Automatic segmentation of an image of a semiconductor specimen and usage in metrology

A method comprising, by one or more processing circuitries:

• obtaining, for each given area of a plurality of areas of a semiconductor specimen:
• a given image representative of 2D information of the given area,
• given label data informative of a segmentation of the given image into at least a first segment S1 and a second segment S2, wherein:
• the first segment S1 corresponds to a first region of the given area which has a first height profile pattern, and
• the second segment S2 corresponds to a second region of the given area which has a second height profile pattern, wherein the second height profile pattern is different from the first height profile pattern,
• wherein the first segment S1 corresponds to a first feature of a given structural element present in the given area, and the second segment S2 corresponds to a second different feature of the same given structural element,
• for each given area, feeding the given image and the given label data to a machine learning model for its training,
• wherein the machine learning model is operative, after its training, to segment an inspection image representative of 2D information of an inspection area into at least a first segment associated with a height profile corresponding to the first height profile pattern and a second segment associated with a height profile corresponding to the second height profile pattern.

A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processing circuitries, cause the one or more processing circuitries to perform:

• obtaining an inspection image representative of 2D information of an inspection area of a semiconductor specimen, and
• feeding the inspection image to a trained machine learning model operative to segment the inspection image into at least a first segment S′1 and a second segment S′2, wherein:
• the first segment S′1 corresponds to a first region of the inspection area which has a height profile pattern corresponding to a first height profile pattern, and
• the second segment S′2 corresponds to a second region of the area which has a height profile pattern corresponding to a second height profile pattern,
• wherein the first height profile pattern is different from the second height profile pattern,
• wherein the first segment S′1 corresponds to a first feature of a given structural element present in the inspection area, and the second segment S′2 corresponds to a second different feature of the same given structural element.