TSINGHUA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

ISSNll1007-0214ll15/17llpp347-351
Volume 15, Number 3, June 2010

Testing Structure for Detection of Poly Stringer Defects

in CMOS ICs*

HU Xiong (胡 雄), PAN Weiwei (潘伟伟), SHI Zheng (史 峥)**,

YAN Xiaolang (严晓浪), MA Tiezhong (马铁中)

Institute of VLSI Design, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China

Abstract: A testing structure was developed to more effectively detect the poly stringer defects in contem-
porary CMOS ICs. This structure is much more sensitive to poly stringer defects and is closer to the real
product layout than the currently widely used structure using an active dummy underneath a poly comb.
Many testing structure pieces manufactured in a 0.11 μm copper process line were used to compare the
current design with the conventional testing structure. The data shows that the new structure more efficiently
detects poly stringers. The results also show that the poly stringers are related to the shallow trench isola-
tion (STI) width. This structure can be used to identify new designs for manufacturing rules for the active
space. Thus, this method is very useful for IC foundries to detect poly stringers and to characterize the
processing line capability and tune the process recipe to improve product yields.

Key words: poly stringer; CMOS testing; shallow trench isolation (STI)

shorts between two different poly layers for a capacitor

Introduction structure[4].
Poly stringer defects have three forms, STI seams,
Shallow trench isolation (STI) was introduced into the
STI heights, and STI divots, as illustrated in Figs. 1, 2,
semiconductor manufacturing process because of its
and 3. The occurrence of STI seams is layout depend-
near zero field encroachment, better planarity, latch-up
ent, mainly due to the STI width to STI depth ratio (i.e.,
immunity, and low junction capacitance[1]. However,
the aspect ratio). The problem can be further compli-
many undesired byproducts also were created. For
cated by processing conditions such as STI trench
example, Wang et al.[2] described the edge effect and
etching profiles, gap filling, and poly etching. An STI
Liu et al.[3] described the inverse narrow width effect in
height type stringer is mainly caused by the STI
STI processes. Another important byproduct, the poly
chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) processes for
stringer defect, can cause shortening of neighboring
different STIs and different active densities[5]. An iso-
lines by poly residues, resulting in low yields of
lated STI trench may have a dishing area, which is an
CMOS IC products. The problem is getting worse with
STI height lower than the active level; while for high
scaling to deep sub-micron and nanometer scale proc-
density structures, the STI height may be higher than
esses. One example of poly stringer defects is poly
the active level. In both cases, poly residue may be left
Received: 2009-11-22; revised: 2010-04-14 on the side of the STI trench, shorting two neighboring
* Supported by the Important National Science & Technology Spe- poly lines. The problem can be complicated by CMP
cific Projects (No. 2008ZX01035-001) non-uniformities such as center-edge differences and
** To whom correspondence should be addressed. STI oxide etching back depths.
E-mail: shiz@vlsi.zju.edu.cn; Tel: 86-571-87952485

 
 348 Tsinghua Science and Technology, June 2010, 15(3): 347-351

Fig. 1 STI seam Fig. 2 STI height Fig. 3 STI divot

STI divots, a well known phenomenon for STI

processes, is mainly caused by the wet dip process af-
ter the STI CMP but before the poly deposition. The
poly height in the divot area is greater than in other
areas. As a result, the poly of the divot slope may still
remain as residue after the other poly has been com-
pletely removed[6,7], causing two poly lines to be short.
The optimization of processing recipes for STI
trench filling, CMP, poly etching, and other issues is
crucial to a stringer-free process. The challenging part
is to efficiently detect poly stringers for a given manu-
facturing process to enable the process engineers to
tune the process conditions so as to reduce poly
stringer defects.
At present, the commonly used structure to detect a
poly stringer is an active dummy underneath a poly
comb[8], as shown in Fig. 4. However, there are several
shortcomings with this structure. First, the STI height
cannot be simulated perfectly because of the low active
density. Since the spacing between two active lines
cannot be too narrow, the density of active lines cannot
be high enough to accurately simulate the STI height. Fig. 4 Poly comb with active dummy
Second, the layout for this structure does not accu-
rately mimick the real product layout since the product
1 Test Structure
layout rarely has long active bars. Actually, most active A new structure for detecting poly stringers is shown in
areas underneath poly lines are small but extend in two Fig. 5. The basic unit of the structure is two poly lines
dimensions to form short active bars, C shapes, H crossing the active ring. The parameters associated
shapes or other shapes. From a manufacturing point of with the structures are AASpace, AACombSpace, and
view, poly stringer defects are relatively easy to elimi- combSpace, and a few others to define the active ring.
nate from structures with long straight active bars. Figure 6 illustrates part of a basic cell of a typical
Simple tests can show that products suffering signifi- DRAM[9] bit with an active ring. Other types of 2-D
cant yield loss due to poly stringers will show nearly layouts such as the C shape or H shape can be found in
perfect yield with conventional testing. Therefore, a standard cell libraries. The new basic cell structure
new structure is needed to more effectively detect poly shown in Fig. 4 is complex yet flexible enough to
stringer defects. replicate the basic shapes often seen in real products.

 
 HU Xiong (胡 雄) et al.：Testing Structure for Detection of Poly Stringer Defects in CMOS ICs 349

A large leakage current suggests that the poly lines are

shorted, which further implies a poly stringer in the
structure.
Poly stringers were identified as a significant factor
affecting product yield in this process line. Additional
STI, CMP, and poly etching process splits were then
used to optimize the process recipe. The two types of
testing structures were also benchmarked for various
STI.

2 Result and Discussion

Both the new and conventional structures were tested
at the wafer level to compare their effectiveness of
poly stringer detection and to identify the main reasons
for poly stringers in each process.
Each wafer had 202 dies with 240 instances on each
die with different structure parameters. A total of 4
wafers were produced. The yields for the two types of
testing structures are shown in Figs. 7 and 8.
Fig. 5 New test structure

Fig. 6 Basic cell for one type of DRAM

By assigning different values to the structure pa-

rameters, all three types of poly stringers can be simu-
lated in the testing structure layout. For example, Fig. 7 Structure yield of conventional structures
AACombSpace, AASpace, and the active width can be
For the conventional testing structure is Fig. 7, al-
properly chosen to simulate the active and STI density
most all the die yields are higher than 50%, with the
so that the STI height type of the poly stringer can be
highest exceeding 95% near the center. However, the
characterized. AASpace can be changed to characterize
new testing structure in Fig. 8 shows die structure
the STI seam type of poly stringer. STI divots which
yields of less than 90%, with yields between 42% and
always occur in the STI process and are more related
68% for the edge dies. The two wafer yield maps
to the process recipe instead of the layout, can also be
clearly demonstrate that the yield with the new testing
detected by this structure.
structure is significantly lower than that of the conven-
These structures and conventional structures were
tional structure. This shows that the new structure is
manufactured together on a 0.11 μm copper process
more sensitive to poly stringers than the conventional
line with the current leakage between two poly comb
structure.
pins measured after applying a voltage to the two pins.

 
 350
Fig. 8 Structure yield of new structures
The six data curves in Figs. 9-11 were then divulged
to analyze the relationship between the yield data and
the structure parameters. Figure 9 shows that when
AASpace and combSpace are fixed, the new struc-
ture’s yield increases only slightly as AACombSpace is
increased; thus, AACombSpace has little influence on
the structure yield and is not the main factor causing
the poly stringers.
Fig. 9 Yield for AACombSpace of the new structure
for 6464 structures
Fig. 10 Yield for combSpace of both structures for
AASpace=0.2 for 13 332 structures
Tsinghua Science and Technology, June 2010, 15(3): 347-351
Fig. 11 Yield for AASpace of both structures for
35 360 structures
The results in Fig. 10 show the same result for varia-
tion of the spacing parameter combSpace in both the
new and conventional testing structures.
The yields for variation of AASpace are shown in
Fig. 11 for both structures. As AASpace increases from
about 0.18 μm to 0.24 μm, the yields for both struc-
tures increase significantly — from 10% to 89% for
the new structure and from 55% to 91% for the con-
ventional structure; thus, AASpace is the main factor
affecting the poly stringers. Since AASpace is the
width of the STI, the STI width strongly influences the
poly stringers. Furthermore, the yields for new struc-
ture are lower than for the conventional structure for
all conditions, especially when STI is not wide. For
example, when AASpace is 0.18 μm, the yield of the
conventional structure is nearly 55% compared to 10%
for the new structure; but when AASpace is 0.24 μm,
the yields for both structures are about 90%. Thus
the results in Fig. 11 show that the new structure is
more sensitive to poly stringers than the conventional
structure.
Therefore, the new structure can simulate all three
types of poly stringers. For example, when AASpace is
small, the STI density is low and STI seams occur.
When AASpace is large, the STI density is high and
STI heights therefore occur. In the conventional testing
structure, even if the STI is quite narrow, the STI den-
sity is not low enough to simulate STI seams. In addi-
tion, the new structure’s more complex cell shape is
closer to the C shape or the H shape in real products;
therefore, it can simulate real products and more easily
cause poly stringers to occur.
3 Conclusions
This paper describes an effective poly stringers testing
 HU Xiong (胡 雄) et al.：Testing Structure for Detection of Poly Stringer Defects in CMOS ICs
structure to detect poly stringer defects. This structure
has three main advantages compared to the currently
used testing structure with an active dummy under-
neath a poly comb:
(1) closer to the real product design;
(2) more sensitive to poly stringers; and
(3) able to simulate all three types of poly stringers.
A yield analysis of structures created using a
0.11 μm copper process showed that the STI width is
the main reason for poly stringers. This testing struc-
ture can be used by IC foundries to detect poly string-
ers and to find the main causes of these defects. These
can be used to derive new DFM rules for the active
space in addition to characterizing its processing line’s
capability to further improve product yield.
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