# US 2014/0193065 A1 · Detecting Defects on a Wafer Using Template Image Matching > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2014/0193065 A1 - Document ID: US20140193065A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 13/737,677 - Filed: 2013-01-09 - Published: 2014-07-10 - Earliest claimed: 2013-01-09 - Assignees: KLA-Tencor Corporation; Carmela Moreno - Inventors: Xing Chu; Jan A. Lauber; J. Rex Runyon - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140193065A1 ## CPC - G06T 7/0004: {Industrial image inspection} - H10P 74/203: {Structural properties, e.g. testing or measuring thicknesses, line widths, warpage, bond strengths or physical defects} - H10P 74/23: {characterised by multiple measurements, corrections, marking or sorting processes} - G06T 2207/20012: Locally adaptive - G06T 2207/30148: Semiconductor; IC; Wafer - G06T: IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL - H10P: GENERIC PROCESSES OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF DEVICES COVERED BY CLASS H10 ## 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. ## Claims ### Claim 1 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. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the information comprises design data for the device. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the information comprises a high resolution image of the device being formed on the wafer. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the regions that the pixels in the template image are associated with prior to said acquiring. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the regions that the pixels in the template image are associated with based on properties of the device, defects of interest, known nuisance defects, or some combination thereof. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the regions corresponds to only a single contact within a repeating memory cell structure of the device. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the regions correspond to different types of contacts within a repeating memory cell structure of the device. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the regions corresponds to an oxide area between contacts in a repeating memory cell structure of the device, and wherein said applying is not performed for the oxide area. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising generating multiple template images using the information about the device, wherein each of the multiple template images is generated for one of multiple pixel sizes and optical conditions for the electron beam inspection system. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the template image corresponds to a unit cell within an array region of the device, and wherein said matching comprises matching the template image to the pixels in the output corresponding to one unit cell in the array region based on the patterns and propagating the matching throughout the array region based on information about the unit cell and the array region. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the template image corresponds to a unit cell within an array region of the device, and wherein said matching is performed for an entire row and column of unit cells within a care area in the array region. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the template image corresponds to a unit cell within an array region of the device, and wherein said matching is performed for every unit cell within the array region. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein said identifying comprises overlaying a region segmentation scheme onto the pixels in the output that match the template image. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the defect detection parameters comprise whether or not to perform defect detection in one or more of the regions and for the regions in to which the defect detection is to be performed, a threshold that depends on the regions in which the pixels are located, and wherein the threshold is to be applied to a difference between the pixels in the output and reference pixels. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein said applying comprises averaging multiple pixels in the output corresponding to multiple unit cells in an array region of the device to generate a reference image, subtracting the reference image from a test image in the output that corresponds to one of the multiple unit cells to generate a difference image, and applying the defect detection parameters to the difference image based on the regions that pixels in the difference image are located within. ### Claim 16 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically associating the detected defects with the regions in which they are located. ### Claim 17 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising classifying the detected defects based on the regions in which they are located. ### Claim 18 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein each contact type in the device is associated with a different one of the regions, the method further comprising displaying density of the detected defects in said each contact type. ### Claim 19 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. ### Claim 20 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.