# US 9,040,937 B2 · Charged particle beam apparatus > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 9,040,937 B2 - Document ID: US9040937B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 14/391,671 - Filed: 2013-03-11 - Published: 2015-03-05 - Granted: 2015-05-26 - Earliest claimed: 2012-04-13 - Assignees: Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation - Applicants: Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation - Inventors: Kohei Yamaguchi; Takehiro Hirai; Ryo Nakagaki - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9040937B2 ## CPC - G06T 7/0004: {Industrial image inspection} - G06T 7/001: {using an image reference approach} - H01J 37/222: {Image processing arrangements associated with the tube} - H01J 37/26: Electron or ion microscopes; Electron or ion diffraction tubes - H01J 37/28: with scanning beams {(H01J37/268, H01J37/292, H01J37/2955 take precedence)} - H10P 74/23: {characterised by multiple measurements, corrections, marking or sorting processes} - G06T 2207/10061: from scanning electron microscope - G06T 2207/30148: Semiconductor; IC; Wafer - H01J 2237/24592: Inspection and quality control of devices - H01J 2237/2817: Pattern inspection - H10P 74/203: {Structural properties, e.g. testing or measuring thicknesses, line widths, warpage, bond strengths or physical defects} - G06T: IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL - H01J: ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS (spark-gaps H01T; electric arc lamps H05B31/00; particle accelerators H05H) - H10P: GENERIC PROCESSES OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF DEVICES COVERED BY CLASS H10 ## Abstract In a pattern inspection of a semiconductor circuit, to specify a cause of a process defect, not only a distribution on and across wafer of the number of defects but also more detailed, that is, the fact that how many defects occurred where on the semiconductor pattern is needed to be specified in some cases. Accordingly, the present invention aims to provide an apparatus capable of easily specifying a cause of a process defect based upon a positional relationship of a distribution of defect occurrence frequency and a pattern. The apparatus includes: a charged particle beam optical system for detecting secondary charged particles by irradiating the charged particle beam to the sample; an image processing unit for, based upon a plurality of images to be inspected that are obtained by the secondary charged particles, obtaining an occurrence frequency of defect candidates for each of predetermined regions inside the detected image; and a display unit for displaying the distribution of the occurrence frequency of the defect candidates so that a positional relationship to the pattern is recognized. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A charged particle beam apparatus, which detects a defect of a pattern of a sample by irradiating a charged particle beam thereto, the charged particle beam apparatus comprising: a charged particle beam optical system for detecting secondary charged particles by irradiating the charged particle beam to the sample; an image processing unit for, based upon a plurality of images to be inspected that are obtained by the secondary charged particles, obtaining a two-dimensional distribution in a sample surface of an occurrence frequency of defect candidates for each of predetermined regions inside the detected image; and a display unit for displaying the distribution of the occurrence frequency of the defect candidates in association with the pattern. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image processing unit obtains an occurrence frequency of defect candidates every pixel unit. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image processing unit comprises: a classifying unit for classifying a plurality of images to be inspected into a plurality of groups; a template image generation unit for generating a template image that is obtained based upon images of each of the plurality of groups; a defect detection unit for detecting defect candidates by comparing the image to be inspected with the template image of a portion corresponding to the image to be inspected; and an arithmetic processing unit for finding an occurrence frequency of the defect candidates by counting the number of times in which determinations are made as the defect candidates in each of the pixels on the template image. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the classifying unit carries out a classifying process based upon either of coordinate values at which the image to be inspected is acquired or the degree of similarity between the images to be inspected, or based upon both of these. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: selection means for selecting a wafer, a die or an observation place, wherein, by using an image of the wafer, die or observation place selected by the selection means, the occurrence frequency of the defect candidates is found. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, by using images to be inspected obtained from a plurality of wafers, the occurrence frequency of the defect candidates is found. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 1, wherein kinds of defects are classified based upon the occurrence frequency of the defect candidates and positions of the defect candidates of the image to be inspected. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 7, wherein, based upon the degree of overlaid state between the region having a predetermined occurrence frequency or more of the defect candidates and the region of the defect candidates of the image to be inspected, determination is made between a systematic defect and a random defect. ### Claim 9 (depends on 3) The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the template image is an image obtained by adding a plurality of the images to be inspected. ### Claim 10 (depends on 3) The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 3, wherein, from the plurality of images to be inspected, the classifying unit classifies images including rotation symmetrical or inversion symmetrical circuit patterns as one group. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays the occurrence frequency of the defect candidates by using a color corresponding to the occurrence frequency for each of the predetermined regions. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays the occurrence frequency of the defect candidates by using a color corresponding to the occurrence frequency for each of the defect candidates. ### Claim 13 (depends on 3) The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the occurrence frequency of defects is displayed in an overlaid state with the template image, the image to be inspected, or design data corresponding to the image to be inspected. ### Claim 14 (depends on 2) The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the occurrence frequency of the defect candidates found every pixel unit is integrated based upon every plural pixels, and displayed as the occurrence frequency of defect candidates for every corresponding plural pixels.