US 8,804,110 B2Granted

Fault inspection device and fault inspection method

AssigneeHitachi High-Technologies Corporation

InventorsYuta Urano, Shigenobu Maruyama, Toshiyuki Nakao, Toshifumi Honda, Yukihiro Shibata

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Abstract

Proposed is a defect inspection method whereby: illuminating light having a substantially uniform illumination intensity distribution in one direction of a sample surface irradiated on the sample surface; multiple scattered light components, which are output in multiple independent directions, are detected among the scattered light from the sample surface and multiple corresponding scattered light detection signals are obtained; at least one of the multiple scattered light detection signals is processed and the presence of defects is determined; at least one of the multiple scattered light detection signals that correspond to each of the points determined by the processing as a defect is processed and the dimensions of the defect are determined; and the position and dimensions of the defect on the sample surface, at each of the points determined as a defect, are displayed.

Claims8

Dependent claims

A defect inspection device comprising:

an irradiating unit, the irradiating unit comprising:
an illumination light adjusting unit which adjusts light emitted from a light source into illumination light having predetermined irradiation conditions;
and
an illumination intensity distribution control unit which controls an illumination intensity so that an illumination intensity in a predetermined detection target area out of an illumination area on a surface of a sample on which the illumination light is irradiated is 50% or more of an illumination intensity at a center position of the illumination light on a surface of the sample and an illumination intensity in an illumination area other than the predetermined detection target area is 0.1% or less of an illumination intensity at a center position of the illumination light on a surface of the sample;
a scanning unit which scans the sample in a direction perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the illumination area in the irradiating unit;
a detecting unit which detects scattered light generated from a surface of the sample due to illumination light irradiated by the irradiating unit;
and
a determining unit, the determining unit comprising:
a defect presence/absence determining unit which processes a detection signal based on scattered light from a surface of the sample detected by the detecting unit and determines presence/absence of a defect on a surface of the sample;
and
a defect dimension determining unit which determines, when presence of a defect is determined by the defect presence/absence determining unit, a dimension of the defect;
wherein the illumination intensity distribution control unit comprises:
a light-shielding unit which shields part of an illumination intensity distribution at a position of an intermediate image corresponding to a center position of the illumination light;
and
an imaging unit which forms the intermediate image on a surface of the sample.

12 more elements

A defect inspection method which comprises:

an irradiating step, the irradiating step comprising:
an illumination-light adjusting step for adjusting light emitted from a light source into illumination light having predetermined irradiation conditions;
and
an illumination-intensity-distribution controlling step for controlling an illumination intensity so that an illumination intensity in a predetermined detection target area out of an illumination area on a surface of a sample on which the illumination light is irradiated is 50% or more of an illumination intensity at a center position of the illumination light on a surface of the sample and an illumination intensity in an illumination area other than the predetermined detection target area is 0.1% or less of an illumination intensity at a center position of the illumination light on a surface of the sample;
a scanning step for scanning the sample in a direction perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the illumination area in the irradiating step;
a detecting step for detecting scattered light generated from a surface of the sample due to illumination light irradiated by the irradiation step;
and
a determining step, the determining step comprising:
a defect-presence/absence-determining step for processing a detection signal based on scattered light from a surface of the sample detected in the detecting step and determining presence/absence of a defect on a surface of the sample;
and
a defect-dimension-determining step for determining, when presence of a defect is determined in the defect-presence/absence-determining step, a dimension of the defect;
wherein the illumination-intensity-distribution controlling step comprises:
a light-shielding step for shielding part of an illumination intensity distribution at a position of an intermediate image corresponding to a center position of the illumination light;
and
an imaging step for forming the intermediate image on a surface of the sample.

12 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 13/703,414Filed 20 May 2011
Priority: JP 2010-17133330 Jul 2010
Published: US 2013/0141715 A16 Jun 2013
Granted: 12 Aug 2014
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification11 codes

G01N 21/94
Investigating the presence of flaws or contamination: investigating contamination, e.g. dust
G01N 21/47
Systems in which incident light is modified in accordance with the properties of the material investigated: scattering, i.e. diffuse reflection
G01N 21/8806
Investigating the presence of flaws or contamination: specially adapted optical and illumination features
G01N 21/9501
Characterised by the material or shape of the object to be examined: semiconductor wafers