Wafer Inspection Using Free-Form Care Areas
Granted: December 25, 2014
Application Number:
20140376802
Methods and systems for detecting defects on a wafer are provided. One method includes determining characteristics of care areas for a wafer based on wafer patterns. Determining the characteristics includes determining locations of care areas, identifying at least one pattern of interest (POI) in the wafer patterns for each of the care areas, allowing any of the care areas to have a free-form shape, allowing the care areas to be larger than frame images and selecting two or more POIs for…
MULTIPLE ANGLES OF INCIDENCE SEMICONDUCTOR METROLOGY SYSTEMS AND METHODS
Granted: December 25, 2014
Application Number:
20140375981
An apparatus includes (i) a bright light source for providing an illumination beam at multiple wavelengths selectable with a range from a deep ultraviolet wavelength to an infrared wavelength, (ii) illumination optics for directing the illumination beam towards a sample at selectable sets of angles of incidence (AOI's) or azimuth angles (AZ's) and polarization states to provide spectroscopic ellipsometry, wherein the illumination optics include an apodizer for controlling a spot size of…
DETECTION OF THIN LINES FOR SELECTIVE SENSITIVITY DURING RETICLE INSPECTION USING PROCESSED IMAGES
Granted: December 18, 2014
Application Number:
20140369593
A detection method for a spot image based thin line detection is disclosed. The method includes a step for constructing a band limited spot image from a transmitted and reflected optical image of the mask. The spot image is calibrated to reduce noise introduced by the one or more inspection systems. Based on the band limited spot image, a non-printable feature map is generated for the non-printable features and a printable feature map is generated for the printable features. One or more…
CW DUV Laser With Improved Stability
Granted: December 11, 2014
Application Number:
20140362880
A deep ultra-violet (DUV) continuous wave (CW) laser includes a fundamental CW laser configured to generate a fundamental frequency with a corresponding wavelength between about 1 ?m and 1.1 ?m, a third harmonic generator module including one or more periodically poled non-linear optical (NLO) crystals that generate a third harmonic and an optional second harmonic, and one of a fourth harmonic generator module and a fifth harmonic generator. The fourth harmonic generator module includes…
System and Method of SEM Overlay Metrology
Granted: December 4, 2014
Application Number:
20140353498
The present disclosure is directed to a method of performing SEM overlay metrology with scan direction substantially aligned with or parallel to feature placement or patterning of overlay target structures. By scanning target structures in the same or similar direction to the feature placement, blurring at the edges of interest is avoided and a line-to-line or edge-to-edge offset between pattern elements is less susceptible to error from blurring at scanned edges of interest. For…
Using Wafer Geometry to Improve Scanner Correction Effectiveness for Overlay Control
Granted: December 4, 2014
Application Number:
20140353527
Systems and methods for providing improved scanner corrections are disclosed. Scanner corrections provided in accordance with the present disclosure may be referred to as wafer geometry aware scanner corrections. More specifically, wafer geometry and/or wafer shape signature information are utilized to improve scanner corrections. By removing the wafer geometry as one of the error sources that may affect the overlay accuracy, better scanner corrections can be obtained because one less…
APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR FINDING A BEST APERTURE AND MODE TO ENHANCE DEFECT DETECTION
Granted: December 4, 2014
Application Number:
20140354983
Disclosed are methods and apparatus for optimizing a mode of an inspection tool. A first image or signal for each of a plurality of first apertures of the inspection tool is obtained, and each first image or signal pertains to a defect area. For each of a plurality of combinations of the first apertures and their first images or signals, a composite image or signal is obtained. Each composite image or signal is analyzed to determine an optimum one of the combinations of the first…
Method and System for Measuring Heat Flux
Granted: December 4, 2014
Application Number:
20140355643
A heat flux sensor equipped measurement wafer includes a substrate, a cover thermally coupled to a portion of the substrate, a sensor cavity formed between the substrate and the cover, a thermal barrier disposed within at least a portion of the sensor cavity, a bottom temperature sensor thermally coupled to the substrate and insulated from the cover by a portion of the thermal barrier and a top temperature sensor thermally coupled to the cover and insulated from the substrate by an…
Method for Auto-Learning Tool Matching
Granted: December 4, 2014
Application Number:
20140358480
The present disclosure is directed to a method of tool matching that employs an auto-learning feedback loop to update a library of key parameters. According to the method, measurements are performed on a control wafer to collect a set of parameters associated with the process/analysis tool that is being matched. When deviated parameters correlate to a correctable tool condition (i.e. a tool matching event), the parameters are added to the library of key parameters. These key or critical…
MACHINE LEARNING METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INSPECTING RETICLES
Granted: November 20, 2014
Application Number:
20140341462
Apparatus and methods for inspecting a photolithographic reticle are disclosed. A reticle inspection tool is used at one or more operating modes to obtain images of a plurality of training regions of a reticle, and the training regions are identified as defect-free. Three or more basis training images are derived from the images of the training regions. A classifier is formed based on the three or more basis training images. The inspection system is used at the one or more operating…
OBLIQUE ILLUMINATOR FOR INSPECTING MANUFACTURED SUBSTRATES
Granted: October 9, 2014
Application Number:
20140299779
One embodiment relates to an oblique illuminator. The oblique illuminator includes a light source emitting a light beam, a first reflective surface, and a second reflective surface. The first reflective surface has a convex cylindrical shape with a projected parabolic profile along the non-powered direction which is configured to reflect the light beam from the light source and which defines a focal line. The second reflective surface has a concave cylindrical shape with a projected…
APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR DETERMINING DEFECT DEPTHS IN VERTICAL STACK MEMORY
Granted: October 9, 2014
Application Number:
20140300890
Disclosed are methods and apparatus for inspecting a vertical semiconductor stack of a plurality of layers is disclosed. The method includes (a) on a confocal tool, repeatedly focusing an illumination beam at a plurality of focus planes at a plurality of different depths of a first vertical stack, wherein a defect is located at an unknown one of the different depths and the illumination beam has a wavelength range between about 700 nm and about 950 nm, (b) generating a plurality of…
High Accuracy Design Based Classification
Granted: October 9, 2014
Application Number:
20140301629
Systems and methods for classifying defects on a wafer are provided. One method includes dilating an extended bounding box (EBB) surrounding a defect position on a wafer in two dimensions in proportion to a width and height of a pattern of interest (POI) for a hot spot closest to the defect position. The method also includes determining if polygons in the POI match polygons in the dilated bounding box. If the polygons in the POI do not match the polygons in the dilated bounding box, the…
Adaptive Sampling for Semiconductor Inspection Recipe Creation, Defect Review, and Metrology
Granted: October 9, 2014
Application Number:
20140301630
Methods and systems for adaptive sampling for semiconductor inspection recipe creation, defect review, and metrology are provided. The embodiments provide image processing and pattern recognition algorithms and an adaptive sampling method for extracting critical areas from SEM image patches for use in a wafer inspection system when design data for a semiconductor chip is not available. The embodiments also provide image processing and pattern recognition algorithms for efficiently…
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR THE AUTOMATIC DETERMINATION OF CRITICAL PARAMETRIC ELECTRICAL TEST PARAMETERS FOR INLINE YIELD MONITORING
Granted: October 9, 2014
Application Number:
20140303912
Inline yield monitoring may include the use of one or more modules of algorithmic software. Inline yield monitoring may include the use of two related algorithmic software modules such as a learning and a prediction module. The learning module may learn critical PET (parametric electrical test) parameters from data of probe electrical test yields and PET attribute values. The critical PET parameters may best separate outliers and inliers in the yield data. The prediction module may use…
DYNAMIC DESIGN ATTRIBUTES FOR WAFER INSPECTION
Granted: October 9, 2014
Application Number:
20140303921
Methods and systems for dynamic design attributes for wafer inspection are provided. One method includes, at run time of a wafer inspection recipe, prompting a user of a wafer inspection tool on which the wafer inspection recipe is performed for information for a design based binning (DBB) process. The information includes one or more formulae for calculating design attributes from a design for a wafer. The design attributes are used to bin the defects in the DBB process. The method also…
Photomultiplier Tube, Image Sensor, And an Inspection System Using A PMT Or Image Sensor
Granted: October 2, 2014
Application Number:
20140291493
A photomultiplier tube includes a semiconductor photocathode and a photodiode. Notably, the photodiode includes a p-doped semiconductor layer, an n-doped semiconductor layer formed on a first surface of the p-doped semiconductor layer to form a diode, and a pure boron layer formed on a second surface of the p-doped semiconductor layer. A gap between the semiconductor photocathode and the photodiode may be less than about 1 mm or less than about 500 ?m. The semiconductor photocathode may…
STATISTICAL MODEL-BASED METROLOGY
Granted: October 2, 2014
Application Number:
20140297211
Methods and systems for creating a measurement model based on measured training data are presented. The trained measurement model is used to calculate process parameter values, structure parameter values, or both, directly from measured data collected from other wafers. The measurement models receive measurement data directly as input and provide process parameter values, structure parameter values, or both, as output. The measurement model enables the direct measurement of process…
Wafer Shape and Thickness Measurement System Utilizing Shearing Interferometers
Granted: October 2, 2014
Application Number:
20140293291
Interferometer systems and methods for measurement of shapes as well as their derivatives and thickness variations of wafers are disclosed. More specifically, shearing interferometry techniques are utilized in such measurement systems. The output of the measurement systems can be utilized to determine at least one of: a surface slope, a surface curvature, a surface height, a shape, and a thickness variation of the wafers.
Method and System for Controlling Convective Flow in a Light-Sustained Plasma
Granted: October 2, 2014
Application Number:
20140291546
A system for controlling convective flow in a light-sustained plasma includes an illumination source configured to generate illumination, a plasma cell including a bulb for containing a volume of gas, a collector element arranged to focus illumination from the illumination source into the volume of gas in order to generate a plasma within the volume of gas contained within the bulb. Further, the plasma cell is disposed within a concave region of the collector element, where the collector…
