High-resolution and nondestructive profile measurement by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography with a visible broadband light source for optical-device fabrication

We developed a spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) using a visible broadband light source (vis-OCT) for application to high-resolution and nondestructive profile measurement and imaging in semiconductor optical-device fabrication. By using visible broadband light centered at 625 nm and with spectral bandwidth of 260 nm, an axial resolution of 0.69 mu m in air was obtained. This was effective for inspection of a transparent photoresist film with thickness of 1-2 mu m coated on a semiconductor wafer; the interface between the photoresist film and its substrate and the interface between the photoresist and air were resolved, and the film thickness was measured. In addition, the interface between an opaque epitaxially grown semiconductor layer (Al0.35Ga0.65As) and a GaAs substrate was also detected by vis-OCT. Here we propose a thickness-measurement technique that combines finite-difference time-domain simulation with vis-OCT. This method enables us to determine the thickness of even an optically absorbent epitaxial layer and offers a profile-measurement method that is particularly suitable for the fabrication of semiconductor optical devices. (C) 2016 The Japan Society of Applied Physics