Mr. Merritt L. Funk Profile

Merritt L. Funk

Member of Technical Staff

SPIE Involvement:

Author

Proceedings Article | 24 March 2009 Paper

Increased uniformity control in a 45nm polysilicon gate etch process

Blake Parkinson, Dan Prager, Merritt Funk, Radha Sundararajan, Asao Yamashita, Kenneth Bandy, Eric Meyette

Proceedings Volume 7272, 72721J (2009) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.816095

KEYWORDS: Critical dimension metrology, Etching, Semiconducting wafers, Lithography, Process control, Diffractive optical elements, Data centers, Control systems, Data modeling, Process modeling

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Proceedings Article | 22 March 2008 Paper

Advanced profile control and the impact of sidewall angle at gate etch for critical nodes

Hyung Lee, Alok Ranjan, Dan Prager, Kenneth Bandy, Eric Meyette, Radha Sundararajan, Anita Viswanathan, Asao Yamashita, Merritt Funk

Proceedings Volume 6922, 69220T (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.774962

KEYWORDS: Etching, Critical dimension metrology, Control systems, Semiconducting wafers, Process control, Scatterometry, Metrology, Diffractive optical elements, Mathematical modeling, Oxygen

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Proceedings Article | 24 March 2006 Paper

Integrated scatterometry in high-volume manufacturing for polysilicon gate etch control

Matthew Sendelbach, Andres Munoz, Kenneth Bandy, Dan Prager, Merritt Funk

Proceedings Volume 6152, 61520F (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.659946

KEYWORDS: Semiconducting wafers, Scatterometry, Etching, Scatter measurement, Control systems, Process control, Metrology, Error analysis, Critical dimension metrology, Feedback control

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Proceedings Article | 24 May 2004 Paper

Feedforward of mask open measurements on an integrated scatterometer to improve gate linewidth control

Matthew Sendelbach, Wesley Natzle, Charles Archie, Bill Banke, Dan Prager, Dan Engelhard, Jason Ferns, Asao Yamashita, Merritt Funk, Fumihiko Higuchi, Masayuki Tomoyasu

Proceedings Volume 5375, (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.537969

KEYWORDS: Semiconducting wafers, Etching, Critical dimension metrology, Calibration, Metrology, Control systems, Photomasks, Silver, Error analysis, Silicon

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Proceedings Article | 12 July 2002 Paper

Common APC architecture for 200- and 300-mm etch

Merritt Funk, Kevin Lally, Radha Sundararajan

Proceedings Volume 4692, (2002) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.475652

KEYWORDS: Semiconducting wafers, Process control, Manufacturing, Etching, Process modeling, Metrology, Sensors, Manufacturing equipment, Instrument modeling, Data modeling

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New 300mm facilities are decreasing start-up risks by developing new processes on 200mm equipment and transferring the process and manufacturing methods to the 300mm line. 200mm factories have stable processes, equipment and manufacturing methods. Leveraging a common Advanced Process Control (APC) architecture, both semiconductor manufacturers and equipment manufacturers have the ability to extend 200mm equipment capability, and transfer successful APC methods direct. Having a common tool-level APC on both 200mm and 300mm etch equipment, has proven valuable for TEL. Starting with fault detection and process control on 200mm equipment provides for rapid learning and qualification of the APC architecture and interfaces. When transferring the process and manufacturing methods that include APC to 300mm equipment, factories can efficiently ramp up new processes, and focus efforts in areas of high risk that need integrated fault detection. Etch process equipment provides the ultimate challenge due to the lack of physical process models. This requires extensive measurements of equipment and plasma state, followed by the development of empirical models to correlate equipment related state to the process state. The etch process requires chambers to be cleaned and consumable parts replaced, adding a large variable that must be included to make the models robust in high-volume manufacturing. Optimum productivity requires multiplexing 3 or 4 chambers running the same process. Chambers must produce matched process results, while allowing different clean cycles for flexibility of maintenance. Multivariate analysis, relating the equipment and plasma state to the wafer state, is required. A strategy that includes 200mm equipment in parallel with 300mm development supports customer legacy equipment improvements while providing a platform for 300mm APC applications that will extend pas current 200mm tool capability as new processes and manufacturing methods are developed. TEL's Etch APC product allows for equipment integration of real-time data, events, external sensors, and integrated metrology.

Conference Committee Involvement (4)

Data Analysis and Modeling for Patterning Control III

23 February 2006 | San Jose, California, United States

Data Analysis and Modeling for Process Control II

3 March 2005 | San Jose, California, United States

Data Analysis and Modeling for Process Control

26 February 2004 | Santa Clara, California, United States

Advanced Process Control and Automation

27 February 2003 | Santa Clara, CA, United States

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