Pattern inspection apparatus and pattern inspection method

A pattern inspection method for an inspection apparatus including a sensor and a stage, the pattern inspection method comprising:

• virtually dividing a whole of an inspection region of an inspection target object into stripe regions, each of the stripe regions including a corresponding one of a plurality of discrete small regions, and each of the stripe regions and the plurality of discrete small regions having a same width as a width of the whole of the inspection region;
• performing a pre-scan such that the pre-scan is completed before being affected by a temperature change in the inspection apparatus, by controlling to acquire an optical image in each of the plurality of discrete small regions in order, while relatively moving the sensor and the stage without performing imaging with respect to a region located between each of the plurality of discrete small regions;
• performing a full-scan by controlling to acquire an optical image in each small region of the stripe regions in the whole of the inspection region of the inspection target object in order while relatively moving the sensor and the stage;
• calculating a first positional deviation amount between a dimension of a figure in each optical image acquired when capturing images of the plurality of discrete small regions in relation to the pre-scan and a dimension of a figure in a reference image corresponding to the each optical image;
• generating a first positional deviation amount map of the whole of the inspection region by using the first positional deviation amount of each of the plurality of discrete small regions;
• generating a second positional deviation amount map by using data acquired by the full-scan;
• generating a first positional deviation difference map by calculating a difference between the first positional deviation amount map and the second positional deviation amount map;
• generating a third positional deviation amount map from the first positional deviation difference map and the second positional deviation amount map, the third positional deviation amount map corresponding to a corrected positional deviation amount map that compensates for the temperature change;
• judging existence of a value exceeding an allowable value, in values defined by the third positional deviation amount map;
• and
• outputting a judgement result to indicate whether a mask is allowable, wherein
• the plurality of discrete small regions are disposed apart from each other at a particular distance to suppress bias of the inspection region, and are provided within the stripe regions;
• and
• an area of one of the plurality of discrete small regions is less than an area of the region that is located between two consecutive discrete small regions from among the plurality of discrete small regions.

A pattern inspection method for an inspection apparatus including a sensor and a stage, the pattern inspection method comprising:

• virtually dividing a whole of an inspection region of the inspection target object into stripe regions, each of the stripe regions including a corresponding one of a plurality of discrete small regions, and each of the stripe regions and the plurality of discrete small regions having a same width as a width of the whole of inspection region;
• performing a pre-scan such that the pre-scan is completed before being affected by a temperature change in the inspection apparatus, by controlling to acquire an optical image in each of the plurality of discrete small regions in order, while relatively moving the sensor and the stage without performing imaging with respect to a region located between each of the plurality of discrete small regions;
• performing a full-scan by controlling to acquire an optical image in each of the stripe regions in the whole of the inspection region of the inspection target object in order while relatively moving the sensor and the stage;
• generating a first dimension error amount map by using data acquired by the pre-scan;
• generating a second dimension error amount map by using data acquired by the full-scan;
• generating a first dimension error amount difference map by calculating a difference between the first dimension error amount map and the second dimension error amount map;
• generating a third dimension error amount map from the first dimension error amount difference map and the second dimension error amount map, the third dimension error amount map corresponding to a corrected dimension error amount map that compensates for the temperature change;
• judging existence of a value exceeding an allowable value, in values defined by the third dimension error amount map;
• and
• outputting a judgment result to indicate whether a mask is allowable, wherein
• the plurality of discrete small regions are disposed apart from each other at a particular distance to suppress bias of the inspection region, and are provided within the stripe regions;
• and
• an area of one of the plurality of discrete small regions is less than an area of the region that is located between two consecutive discrete small regions from among the plurality of discrete small regions.