System, method and computer program product for object examination

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10408764-B2
Application number	US-201715703937-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 13, 2017
Priority date	Sep 13, 2017
Publication date	Sep 10, 2019
Grant date	Sep 10, 2019

Abstract

Examination system, method and computer-readable medium, the method comprising: processing by a processor using a first recipe at least one image comprised in images and metadata generated by an inspection tool and stored, to detect a first location set of first potential defects and attributes thereof; selecting and imaging part of the first location set with a review tool to obtain an image set; obtaining classification results of said first potential defects and determining a further recipe based thereon; processing the image using the further recipe for detecting a further location set of further defects; selecting part of the further location set; imaging the part with the review tool to obtain a further image set, and obtaining further classification results; and repeating determining the further recipe, processing the image, selecting and imaging part of the further location set, and obtaining further classification results, until a stopping criteria is met.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An examination system comprising:
a defect detection system comprising a processing and memory circuitry (PMC) and to receive inspection data comprising at least one inspection image informative of potential defects of an object; and
a review tool to review at least part of the potential defects, wherein the PMC is to:
upon accommodation in a memory of the received inspection data, process the at least one inspection image using a first recipe to detect a first set of locations of first potential defects and attributes thereof;
select at least part of the first set of locations and image the selected at least part of the first set of locations with the review tool to obtain a first set of review images;
based on the first set of review images, obtain first classification results informative of classification of at least part of the first potential defects corresponding to the selected at least part of the first set of locations;
determine a further recipe using the first classification results;
process the at least one inspection image using the further recipe to detect a further set of locations of further potential defects and attributes thereof, wherein the further set of locations does not include a location from a previous set of locations associated with the at least one inspection image that includes potential defects that have been classified;
select at least part of the further set of locations and image the selected at least part of the further set of locations with the review tool to obtain a further set of review images;
based on the further set of review images, obtain further classification results informative of classification of at least part of the further potential defects corresponding to the selected at least part of the further set of locations; and
repeat until an examination stopping criteria is met: determining a next further recipe, processing the at least one inspection image to detect a next further set of locations of a next further potential defects and attributes thereof, selecting at least part of the next further set of locations, imaging the at least part of the next further set of locations, and obtaining next further classification results.

2. The examination system of claim 1 , wherein detecting the further set of locations comprises:
segmenting the at least one image into segments in accordance with noise levels within each of the segments;
determining a grade for elements within the segments, the grade being indicative of a chance of each element to contain a defect; and
detecting the further potential defects from elements within the segments in accordance with a threshold.

3. The examination system of claim 1 , wherein an inspection tool providing the inspection data and the review tool are one examination tool operated at different modes.

4. The examination system of claim 1 , wherein the PMC is a part of an inspection tool providing the inspection data.

5. The examination system of claim 1 , wherein the PMC is a part of the review tool.

6. The examination system of claim 1 , wherein the PMC is separate from the review tool.

7. A method of examining an object using a processor operatively connected to a memory, the method comprising:
processing, by the processor, at least one image by using a first recipe to detect a first set of locations of first potential defects and attributes thereof, the at least one image comprised in inspection data generated by an inspection tool and stored in the memory;
selecting, by the processor, at least part of the first set of locations and imaging by a review tool the selected at least part of the first set of locations with the review tool to obtain a first set of review images;
based on the first set of review images, obtaining, by the processor, first classification results informative of classification of at least part of the first potential defects corresponding to the selected at least part of the first set of locations;
determining, by the processor, a further recipe using the first classification results;
processing, by the processor, the at least one image using the further recipe to detect a further set of locations of further potential defects and attributes thereof, wherein the further set of locations does not include a location from a previous set of locations associated with the at least one image that includes potential defects that have been classified;
selecting, by the processor, at least part of the further set of locations and imaging by the review tool the selected at least part of the further set of locations with a review tool to obtain a further set of review images;
based on the further set of review images, obtaining, by the processor, further classification results informative of classification of at least part of the further potential defects corresponding to the selected at least part of the further set of locations; and
repeating until an examination stopping criteria is met: determining, by the processor, a next further recipe, processing the at least one image to detect a next further set of locations of a next further potential defects and attributes thereof, selecting at least part of the next further set of locations, imaging the at least part of the next further set of locations, and obtaining next further classification results.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein detecting the further set of locations comprises:
segmenting the at least one image into segments in accordance with noise levels within each of the segments;
determining a grade for elements within the segments, the grade being indicative of a chance of each element to contain a defect; and
detecting the further potential defects from elements within the segments in accordance with a threshold.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein at least one element is selected from one or more of: a pixel; a group of pixels; a feature and a geometrical area.

10. The method of claim 7 , further comprising repeating until a selection stopping criteria is met: selecting at least part of the further set of locations and obtaining further classification results.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the selection stopping criteria is selected from one or more of: all further set of locations have been reviewed, and a representative selection from the further set of locations has been reviewed.

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein the examination stopping criteria is selected from one or more of: time allotted for examination is over, a number of review operations has reached a threshold, a number of true defects determined has reached a predetermined threshold, and a number of true defects determined on a previous one or more collections has decreased below a predetermined threshold.

13. The method of claim 7 , wherein the classification is into a true defect or a non-defect.

14. The method of claim 7 , wherein the classification is into a severe defect, a non-severe defect, a nuisance, or a false alarm.

15. The method of claim 7 , wherein obtaining the further recipe uses classification results obtained with any previous recipe.

16. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
processing, by the processor, at least one image by using a first recipe to detect a first set of locations of first potential defects and attributes thereof, the at least one image comprised in inspection data generated by an inspection tool and stored in the memory;
selecting, by the processor, at least part of th

Assignees

• Applied Materials Israel Ltd

Inventors

• Shabtay Saar
• Amzaleg Moshe
• Goren Zvi

Classifications

• G01N2021/8867

  using sequentially two or more inspection runs, e.g. coarse and fine, or detecting then analysing · CPC title

• G06T2207/30148

  Semiconductor; IC; Wafer · CPC title

• G06T2207/10061

  from scanning electron microscope · CPC title

• G06T7/0006

  using a design-rule based approach · CPC title

• G01N21/8851 Primary

  Scan or image signal processing specially adapted therefor, e.g. for scan signal adjustment, for detecting different kinds of defects, for compensating for structures, markings, edges (G01N21/8806 and G01N21/93 - G01N21/95692 take precedence; optical measurement of dimensions G01B11/00; optical scanning G02B26/10; image transformation G06T3/00; computerised image enhancement G06T5/00; image processing per se for flaw detection G06T7/0002) · CPC title