# US 12,222,387 B2 · Semiconductor device inspection method and semiconductor device inspection apparatus > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,222,387 B2 - Document ID: US12222387B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/926,376 - Filed: 2021-04-05 - Published: 2023-06-15 - Granted: 2025-02-11 - Earliest claimed: 2020-05-26 - Assignees: Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. - Applicants: Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. - Inventors: Norimichi Chinone; Tomonori Nakamura; Akira Shimase; Shigeru Eura - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12222387B2 ## CPC - G01R 31/308: using non-ionising electromagnetic radiation, e.g. optical radiation {(investigating or analysing materials by the use of optical means G01N21/00; image analysis G06T7/00)} - G01R 31/311: of integrated circuits {(G01R31/31728 takes precedence)} - G01R 31/2837: {Characterising or performance testing, e.g. of frequency response (transient response G01R27/28)} - G01R: MEASURING ELECTRIC VARIABLES; MEASURING MAGNETIC VARIABLES (indicating correct tuning of resonant circuits H03J3/12) ## Abstract A semiconductor inspection device includes: a measuring device that supplies power to a semiconductor device and measures the electrical characteristics; an optical scanning device that scans the semiconductor device with light intensity-modulated with a plurality of frequencies; a lock-in amplifier that acquires a characteristic signal indicating the electrical characteristics of the plurality of frequency components; and an inspection device that calculates a frequency at which the characteristic signal reflecting the electrical characteristics of a first layer and the characteristic signal reflecting the electrical characteristics of a second layer have a predetermined phase difference, corrects a phase component of the characteristic signal at an arbitrary scanning position with a phase component at the scanning position reflecting the electrical characteristics of the first layer as a reference, and outputs an in-phase component and a quadrature component at the arbitrary scanning position at the calculated frequency. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A semiconductor device inspection method, comprising: supplying power to a semiconductor device and measuring electrical characteristics of the semiconductor device according to the supply of the power; scanning the semiconductor device with light intensity-modulated with a first frequency and light intensity-modulated with a second frequency higher than the first frequency and acquiring a characteristic signal indicating the electrical characteristics of the first frequency component and the second frequency component according to the scanning; calculating a frequency of the characteristic signal at which the characteristic signal at a first scanning position reflecting the electrical characteristics of a first position in an optical axis direction of the light in the semiconductor device and the characteristic signal at a second scanning position reflecting the electrical characteristics of a second position in the optical axis direction of the light in the semiconductor device have a predetermined phase difference; correcting a phase component of the characteristic signal at an arbitrary scanning position with a phase component of the characteristic signal at the first scanning position in the semiconductor device as a reference; and acquiring the characteristic signal at the arbitrary scanning position at the calculated frequency and outputting an in-phase component and a quadrature component of the characteristic signal. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The semiconductor device inspection method according to claim 1, wherein, in the outputting, an image showing a two-dimensional distribution of the in-phase component and an image showing a two-dimensional distribution of the quadrature component are output. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The semiconductor device inspection method according to claim 1, wherein, in the outputting, a value indicating the electrical characteristics of the first position at the arbitrary scanning position and a value indicating the electrical characteristics of the second position at the arbitrary scanning position are output based on the characteristic signal. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The semiconductor device inspection method according to claim 1, wherein, in the correcting, the phase component of the characteristic signal at the arbitrary scanning position is corrected so as to cancel out the phase component of the characteristic signal at the first scanning position. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The semiconductor device inspection method according to claim 1, wherein, in the calculating, the frequency of the characteristic signal is calculated by predicting frequency characteristics of the characteristic signal by curve fitting. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The semiconductor device inspection method according to claim 1, wherein, in the outputting, the characteristic signal at the frequency is acquired by predicting frequency characteristics of the characteristic signal at the arbitrary scanning position by curve fitting. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The semiconductor device inspection method according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined phase difference is π/2. ### Claim 8 A semiconductor device inspection device, comprising: a measuring device configured to supply power to a semiconductor device and measure electrical characteristics of the semiconductor device according to the supply of the power; an optical scanner configured to scan the semiconductor device with light intensity-modulated with a first frequency and light intensity-modulated with a second frequency higher than the first frequency; a signal acquisition device configured to acquire a characteristic signal indicating the electrical characteristics of the first frequency component and the second frequency component according to the scanning of the light; and a processor configured to process the characteristic signal, wherein the processor calculates a frequency of the characteristic signal at which the characteristic signal at a first scanning position reflecting the electrical characteristics of a first position in an optical axis direction of the light in the semiconductor device and the characteristic signal at a second scanning position reflecting the electrical characteristics of a second position in the optical axis direction of the light in the semiconductor device have a predetermined phase difference, corrects a phase component of the characteristic signal at an arbitrary scanning position with a phase component of the characteristic signal at the first scanning position in the semiconductor device as a reference, acquires the characteristic signal at the arbitrary scanning position at the calculated frequency, and outputs an in-phase component and a quadrature component of the characteristic signal. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The semiconductor device inspection device according to claim 8, wherein the processor outputs an image showing a two-dimensional distribution of the in-phase component and an image showing a two-dimensional distribution of the quadrature component. ### Claim 10 (depends on 8) The semiconductor device inspection device according to claim 8, wherein the processor outputs a value indicating the electrical characteristics of the first position at the arbitrary scanning position and a value indicating the electrical characteristics of the second position at the arbitrary scanning position based on the characteristic signal. ### Claim 11 (depends on 8) The semiconductor device inspection device according to claim 8, wherein the processor corrects the phase component of the characteristic signal at the arbitrary scanning position so as to cancel out the phase component of the characteristic signal at the first scanning position. ### Claim 12 (depends on 8) The semiconductor device inspection device according to claim 8, wherein the processor calculates the frequency of the characteristic signal by predicting frequency characteristics of the characteristic signal by curve fitting. ### Claim 13 (depends on 8) The semiconductor device inspection device according to claim 8, wherein the processor acquires the characteristic signal at the frequency by predicting frequency characteristics of the characteristic signal at the arbitrary scanning position by curve fitting. ### Claim 14 (depends on 8) The semiconductor device inspection device according to claim 8, wherein the predetermined phase difference is π/2.