Charged particle beam apparatus and charged particle beam inspection system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11043359-B2
Application number	US-202016920927-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 6, 2020
Priority date	Aug 8, 2019
Publication date	Jun 22, 2021
Grant date	Jun 22, 2021

Abstract

Provided are a charged particle beam apparatus and a charged particle beam inspection system capable of estimating electrical characteristics of a sample including capacitance characteristics. The charged particle beam apparatus estimates electrical characteristics of the sample using the correspondence data representing the correspondence between the node of the netlist and the coordinate on the sample and the pulsing condition when the sample is irradiated with the charged particle beam in a pulsed manner. The charged particle beam optical system irradiates a predetermined coordinate on the sample with a charged particle beam based on a pulsing condition, and the detector actually measures an emission amount of electrons. The emission amount calculation unit calculates, for the node on the netlist corresponding to a predetermined coordinate, an emission amount of electrons according to a temporal change in a charged state accompanying the irradiation of the charged particle beam based on the pulsing condition. The comparator compares a measurement result by the detector with a calculation result by the emission amount calculation unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A charged particle beam apparatus that estimates electrical characteristics of a sample using a netlist representing an equivalent circuit of a device structure of the sample, correspondence data representing a correspondence between a node of the netlist and a coordinate on the sample, and pulsing condition data that defines a pulsing condition when irradiating the sample with a charged particle beam in a pulsed manner, the charged particle beam apparatus comprising:
a charged particle beam optical system that irradiates a predetermined coordinate on the sample with a charged particle beam based on the pulsing condition;
a detector that actually measures an emission amount of electrons according to the irradiation of the charged particle beam by the charged particle beam optical system;
an emission amount calculation unit that calculates, for the node on the netlist corresponding to the predetermined coordinate, an emission amount of electrons according to a temporal change in a charged state accompanying the irradiation of the charged particle beam based on the pulsing condition; and
a comparator that compares an actual measurement result by the detector with a calculation result by the emission amount calculation unit.

2. The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the netlist includes a plurality of netlists including a netlist of a normal structure and a netlist of a defect structure reflecting a predetermined defect, and
the emission amount calculation unit calculates the emission amount of electrons while changing the plurality of netlists and element parameter values included in the plurality of netlists.

3. The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the emission amount calculation unit calculates the emission amount of electrons using an electron emission model based on a charged particle beam scattering simulation.

4. The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the pulsing condition data defines a plurality of pulsing conditions in which an ON pulse period or a duty ratio is different,
the charged particle beam optical system emits a charged particle beam for each of the plurality of pulsing conditions,
the detector actually measures an emission amount of electrons for each of the plurality of pulsing conditions,
the emission amount calculation unit calculates an emission amount of electrons for each of the plurality of pulsing conditions under a condition that the charged particle beam is irradiated for each of the plurality of pulsing conditions, and
the comparator compares an actual measurement result of each of the plurality of pulsing conditions by the detector with a calculation result of each of the plurality of pulsing conditions by the emission amount calculation unit.

5. The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the emission amount calculation unit calculates, for the node on the netlist, a value proportional to a sum of emission amounts of electrons obtained for each of a plurality of irradiations of a charged particle beam in a pulsed manner based on the pulsing condition.

6. A charged particle beam inspection system comprising:
a charged particle beam apparatus that estimates electrical characteristics of a sample using a netlist representing an equivalent circuit of a device structure of the sample, correspondence data representing a correspondence between a node of the netlist and a coordinate on the sample, and pulsing condition data that defines a pulsing condition when irradiating the sample with a charged particle beam in a pulsed manner; and
a computer that creates a learned network database, wherein
the charged particle beam apparatus includes
a charged particle beam optical system that irradiates a predetermined coordinate on the sample with a charged particle beam based on the pulsing condition,
a detector that actually measures an emission amount of electrons according to the irradiation of the charged particle beam by the charged particle beam optical system,
an emission amount calculation unit that calculates, for the node on the netlist corresponding to the predetermined coordinate, an emission amount of electrons according to a temporal change in a charged state accompanying the irradiation of the charged particle beam based on the pulsing condition while changing an element parameter value included in the netlist, and
a comparator that compares an actual measurement result by the detector with a calculation result by the emission amount calculation unit,

the computer learns a correspondence among the pulsing condition, the actual measurement result by the detector, and the netlist by using artificial intelligence, and registers a neural network representing the learned correspondence in a learned network database, and
the emission amount calculation unit refers to the learned network database using the pulsing condition and the actual measurement result by the detector to obtain a netlist used in the calculation.

7. The charged particle beam inspection system according to claim 6 , further comprising:
a cross section observation apparatus that observes a cross section structure of the sample when a matching comparison result is not obtained by the comparator, wherein
the computer creates a new netlist based on an observation result of the cross section observation apparatus, and learns a correspondence among the created netlist, the pulsing condition, and the actual measurement result by the detector to the neural network.

8. The charged particle beam inspection system according to claim 6 , wherein
the emission amount calculation unit calculates the emission amount of electrons using an electron emission model based on a charged particle beam scattering simulation.

9. The charged particle beam inspection system according to claim 6 , wherein
the pulsing condition data defines a plurality of pulsing conditions in which an ON pulse period or a duty ratio is different,
the charged particle beam optical system emits a charged particle beam for each of the plurality of pulsing conditions,
the detector actually measures an emission amount of electrons for each of the plurality of pulsing conditions,
the emission amount calculation unit calculates an emission amount of electrons for each of the plurality of pulsing conditions under a condition that the charged particle beam is irradiated for each of the plurality of pulsing conditions,
the comparator compares an actual measurement result for each of the plurality of pulsing conditions by the detector with a calculation result of each of the plurality of pulsing conditions by the emission amount calculation unit, and
the computer learns a correspondence among the plurality of pulsing conditions, the measurement result for each of the plurality of pulsing conditions, and the netlist using artificial intelligence.

10. The charged particle beam inspection system according to claim 6 , wherein
the emission amount calculation unit calculates, for the node on the netlist, a value proportional to a sum of emission amounts of electrons obtained for each of a plurality of irradiations of a charged particle beam in a pulsed manner based on the pulsing condition.

Assignees

• Hitachi High Tech Corp

Inventors

• Nakamura Yohei
• Tsuno Natsuki
• KIMIZUKA Heita
• Miwa Takafumi
• Fukuda Muneyuki
• Tanaka Junichi

Classifications

• H01J37/28 Primary

  with scanning beams {(H01J37/268, H01J37/292, H01J37/2955 take precedence)} · CPC title

• H01J37/244 Primary

  Detectors; Associated components or circuits therefor · CPC title

• G01R31/305 Primary

  using electron beams {(investigating or analysing materials by measuring photoelectric effect G01N23/227)} · CPC title

• H01J2237/2817

  Pattern inspection · CPC title

• H01J37/265

  Controlling the tube; circuit arrangements adapted to a particular application not otherwise provided, e.g. bright-field-dark-field illumination · CPC title