Determination of defect location for examination of a specimen
AssigneeApplied Materials, Isreal, Ltd.
InventorsDoron Girmonsky, Rafael Ben Ami, Boaz Cohen, Dror Shemesh
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Abstract
There is provided a method and a system configured to obtain an image of a one or more first areas of a semiconductor specimen acquired by an examination tool, determine data Datt informative of defectivity in the one or more first areas, determine one or more second areas of the semiconductor specimen for which presence of a defect is suspected based at least on an evolution of Datt, or of data correlated to Datt, in the one or more first areas, and select the one or more second areas for inspection by the examination tool.
Claims20
A system of examination of a semiconductor specimen, the system comprising a processor and memory circuitry (PMC) configured to:
- obtain an image of one or more first areas of a semiconductor specimen acquired by an examination tool;
- determine data Datt informative of defectivity in the one or more first areas;
- determine a probability of presence of a defect in a plurality of areas of the specimen, using a probability model informative of a spatial distribution of defectivity in at least part of the specimen and data informative of the first areas comprising at least one of:
- a spatial trend of data Datt informative of defectivity in the one or more first areas;
- a spatial trend of data correlated to Datt in the one or more first areas,
- wherein at least one of the plurality of areas differs from the one or more first areas;
- using at least part of said probability of presence of a defect in the plurality of areas to select, among said plurality of areas of the specimen, one or more second areas of the semiconductor specimen for which presence of a defect is suspected, for inspection by the examination tool, wherein said probability of presence of a defect determined for the plurality of areas using data informative of the first areas enables selection of the one or more second areas before acquisition of an image of the one or more second areas by the examination tool.
A method of examination of a semiconductor specimen, the method comprising, by a processor and memory circuitry (PMC):
- obtaining an image of one or more first areas of a semiconductor specimen acquired by an examination tool;
- determining data Datt informative of defectivity in the one or more first areas;
- determining a probability of presence of a defect in a plurality of areas of the specimen, using a probability model informative of a spatial distribution of defectivity in at least part of the specimen, and data informative of the first areas comprising at least one of:
- a spatial trend of data Datt informative of defectivity in the one or more first areas;
- a spatial trend of data correlated to Datt in the one or more first areas;
- wherein at least one of the plurality of areas differs from the one or more first areas;
- using at least part of said probability of presence of a defect in the plurality of areas to select, among said plurality of areas of the specimen, one or more second areas of the semiconductor specimen for which presence of a defect is suspected, wherein said probability of presence of a defect determined for the plurality of areas using data informative of the first areas enables selection of the one or more second areas before acquisition of an image of the one or more second areas by the examination tool;
- and
- selecting the one or more second areas for inspection by the examination tool.
A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
- obtaining an image of one or more first areas of a semiconductor specimen acquired by an examination tool;
- determining data Datt informative of defectivity in the one or more first areas;
- determining a probability of presence of a defect in a plurality of areas of the specimen, using a probability model informative of a spatial distribution of defectivity in at least part of the specimen and data informative of the first areas comprising at least one of:
- a spatial trend of data Datt informative of defectivity in the one or more first areas;
- a spatial trend of data correlated to Datt in the one or more first areas,
- wherein at least one of the plurality of areas differs from the one or more first areas;
- using at least part of said probability of presence of a defect in the plurality of areas to determine, among said plurality of areas of the specimen, one or more second areas of the semiconductor specimen for which presence of a defect is suspected, wherein said probability of presence of a defect determined for the plurality of areas using data informative of the first areas enables selection of the one or more second areas before acquisition of an image of the one or more second areas by the examination tool;
- and
- selecting the one or more second areas for inspection by the examination tool.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.