Method to detect and predict metal silicide defects in a microelectronic device during the manufacture of an integrated circuit

Abstract

The present teachings provide methods for detection of metal silicide defects in a microelectronic device. In an exemplary embodiment, a portion of a semiconductor substrate may be positioned in a field of view of an inspection tool. The method also includes producing (120) a voltage contrast image of the portion, wherein the image is obtained using a collection field that is stronger than an incident field. The method also includes using (130) the voltage contrast image to determine a metal silicide defect in a microelectronic device. Other embodiments include an inspection system (200) for detecting metal silicide defects and a method of manufacturing an integrated circuit (300).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.