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US 12,353,970 B2Granted
Finding semiconductor defects using convolutional context attributes
AssigneeKLA Corporation
InventorsAbdurrahman Sezginer, Gordon Rouse, Manikandan Mariyappan
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Abstract
Context attributes for optical imaging of a patterned layer of a semiconductor die are calculated. Calculating the context attributes includes calculating convolutions of a pattern of the patterned layer with respective kernels of a plurality of kernels, wherein the plurality of kernels is orthogonal. Defects on the semiconductor die are found in accordance with the context attributes.
Claims26
A method, comprising:
- calculating context attributes for optical imaging of a patterned layer of a semiconductor die, comprising calculating convolutions of a pattern of the patterned layer with respective kernels of a plurality of kernels, wherein the plurality of kernels is orthogonal;
- and
- finding defects on the semiconductor die in accordance with the context attributes, comprising:
- optically imaging the semiconductor die to generate a target image;
- comparing the target image of the semiconductor die to a reference image of the semiconductor die, to generate a difference image of the semiconductor die;
- adjusting a defect-detection filter for different portions of the semiconductor die based at least in part on the context attributes;
- detecting defects in the difference image using the defect-detection filter;
- and
- storing a list of the detected defects.
6 more elements
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more programs for execution by one or more processors of a system comprising an optical inspection tool, the one or more programs including instructions for:
- calculating context attributes for optical imaging of a patterned layer of a semiconductor die, comprising calculating convolutions of a pattern of the patterned layer with respective kernels of a plurality of kernels, wherein the plurality of kernels is orthogonal;
- and
- finding defects on the semiconductor die using the optical inspection tool, in accordance with the context attributes,
- wherein the instructions for finding defects on the semiconductor die using the optical inspection tool, in accordance with the context attributes, comprise instructions for:
- optically imaging the semiconductor die to generate a target image;
- comparing the target image of the semiconductor die to a reference image of the semiconductor die, to generate a difference image of the semiconductor die;
- adjusting a defect-detection filter for different portions of the semiconductor die based at least in part on the context attributes;
- detecting defects in the difference image using the defect-detection filter;
- and
- storing a list of the detected defects.
7 more elements
A system, comprising:
- an optical inspection tool;
- one or more processors;
- and
- memory storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:
- calculating context attributes for optical imaging of a patterned layer of a semiconductor die, comprising calculating convolutions of a pattern of the patterned layer with respective kernels of a plurality of kernels, wherein the plurality of kernels is orthogonal;
- and
- finding defects on the semiconductor die using the optical inspection tool, in accordance with the context attributes
- wherein the instructions for finding defects on the semiconductor die using the optical inspection tool, in accordance with the context attributes, comprise instructions for:
- optically imaging the semiconductor die to generate a target image;
- comparing the target image of the semiconductor die to a reference image of the semiconductor die, to generate a difference image of the semiconductor die;
- adjusting a defect-detection filter for different portions of the semiconductor die based at least in part on the context attributes;
- detecting defects in the difference image using the defect-detection filter;
- and
- storing a list of the detected defects.
11 more elements
A method, comprising:
- calculating context attributes for optical imaging of a first patterned layer of a semiconductor die, comprising:
- calculating convolutions of a first pattern of the first patterned layer with respective kernels of a first plurality of kernels, wherein the first plurality of kernels is orthogonal, and
- calculating cross-terms between the convolutions of the first pattern with the respective kernels of the first plurality of kernels and convolutions of a second pattern of a second patterned layer of the semiconductor die with respective kernels of a second plurality of kernels, wherein the second plurality of kernels is orthogonal;
- and
- finding defects on the semiconductor die in accordance with the context attributes.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.