# US 12,111,272 B2 · System for estimating the occurrence of defects, and computer-readable medium

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- Number: US 12,111,272 B2
- Document ID: US12111272B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 18/212,346
- Filed: 2023-06-21
- Published: 2023-10-19
- Granted: 2024-10-08
- Earliest claimed: 2023-06-21
- Assignees: Hitachi High-Tech Corporation
- Applicants: Hitachi High-Tech Corporation
- Inventors: Hiroshi Fukuda
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12111272B2

## CPC

- G01N 23/2251: using incident electron beams, e.g. scanning electron microscopy [SEM]
- G06T 7/0004: {Industrial image inspection}
- G01N 23/18: Investigating the presence of flaws defects or foreign matter
- G03F 7/705: {Modelling or simulating from physical phenomena up to complete wafer processes or whole workflow in wafer productions}
- G03F 7/7065: {Defects, e.g. optical inspection of patterned layer for defects}
- G06T 7/0006: {using a design-rule based approach}
- H10P 74/203: {Structural properties, e.g. testing or measuring thicknesses, line widths, warpage, bond strengths or physical defects}
- H10P 74/23: {characterised by multiple measurements, corrections, marking or sorting processes}
- G01N 2223/418: electron microscope
- G01N 2223/6116: semiconductor wafer
- G01N 2223/646: flaws, defects
- G06T 2207/10061: from scanning electron microscope
- G06T 2207/20076: Probabilistic image processing
- G06T 2207/20084: Artificial neural networks [ANN]
- G06T 2207/30148: Semiconductor; IC; Wafer
- G01N: INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES (measuring or testing apparatus or processes other than immunoassay, involving enzymes or microorganisms C12M, C12Q)
- G06T: IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
- G03F: PHOTOMECHANICAL PRODUCTION OF TEXTURED OR PATTERNED SURFACES, e.g. FOR PRINTING, FOR PROCESSING OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; MATERIALS THEREFOR; ORIGINALS THEREFOR; APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED THEREFOR; (phototypographic composing devices B41B; photosensitive materials or processes for photographic purposes G03C; electrophotography, sensitive layers or processes therefor G03G)
- H10P: GENERIC PROCESSES OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF DEVICES COVERED BY CLASS H10

## Abstract

The purpose of this invention is to estimate the occurrence of defects such as probability pattern defects, with a small number of inspection points. To achieve this purpose, the present invention proposes a system and a computer-readable medium. The system comprises: a step in which first data pertaining to the probability that the edge of a pattern determined on the basis of measurement data for a plurality of measurement points on a wafer is present at a first position is acquired or is generated; a step in which, if the edge is at the first position, second data pertaining to the probability that a film defect covers a region including the first position and a second position which is different to said first position is acquired or generated; and a step in which the probability of the defect occurring is predicted on the basis of the first data and the second data.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores a program instruction executable on a computer system to implement a computer-executed method for estimating an occurrence probability of a defect of a wafer based on measurement data obtained by a measurement tool, wherein
the computer-executed method includes
obtaining first data pertaining to a probability that a first edge of a first pattern determined based on measurement data for a plurality of measurement points on a first wafer is present at a first position and obtaining a first defect occurrence probability at a second position on the first wafer, and
acquiring or determining a first model pertaining to a probability that a defect covers the second position based on the first data and the first defect occurrence probability.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 1, wherein
the computer-executed method includes
obtaining a third data pertaining to a probability that a second edge of a second pattern determined based on measurement data for a plurality of measurement points on a second wafer is present at a third position corresponding to the first position, and
predicting a second defect occurrence probability at a fourth position corresponding to the second position on the second wafer based on the third data and the first model.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 2, wherein
the first model is a mathematical model or a learning model.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 3, wherein
the first wafer and the second wafer are wafers manufactured under different manufacturing conditions, and
the first wafer is a wafer manufactured under a manufacturing condition with higher defect occurrence probability or under a higher acceleration condition than the second wafer.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 4, wherein
the first pattern and the second pattern are manufactured by projection exposure using an exposure device, and
the manufacturing condition with higher defect occurrence probability or the higher acceleration condition are set by changing a focus or an exposure amount at the time of the projection exposure.

### Claim 6 (depends on 2)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 2, wherein
the first pattern and the second pattern are formed based on the same design pattern.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 6, wherein
when an edge position coordinate relative to the same design pattern of the first position is at x1_edge, the first data is P1(x1_edge), which is a frequency distribution of the x1_edge obtained based on the measurement data of the plurality of measurement points on the first wafer, and
when an edge position coordinate relative to the same design pattern of the third position is at x3_edge, the third data is P3(x3_edge), which is a frequency distribution of the x3_edge obtained based on the measurement data of the plurality of measurement points.

### Claim 8 (depends on 2)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 2, wherein
when the first edge is at x1_edge, the first model is a model predicting the second defect occurrence probability based on a product of the third data and a probability function P2(x, x1_edge) that a film defect continuously occurs between the x1_edge and the second position x.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 1, wherein
the first data and the first defect occurrence probability are obtained under two or more conditions in which the defect occurrence probability is different.

### Claim 10

A system for predicting an occurrence probability of a defect on a wafer from measurement data obtained by a measurement tool, the system comprising:
a memory device that stores a program for predicting the occurrence probability of the defect on the wafer; and
a computer that reads the program from the memory device and executes the program, wherein
the computer executes processing of
obtaining first data pertaining to a probability that a first edge of a first pattern determined based on measurement data for a plurality of measurement points on a first wafer is present at a first position and obtaining a first defect occurrence probability at a second position on the first wafer, and
acquiring or determining a first model pertaining to a probability that a defect covers the second position based on the first data and the first defect occurrence probability.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The system according to claim 10, wherein
the computer further executes processing of
obtaining a third data pertaining to a probability that a second edge of a second pattern determined based on measurement data for a plurality of measurement points on a second wafer is present at a third position corresponding to the first position, and
predicting a second defect occurrence probability at a fourth position corresponding to the second position on the second wafer based on the third data and the first model.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The system according to claim 11, wherein
the first model is a mathematical model or a learning model.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The system according to claim 12, wherein
the first wafer and the second wafer are wafers manufactured under different manufacturing conditions, and
the first wafer is a wafer manufactured under a manufacturing condition with higher defect occurrence probability or under a higher acceleration condition than the second wafer.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The system according to claim 13, wherein
the first pattern and the second pattern are manufactured by projection exposure using an exposure device, and
the manufacturing condition with higher defect occurrence probability or the higher acceleration condition are set by changing a focus or an exposure amount at the time of the projection exposure.

### Claim 15 (depends on 11)

The system according to claim 11, wherein
the first pattern and the second pattern are formed based on the same design pattern.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The system according to claim 15, wherein
when an edge position coordinate relative to the same design pattern of the first position is at x1_edge, the first data is P1(x1_edge), which is a frequency distribution of the x1_edge obtained based on the measurement data of the plurality of measurement points on the first wafer, and
when an edge position coordinate relative to the same design pattern of the third position is at x3_edge, the third data is P3(x3_edge), which is a frequency distribution of the x3_edge obtained based on the measurement data of the plurality of measurement points.

### Claim 17 (depends on 11)

The system according to claim 11, wherein
when the first edge is at x1_edge, the first model is a model predicting the second defect occurrence probability based on a product of the third data and a probability function P2(x, x1_edge) that a film defect continuously occurs between the x1_edge and the second position x.

### Claim 18 (depends on 10)

The system according to claim 10, wherein
the first data and the first defect occurrence probability are obtained under two or more conditions in which the defect occurrence probability is different.