Phase retrieval of the full vectorial field applied to coherent Fourier scatterometry

Abstract

Coherent Fourier scatterometry is an optical metrology technique that utilizes the measured intensity of the scattered optical field to reconstruct certain parameters of test structures written on a wafer with nano-scale accuracy. The intensity of the scattered field is recorded with a camera and this information is used to retrieve the grating parameters. To improve sensitivity in the parameter reconstruction, the phase of the scattered field can also be acquired. Interferometry can be used for this purpose, but with the cost of cumbersomeness. In this paper, we show that iterative phase retrieval methods can be applied to retrieve the scattered complex fields from only intensity measurement data. We show that the accuracy of the retrieved complex fields using phase retrieval is comparable to that measured directly using interferometry.