A methodology for extracting unknown integrated circuit process parameters

This paper describes a new methodology to extract unknown integration technology parameters, such as doping concentrations and profiles, useful for accurate circuit and device simulation. The method resorts to a numerical method and to a set of simple physical simulations and simple measurements, of a very basic test structure, to compute a good estimate of the unknown process parameters. The method is presented through an example, where the analysis and formulation of the estimation problem is described. The impact of simulation and measurement uncertainties on the problem formulation is also addressed. An integrated circuit containing simple test structures was fabricated and preliminary results for the estimate show a close agreement between simulation and measurement results.