Resolving ambiguities in an energy spectrum

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9899185-B1
Application number	US-201615134329-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Apr 20, 2016
Priority date	Apr 21, 2015
Publication date	Feb 20, 2018
Grant date	Feb 20, 2018

Abstract

A system, computer readable medium and a method for material analysis, the method may include (i) receiving or generating (a) an estimated composition of a microscopic element; wherein the estimated composition is responsive to an energy spectrum of, at least, the microscopic element; wherein the energy spectrum is obtained by an energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) detector; additional information related to, at least, the microscopic element, wherein the additional information is not obtained by the energy dispersive X-ray detector; and (ii) resolving an ambiguity in the estimated composition in response to the additional information, wherein the ambiguity occurs when the energy spectrum comprises a predefined energy peak that is attributed to a predefined material of ambiguous EDX composition determination.

First claim

We claim:

1. A system, comprising a processor configured to:
receive or generate:
(i) an estimated composition of a microscopic element; wherein the estimated composition is responsive to an energy spectrum of, at least, the microscopic element; wherein the energy spectrum is obtained by an energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) detector; and
(ii) additional information related to, at least, the microscopic element, wherein the additional information includes at least one of a backscattered electron image or a secondary electron image of a region including the microscopic element; and

resolve an ambiguity in the estimated composition in response to the additional information, wherein the ambiguity occurs when the energy spectrum comprises a predefined energy peak that is attributed to a predefined material of ambiguous EDX composition determination from a group of materials of ambiguous EDX composition determination, and wherein resolving the ambiguity in the estimated composition in response to the additional information includes selecting the predefined material of ambiguous EDX composition determination out of the group of materials of ambiguous EDX composition determination based on:
(i) a brightness of the microscopic element and a brightness of a background area of the region in the backscattered electron image or the secondary electron image;
(ii) coordinates of the microscopic element within an imaginary plane determined based on the backscattered electron image or the secondary electron image, and a mapping between the coordinates of the microscopic element within the imaginary plane and an expected composition of the microscopic element; or
(iii) coordinates of the microscopic element within an imaginary plane determined based on the backscattered electron image or the secondary electron image, a first mapping between the coordinates of the microscopic element within the imaginary plane and a height of the microscopic element, and a second mapping between the height of the microscopic element and an expected composition of the microscopic element.

2. The system according to claim 1 wherein the backscattered electron image or the secondary electron image is obtained concurrently with the energy spectrum obtained by the energy dispersive X-ray detector.

3. The system according to claim 1 wherein a heavier material of the group of materials of ambiguous EDX composition determination has a higher contrast between the brightness of the microscopic element and the brightness of the background area of the region in the backscattered electron image or the secondary electron image than a lighter material.

4. The system according to claim 1 wherein a heavier material of the group of materials of ambiguous EDX composition determination has a higher brightness in the backscattered electron image or the secondary electron image than a lighter material.

5. A method for material analysis, the method comprising:
(a) receiving or generating: (i) an estimated composition of a microscopic element; wherein the estimated composition is responsive to an energy spectrum of, at least, the microscopic element; wherein the energy spectrum is obtained by an energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) detector; and (ii) additional information related to, at least, the microscopic element, wherein the additional information includes at least one of a backscattered electron image or a secondary electron image of a region including the microscopic element; and
(b) resolving an ambiguity in the estimated composition in response to the additional information, wherein the ambiguity occurs when the energy spectrum comprises a predefined energy peak that is attributed to a predefined material of ambiguous EDX composition determination from a group of materials of ambiguous EDX composition determination, and wherein resolving the ambiguity in the estimated composition in response to the additional information includes selecting the predefined material of ambiguous EDX composition determination out of the group of materials of ambiguous EDX composition determination based on:
(i) a brightness of the microscopic element and a brightness of a background area of the region in the backscattered electron image or the secondary electron image;
(ii) coordinates of the microscopic element within an imaginary plane determined based on the backscattered electron image or the secondary electron image, and a mapping between the coordinates of the microscopic element within the imaginary plane and an expected composition of the microscopic element; or
(iii) coordinates of the microscopic element within an imaginary plane determined based on the backscattered electron image or the secondary electron image, a first mapping between the coordinates of the microscopic element within the imaginary plane and a height of the microscopic element, and a second mapping between the height of the microscopic element and an expected composition of the microscopic element.

6. The method according to claim 5 wherein the microscopic element includes a defect and wherein the additional information further includes an indication of a class of the defect, wherein the selecting of the predefined material of ambiguous EDX composition determination is based on the class of the defect.

7. The method according to claim 5 wherein the additional information further includes design information indicative of locations of different layers of a substrate and of compositions of the different layers of the substrate; wherein the microscopic element is either included in the substrate or located above the substrate.

8. The method according to claim 5 wherein the additional information is obtained by processing at least one secondary electron image of the region that comprises the microscopic element.

9. The method according to claim 5 wherein the additional information is obtained by processing at least one backscattered electron image of the region that comprises the microscopic element.

10. The method according to claim 5 wherein the additional information is obtained by processing at least one backscattered electron image and at least one secondary electron image of the region that comprises the microscopic element.

11. The method according to claim 5 wherein the additional information is obtained by comparing between (a) an attribute of the backscattered electron image of the region that comprises the microscopic element; and (b) an attribute of the secondary electron image of the region.

12. The method according to claim 11 wherein the attribute of the secondary electron image is a relationship between pixels of the microscopic element and pixels of a background area of the region.

13. The method according to claim 12 wherein the relationship is a contrast between the pixels of the microscopic element and the pixels of the background area.

14. The method according to claim 5 wherein the backscattered electron image or the secondary electron image is obtained concurrently with the energy spectrum obtained by the energy dispersive X-ray detector.

15. The method according to claim 5 wherein a heavier material of the group of materials of ambiguous EDX composition determination has a higher contrast between the brightness of the microscopic element and the brightness of the background area of the region in the backscattered electron image or the secondary electron image than a lighter material.

16. The method according to claim 5 wherein a heavier material of the group of materials of ambiguous EDX composition determination has a higher brightness in the backscattered electron im

Assignees

• Applied Materials Israel Ltd

Inventors

• Shemesh Dror
• Baram Mor

Classifications

• H01J37/28

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

• H01J37/244 Primary

  Detectors; Associated components or circuits therefor · CPC title

• H01J37/261 Primary

  Details · CPC title

• G01N23/2208

  all measurements being of a secondary emission, e.g. combination of SE measurement and characteristic X-ray measurement · CPC title

• G01N23/2252

  Measuring emitted X-rays, e.g. electron probe microanalysis [EPMA] · CPC title