System and Method for Defining Care Areas in Repeating Structures of Design Data

A system, comprising:

• an inspection tool;
• a user interface;
• and
• a controller including one or more processors configured to execute a set of program instructions stored in memory, wherein the program instructions are configured to cause the one or more processors to:
• receive design data, wherein the design data includes a block of repeating cells;
• present, on the user interface, a particular cell of the block of repeating cells;
• define a first care area associated with a first design of interest in the particular cell, wherein the first care area has a first sensitivity threshold;
• define an additional care area associated with an additional design of interest in the particular cell, wherein the additional care area has an additional sensitivity threshold;
• identify a set of first care areas within the block of repeating cells by performing a search function to identify additional occurrences of the first design of interest within the block of repeating cells;
• and
• identify a set of additional care areas within the block of repeating cells by performing a search function to identify additional occurrences of the additional design of interest within the block of repeating cells.

A system, comprising:

• an inspection tool;
• a user interface;
• and
• a controller including one or more processors configured to execute a set of program instructions stored in memory, wherein the program instructions are configured to cause the one or more processors to:
• identify a first set of a first care area, wherein the first care area is associated with a first design of interest within a block of repeating cells in design data, wherein the first care area has a first sensitivity threshold;
• identify an additional set of an additional care area, wherein the additional care area is associated with an additional design of interest within the block of repeating cells in design data, wherein the additional care area has an additional sensitivity threshold;
• receive one or more images of a selected region of a sample from the inspection tool;
• identify one or more defects within the first set of the first care areas in the one or more images of the selected region of the sample based on the first sensitivity threshold;
• and
• identify one or more defects within the additional set of the additional care areas in the one or more images of the selected region of the sample based on the additional sensitivity threshold.

A method comprising:

• receiving design data, wherein the design data includes a block of repeating cells;
• presenting, on a user interface, a particular cell of the block of repeating cells;
• defining a first care area associated with a first design of interest in the particular cell, wherein the first care area has a first sensitivity threshold;
• defining an additional care area associated with an additional design of interest in the particular cell, wherein the additional care area has an additional sensitivity threshold;
• identifying a set of first care areas within the block of repeating cells by performing a search function to identify additional occurrences of the first design of interest within the block of repeating cells;
• identifying a set of additional care areas within the block of repeating cells by performing a search function to identify additional occurrences of the additional design of interest within the block of repeating cells;
• receiving one or more images of a selected region of a sample from the inspection tool;
• identifying one or more defects within the first set of care areas in the one or more images of the selected region of the sample based on the first sensitivity threshold;
• and
• identifying one or more defects within the additional set of care areas in the one or more images of the selected region of the sample based on the additional sensitivity threshold.

A method comprising:

• receiving design data, wherein the design data includes a block of repeating cells;
• presenting, on a user interface, a particular cell of the block of repeating cells;
• defining a first care area associated with a first design of interest in the particular cell, wherein the first care area has a first sensitivity threshold;
• defining an additional care area associated with an additional design of interest in the particular cell, wherein the additional care area has an additional sensitivity threshold;
• identifying a set of first care areas within the block of repeating cells by performing a search function to identify additional occurrences of the first design of interest within the block of repeating cells;
• and
• identifying a set of additional care areas within the block of repeating cells by performing a search function to identify additional occurrences of the additional design of interest within the block of repeating cells.

A method comprising:

• identifying a first set of a first care area, wherein the first care area is associated with a first design of interest within a block of repeating cells in design data, wherein the first care area has a first sensitivity threshold;
• identifying an additional set of an additional care area, wherein the additional care area is associated with an additional design of interest within the block of repeating cells in design data, wherein the additional care area has an additional sensitivity threshold;
• receiving one or more images of a selected region of a sample from the inspection tool;
• identifying one or more defects within the first set of the first care areas in the one or more images of the selected region of the sample based on the first sensitivity threshold;
• and
• identifying one or more defects within the additional set of the additional care areas in the one or more images of the selected region of the sample based on the additional sensitivity threshold.