Detecting Defects on a Wafer Using Template Image Matching
AssigneesKLA-Tencor Corporation, Carmela Moreno
InventorsXing Chu, Jan A. Lauber, J. Rex Runyon
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Various embodiments for detecting defects on a wafer are provided. Some embodiments include matching a template image, in which at least some pixels are associated with regions in the device having different characteristics, to output of an electron beam inspection system and applying defect detection parameters to pixels in the output based on the regions that the pixels in the output are located within to thereby detect defects on the wafer.
Claims20
A computer-implemented method for detecting defects on a wafer, comprising:
- generating a template image using information about a device being formed on a wafer, wherein at least some pixels in the template image are associated with regions in the device having different characteristics;
- acquiring output of an electron beam inspection system for the wafer;
- matching the template image to the output based on patterns in the template and the output;
- identifying the regions that pixels in the output are located within based on the regions that are associated with the pixels of the template image that match the pixels in the output;
- and
- applying defect detection parameters to the pixels in the output based on the regions that the pixels are located within to thereby detect defects on the wafer, wherein said generating, said acquiring, said matching, said identifying, and said applying are performed using a computer system.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing program instructions stored therein for causing a computer system to perform a computer-implemented method for detecting defects on a wafer, wherein the computer-implemented method comprises:
- generating a template image using information about a device being formed on a wafer, wherein at least some pixels in the template image are associated with regions in the device having different characteristics;
- acquiring output of an electron beam inspection system for the wafer;
- matching the template image to the output based on patterns in the template and the output;
- identifying the regions that pixels in the output are located within based on the regions that are associated with the pixels of the template image that match the pixels in the output;
- and
- applying defect detection parameters to the pixels in the output based on the regions that the pixels are located within to thereby detect defects on the wafer.
A system configured to detect defects on a wafer, comprising:
- an electron beam inspection subsystem configured to acquire output for a wafer;
- and
- a computer subsystem configured to:
- generate a template image using information about a device being formed on the wafer, wherein at least some pixels in the template image are associated with regions in the device having different characteristics;
- match the template image to the output based on patterns in the template and the output;
- identify the regions that pixels in the output are located within based on the regions that are associated with the pixels of the template image that match the pixels in the output;
- and
- apply defect detection parameters to the pixels in the output based on the regions that the pixels are located within to thereby detect defects on the wafer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.