System and method for characterization of buried defects

A system, comprising:

• a controller communicatively coupled to an inspection sub-system, the controller including one or more processors and memory, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute a set of program instructions stored in the memory, the set of program instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to:
• receive one or more control patch images of one or more training defects of a control specimen comprising at least one of a semiconductor substrate or a VNAND stack from the inspection sub-system;
• train a defect classifier based on the one or more control patch images acquired from the one or more training defects and one or more known parameters associated with the one or more training defects;
• direct the inspection sub-system to identify one or more defects of an additional specimen;
• receive one or more patch images of the one or more identified defects of the additional specimen from the inspection sub-system;
• and
• apply the defect classifier to the one or more patch images of the one or more identified defects of the additional specimen to determine one or more parameters of the one or more identified defects of the additional specimen.

A method for measuring depth and size of buried defects in a specimen, comprising:

• acquiring, with an inspection sub-system, one or more control patch images of one or more training defects of a control specimen comprising at least one of a semiconductor substrate and a VNAND stack;
• training a defect classifier based on the one or more control patch images and one or more known parameters associated with the one or more training defects;
• identifying one or more defects on an additional specimen;
• acquiring, with the inspection sub-system, one or more patch images of the one or more identified defects of the additional specimen;
• and
• determining one or more parameters of the one or more identified defects of the additional specimen with the defect classifier based on the one or more patch images.