Method and system to for rapid inspection of photolithography reticle

A reticle inspection system, comprising:

• scanning resources configured to capture a scan image of a reticle;
• memory resources configured to store a reference image;
• and
• an analysis model trained with a machine learning process to generate a difference threshold, to:
• generate a difference threshold;
• generate a relative difference value by comparing the scan image to the reference image;
• rewrite at least a portion of the reference image with the scan image if the relative difference value is less than or equal to the difference threshold;
• generate simulated reference images;
• generating a first simulated reference image with the analysis model and storing the first simulated reference image as the reference image prior to generating the first scan image;
• if the first relative difference value is less than or equal to the difference threshold, approve the reticle for performance of a photolithography process with the reticle;
• generate, after performance of the photolithography process with the reticle, a second simulated reference image;
• and
• replacing the reference image with the second simulated reference image.

A method, comprising:

• training an analysis model of a reticle inspection system with a machine learning process to detect whether a reticle is contaminated with a debris particle and to classify a type of the debris particle;
• generating a scan image of a reticle with the reticle inspection system;
• providing the scan image to the analysis model;
• determining, with the analysis model based on the machine learning process, whether or not the reticle is contaminated with a debris particle by processing the scan image;
• and
• if the reticle is contaminated with a debris particle, determining a type of the debris particle with the analysis model.