Electron beam inspection apparatus and electron beam inspection method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12046445-B2
Application number	US-202017625501-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 29, 2020
Priority date	Aug 6, 2019
Publication date	Jul 23, 2024
Grant date	Jul 23, 2024

Abstract

An electron beam inspection apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention includes an image acquisition mechanism to acquire a secondary electron image by scanning a substrate, on which a figure pattern is formed, with an electron beam, and detecting a secondary electron emitted due to irradiation with the electron beam by the scanning, a resize processing unit to perform, using design pattern data being a basis of the figure pattern, resize processing on the figure pattern to enlarge its size in a scan direction of the electron beam, a first developed image generation unit to generate, using the design pattern data which has not been resized, a first developed image by developing an image of a design pattern of a region corresponding to the secondary electron image, a second developed image generation unit to generate, using partial patterns enlarged by the resize processing in the figure pattern having been resized, a second developed image by developing an image of partial patterns in a region corresponding to the secondary electron image, a map generation unit to generate a pseudo defect candidate pixel map which can identify a pseudo defect candidate pixel that has no pattern in the first developed image and has a pattern in the second developed image, a reference image generation unit to generate a reference image of the region corresponding to the second electron image, and a comparison unit to compare, using the pseudo defect candidate pixel map, the second electron image with the reference image of the region corresponding to the second electron image.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An electron beam inspection apparatus comprising:
an image acquisition mechanism configured to acquire a secondary electron image by scanning a substrate, on which a figure pattern is formed, with an electron beam, and detecting a secondary electron emitted due to irradiation with the electron beam by the scanning;
a resize processing unit configured to perform, using design pattern data being a basis of the figure pattern, resize processing on the figure pattern to enlarge its size in a scan direction of the electron beam;
a first developed image generation unit configured to generate, using the design pattern data which has not been resized, a first developed image by developing an image of a design pattern of a region corresponding to the secondary electron image;
a second developed image generation unit configured to generate, using partial patterns enlarged by the resize processing in the figure pattern having been resized, a second developed image by developing an image of partial patterns in a region corresponding to the secondary electron image;
a map generation unit configured to generate a pseudo defect candidate pixel map which can identify a pseudo defect candidate pixel that has no pattern in the first developed image and has a pattern in the second developed image;
a reference image generation unit configured to generate a reference image of the region corresponding to the second electron image; and
a comparison unit configured to compare, using the pseudo defect candidate pixel map, the second electron image with the reference image of the region corresponding to the second electron image.

2. The electron beam inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the comparison unit makes an inspection threshold in performing comparison for the pseudo defect candidate pixel looser than that in performing comparison for a pixel other than the pseudo defect candidate pixel.

3. The electron beam inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a selection unit configured to select a rectangular partial pattern from the partial patterns enlarged by the resize processing.

4. The electron beam inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an extraction unit configured to extract, for each the figure pattern having been resized, the partial patterns enlarged by the resize processing in the figure pattern having been resized.

5. The electron beam inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the comparison unit changes an inspection threshold, depending on a value defined in the pseudo defect candidate pixel map.

6. An electron beam inspection apparatus comprising:
an image acquisition mechanism configured to acquire a secondary electron image by scanning a substrate, on which a figure pattern is formed, with an electron beam, and detecting a secondary electron emitted due to irradiation with the electron beam by the scanning;
a resize processing unit configured to perform, using design pattern data being a basis of the figure pattern, resize processing on the figure pattern to enlarge its size in a scan direction of the electron beam;
a first developed image generation unit configured to generate, using the design pattern data which has not been resized, a first developed image by developing an image of a design pattern of a region corresponding to the secondary electron image;
a second developed image generation unit configured to generate, using partial patterns enlarged by the resize processing in the figure pattern having been resized, a second developed image by developing an image of partial patterns in a region corresponding to the secondary electron image;
a map generation unit configured to generate a pseudo defect candidate pixel map which can identify a pseudo defect candidate pixel that has no pattern in the first developed image and has a pattern in the second developed image;
an extraction unit configured to extract a pixel in a region with no pattern in the secondary electron image;
a correction unit configured to correct a gray-scale value of the pseudo defect candidate pixel by replacing the gray-scale value of the pseudo defect candidate pixel in the secondary electron image by a value determined based on a gray-scale value of a pixel in a region with no pattern;
a reference image generation unit configured to generate a reference image of the region corresponding to the secondary electron image; and
a comparison unit configured to compare the secondary electron image in which the gray-scale value of the pseudo defect candidate pixel has been corrected with the reference image of the region corresponding to the secondary electron image.

7. The electron beam inspection apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein
the extraction unit extracts a plurality of pixels as pixels in the region with no pattern, and
the correction unit replaces the gray-scale value of the pseudo defect candidate pixel by a value determined based on a gray-scale value of at least one pixel located close to the pseudo defect candidate pixel in the plurality of pixels extracted.

8. An electron beam inspection method comprising:
acquiring a secondary electron image by scanning a substrate, on which a figure pattern is formed, with an electron beam, and detecting a secondary electron emitted due to irradiation with the electron beam by the scanning;
resizing, using design pattern data being a basis of the figure pattern, the figure pattern to enlarge its size in a scan direction of the electron beam;
generating, using the design pattern data which has not been resized, a first developed image by developing an image of a design pattern of a region corresponding to the secondary electron image;
generating, using partial patterns enlarged by the resizing in the figure pattern having been resized, a second developed image by developing an image of partial patterns in a region corresponding to the secondary electron image;
generating a pseudo defect candidate pixel map which can identify a pseudo defect candidate pixel that has no pattern in the first developed image and has a pattern in the second developed image;
generating a reference image of the region corresponding to the second electron image; and
comparing, using the pseudo defect candidate pixel map, the second electron image with the reference image of the region corresponding to the second electron image, and outputting a result.

9. The electron beam inspection method according to claim 8 , wherein an inspection threshold in performing comparison for the pseudo defect candidate pixel is made to be looser than that in performing comparison for a pixel other than the pseudo defect candidate pixel.

10. The electron beam inspection method according to claim 8 , further comprising:
selecting a rectangular partial pattern from the partial patterns enlarged by the resizing.

Assignees

• Nuflare Technology Inc

Inventors

• Nagao Takuro

Classifications

• H10P74/203

  Structural properties, e.g. testing or measuring thicknesses, line widths, warpage, bond strengths or physical defects · CPC title

• H01J37/28

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

• G06T2207/30148

  Semiconductor; IC; Wafer · CPC title

• G06T2207/10061

  from scanning electron microscope · CPC title

• G06T7/001 Primary

  using an image reference approach · CPC title