Transversal optical singularity induced precision measurement of step-nanostructures

Optical singularities indicate zero-intensity points in space where parameters, such as phase, polarization, are undetermined. Vortex beams such as the Laguerre–Gaussian modes are characterized by a phase factor e^il^θ, and contain a phase singularity in the middle of its beam. In the case of a transversal optical...

Optical singularity assisted method for accurate parameter detection of step-shaped nanostructure in coherent Fourier scatterometry

Accurate determination of the physical parameters of nanostructures from optical far-field scattering is an important and challenging topic in the semiconductor industry. Here, we propose a novel metrology method to determine simultaneously the height and side-wall angle of a step-shaped silicon nanostructure. By employing an optical singular...

Determination of steep sidewall angle using polarization-sensitive asymmetric scattering

The sidewall angle (SWA) of a nanostructure exerts influence on the performance of the nanostructure and plays an important role in processing nano-structural chips. It is still a great challenge to determine steep SWAs from far field measurements especially when the SWAs are close to 90°. Here, we propose a far-field detection system to...