US 7,248,353 B2Granted

Method and apparatus for inspecting samples, and method for manufacturing devices using method and apparatus for inspecting samples

AssigneeEbara Corporation

InventorsToshifumi Kimba, Mamoru Nakasuji, Tohru Satake

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Abstract

A method for alignment of a chip in a substrate surface inspection is provided, in which a surface of a substrate including a chip formed therein is inspected by using a beam. The method is characterized in comprising: a step of placing the substrate so that the chip is positioned within a field of view subject to the inspection; a step of measuring a magnification for the detection when the chip is positioned within the field of view subject to the inspection; a step of calculating a size of position error of the chip based on the measured magnification for the detection; and a step of compensating for the position of the chip based on the calculated position error.

Claims8

Dependent claims

A method for inspecting patterns within a plurality of dies located approximately regularly along two axial directions that are not parallel with respect to each other on a substrate, said method comprising steps of:

(a) generating a target grid according to which said dies on said substrate should be virtually placed;
(b) determining an actual position coordinate of each die on said substrate;
(c) calculating a position error of said each die with respect to said target grid and;
(d) compensating for the position of the image of said each die to be obtained, based on a value of the position error of said each die and thus obtaining the image;
and
(e) performing an inspection of the pattern to detect defects within the pattern of said die based on the image obtained after said position thereof is compensated for,
wherein in said step (a), said target grid is generated in such a manner that at least two dies are selected in each of two axial directions from a plurality of dies formed across a surface of said substrate along the two axial directions that are not parallel to each other, and from a pitch between selected dies, a virtual pitch per die is determined along each of said two directions, and then based on said virtual pitch, said target grid is generated, and wherein in said step (a), said two dies on said sample are selected to thereby detect a pitch between said dies, which is determined as a first pitch;
said first pitch is multiplied by a predetermined multiplier, and the thus obtained value is determined as a second pitch;
an actual pitch between two dies that are spaced by a distance proximal to said second pitch is detected, which is determined as a third pitch;
and a value determined by dividing said third pitch by said multiplier is taken as said virtual pitch,
displaying and/or storing the defects detected.

8 more elements

A method for evaluating a sample surface with an electron beam incident to the sample surface having a plurality of pixels, said method comprising steps of:

(a) irradiating an electron beam onto a sample and detecting secondary electrons or back-scattered electrons;
(b) amplifying and A/D converting a detected signal to thereby form a two-dimensional image containing a density data and inputting said formed image on a predetermined first region into a memory;
(c) forming a two-dimensional image having a density data on a second region expected to contain the same pattern as of the region whose image has been input in said step (b) and inputting the formed image into another memory;
(d) performing a density matching between the image obtained in said step (b) and the image obtained in said step (c) and then increasing or decreasing the density of one of said two images so as to match the average density between said two images;
(e) performing a pattern matching between the images having the average density matched to each other, calculating a difference between images to which the pattern matching has been applied, and then taking the location having the difference as a candidate for a defect;
and
(f) obtaining a two-dimensional image of a third region expected to contain the same pattern as said first and said second regions, performing a density matching of said two-dimensional image in said third region with the image of said first or said second region, comparing to the candidate for the defect obtained in said step (e), and determining the defect from said candidate for the defect,
wherein said electron beam is a multi-beam which consists of a plurality of beams arranged such that when said plurality of beams is projected in one axial direction, each beam is equally spaced from adjacent beam, and is adapted to make a scanning operation in a direction orthogonal to said one axial direction, wherein said two-dimensional image is formed by electrically controlling said multi-beam so as to make the scanning operation while moving a sample table continuously in the direction parallel to said one axial direction,
displaying and/or storing the defects detected.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 10/855,808Filed 28 May 2004
Priority: JP 2003-15390230 May 2003
Published: US 2005/0104017 A119 May 2005
Granted: 24 Jul 2007
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification9 codes

G06T 7/001
Industrial image inspection: using an image reference approach
H01J 37/29
Electron or ion microscopes; Electron or ion diffraction tubes: reflection microscopes
H01J 37/3045
Controlling tubes by information coming from the objects or from the beam, e.g. correction signals: object or beam position registration
G06T 2207/30148
Industrial image inspection: semiconductor; IC; Wafer