to tailor the subsequent processing step to that specific wafer. The wafer can also be measured after the processing to compare an actual outcome with the targeted outcome, and the difference can be used to refine the transformation from a dimension map to a processing parameter map for a subsequent wafer.