Method of removing defect of mask
AssigneeSamsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
InventorsYoonki Hwang, Sanghyeon Lee
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of removing a defect of a mask may include generating a probe profile, the probe profile including characteristics of a probe of an atomic force microscope (AFM); generating a design-based reference image of a defect area by applying the probe profile to a design image of the defect area of the mask including a location of the defect; obtaining an AFM image of the defect area by scanning the defect area of the mask using the probe of the AFM; recognizing the defect as a recognized defect by comparing the AFM image of the defect area with the design-based reference image; and removing the recognized defect using the probe of the AFM.
Claims20
A method of removing a defect of a mask, the method comprising:
- generating a probe profile, the probe profile including characteristics of a probe of an atomic force microscope (AFM);
- generating a design-based reference image of a defect area by applying the probe profile to a design image of the defect area of the mask including a location of the defect;
- obtaining an AFM image of the defect area by scanning the defect area of the mask using the probe of the AFM;
- recognizing the defect as a recognized defect by comparing the AFM image of the defect area with the design-based reference image;
- and
- removing the recognized defect using the probe of the AFM.
A method of removing a defect of a mask, the method comprising:
- scanning an offset calibration region included in a mask using a probe of an atomic force microscope (AFM) to obtain an AFM image of the offset calibration region and calibrating an offset of the probe of the AFM by adjusting a zero point;
- generating a probe profile by comparing the AFM image of the offset calibration region with a design image of the offset calibration region, the probe profile including characteristics of the probe of the AFM;
- generating a design-based reference image of a defect area by applying the probe profile to a design image of the defect area of the mask including a location of the defect;
- obtaining an AFM image of the defect area by scanning the defect area of the mask using the probe of the AFM;
- recognizing the defect as a recognized defect by comparing the AFM image of the defect area with the design-based reference image;
- and
- removing the recognized defect using the probe of the AFM.
A method of removing a defect of a mask, the method comprising:
- preparing a mask including a substrate having a main exposure area and an offset calibration region, patterns on the substrate in the main exposure area, and a dummy pattern on the substrate in the offset calibration region;
- obtaining an atomic force microscope (AFM) image of the offset calibration region by scanning the offset calibration region of the mask using a probe of an AFM, and calibrating the offset of the probe of the AFM by adjusting a zero point;
- generating a probe profile by comparing the AFM image of the offset calibration region with a design image of the offset calibration region, the probe profile including characteristics of a probe of the AFM;
- generating a design-based reference image of a defect area by a convolution of a design image of the defect area of the mask including a location of the defect and the probe profile;
- obtaining an AFM image of the defect area by scanning the defect area of the mask using the probe of the AFM;
- recognizing the defect as a recognized defect by comparing the AFM image of the defect area with the design-based reference image;
- removing the recognized defect using the probe of the AFM;
- and
- performing a cleaning process on the mask.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.