US 7,109,483 B2 · Method for inspecting substrate, substrate inspecting system and electron beam apparatus

Abstract

The present invention relates to a substrate inspection apparatus for inspecting a pattern formed on a substrate by irradiating a charged particle beam onto the substrate. The substrate inspection apparatus comprises: an electron beam apparatus including a charged particle beam source for emitting a charged particle beam, a primary optical system for irradiating the charged particle beam onto the substrate, a secondary optical system into which a secondary charged particle beam is introduced, the secondary charged particle beam being emitted from the substrate by an irradiation of the charged particle beam, a detection system for detecting the secondary charged particle beam introduced into said secondary optical system and outputting as an electric signal, and a process control system for processing and evaluating the electric signal; a stage unit for holding the substrate and moving the substrate relatively to said electron beam apparatus; a working chamber capable of shielding at least an upper region of the stage unit form outside to control under desired atmosphere; and a substrate load-unload mechanism for transferring the substrate into or out of the stage.

Claims9

Dependent claims

A substrate inspection method comprising:

emitting a primary charged particle beam from a charged particle beam source, wherein said charged particle beam source is actuated in a space charge limited region, wherein a shot noise reduction factor is smaller than 1 and said charge particle beam source has a pointed cathode;
focusing said emitting charged particle beams into a fine beam;
irradiating and scanning said fine charged particle beam onto a substrate through a primary optical system;
introducing a secondary charged particle beam into a secondary charge particle beam detector, said secondary charged particle beam being emitted from said substrate by said irradiation of said primary charged particle beam;
detecting said secondary charged particle beam having been introduced into said secondary charge particle beam detector and converting said detected secondary charged particle beam into an electric signal;
and
processing said electric signal to evaluate said substrate, wherein said shot noise reduction factor is defined by the following equation,
S/N=n1/2/(Γ*21/2)
where, S/N is signal to noise ratio, Γ is shot noise reduction factor, and n is the number of detected secondary electrons per pixel.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Method for inspecting substrate, substrate inspecting system and electron beam apparatus

Life of this patent

Method for inspecting substrate, substrate inspecting system and electron beam apparatus

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims9