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US 9,805,909 B1Granted
Method for detecting voids in interconnects and an inspection system
AssigneeApplied Materials Israel Ltd.
InventorsDror Shemesh, Lei Zhong
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An inspection system that includes charged particle optics that irradiate a bottom of a hole with a charged particle beam propagated along an optical axis, an energy dispersive x-ray detector and a processor. The x-ray detector detects x-ray photons emitted from the bottom of the hole and generates detection signals indicative of the x-ray photons. The processor processes the detection signals to provide an estimate of the bottom of the hole.
Claims15
A method for detecting voids in an interconnect, the method comprises:
- generating or receiving information about a group of points of an upper surface of an object, where points of the group of points are spaced apart from each other and the group of points belong to a group of interaction volumes that comprise a group of interconnects, wherein the interaction volumes of the group of interaction volumes are ideally identical to each other;
- irradiating the group of points with a charged particle beam thereby causing the group of interaction volumes to interact with charged particles of the charged particle beam;
- detecting particles resulting from the irradiating of the group of points;
- wherein the particles are at least one out of (a) X-ray photons emitted from the group of interaction volumes and (b) backscattered electrons emitted from the group of interaction volumes;
- generating detection signals that are indicative of the particles;
- and
- processing the detection signals to provide an estimate about a presence of at least one void within at least one of the interconnects of the group of interconnects.
4 more elements
An inspection system, comprising:
- charged particle optics configured to irradiate an object with a charged particle beam that propagates along an optical axis;
- a particle detector configured to detect particles resulting from the irradiating of the object and generate detection signals indicative of the particles, wherein the particles are at least one out of (a) X-ray photons emitted from the group of interaction volumes and (b) backscattered electrons emitted from the group of interaction volumes;
- and
- a processor configured to:
- (i) generate or receive information about a group of points of an upper surface of the object, where points of the group of points are spaced apart from each other and the group of points belong to a group of interaction volumes that comprise a group of interconnects, wherein the interaction volumes of the group of interaction volumes are ideally identical to each other;
- (ii) control the charged particle optics to irradiate the group of points with a charged particle beam thereby causing the group of interaction volumes to interact with charged particles of the charged particle beam;
- (iii) receive the detection signals from the detector;
- and
- (iv) process the detection signals to provide an estimate about a presence of at least one void within at least one of the interconnects of the group of interconnects.
6 more elements
A computer program product that stores instructions that once executed by a computer causes the computer to execute the steps of:
- generating or receiving information about a group of points of an upper surface of an object;
- wherein points of the group of points are spaced apart from each other;
- wherein the group of points belong to a group of interaction volumes that comprise a group of interconnects;
- wherein the interaction volumes of the group are ideally identical to each other;
- irradiating the group of points with a charged particle beam thereby causing the group of interaction volumes to interact with charged particles of the charged particle beam;
- detecting particles resulting from the irradiating of the group of points;
- wherein the particles are at least one out of (a) X-ray photons emitted from the group of interaction volumes and (b) backscattered electrons emitted from the group of interaction volumes;
- generating detection signals indicative of the particles;
- and
- processing the detection signals to provide an estimate about a presence of at least one void within at least one of the interconnects of the group of interconnects.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.