Entries |
Document | Title | Date |
20080204737 | MASK PATTERN INSPECTION APPARATUS WITH KOEHLER ILLUMINATION SYSTEM USING LIGHT SOURCE OF HIGH SPATIAL COHERENCY - A semiconductor device fabrication-use mask pattern inspection apparatus having an optical configuration adaptable for achievement of a Koehler illumination system using a light source high in spatial coherency is disclosed. This apparatus includes a laser light source, a beam expander which is disposed between the laser source and a mask for expanding laser light to form an optical path of collimated light rays, and a beam splitter placed in the collimated light ray optical path for splitting the optical path into two optical paths. In one of these paths, a transmissive illumination optics is placed which irradiates transmission light onto the mask; in the other path, a reflective illumination optics is placed for irradiation of reflected light onto the mask. A pattern image of this mask is detected by a photosensitive device to generate a detected pattern image, which is sent to a comparator for comparison with a fiducial image thereof. | 08-28-2008 |
20080204738 | Method for acquiring high-resolution images of defects on the upper surface of the wafer edge - A method for acquiring high-resolution images of defects on the upper surface of the wafer edge is disclosed. For this purpose, first the position of at least one defect on the upper surface of the wafer edge is determined. The thus determined position of the defect is stored. Then the wafer is transferred into device for micro-inspection, in which the defect is examined more closely and imaged. The images acquired in the device for micro-inspection are deposited in a directory. | 08-28-2008 |
20080204739 | Process Excursion Detection - A method for analyzing defect information on a substrate, including logically dividing the substrate into zones, and detecting defects on the substrate to produce the defect information. The defect information from the substrate is analyzed on a zone by zone basis to produce defect level classifications for the defects within each zone. The zonal defect level classifications are analyzed according to at least one analysis method. The defect level classifications are preferably selected from a group of defect level classifications that is specified by a recipe. Preferably, the at least one analysis method includes at least one of zonal defect distribution, automatic defect classification, spatial signature analysis, and excursion detection. The defect level classifications preferably include at least one of individual defect, defect cluster, and spatial signature analysis signature. In one embodiment the defect information is logically divided into configurable zones after the defects on the substrate have been detected. | 08-28-2008 |
20080212084 | EDGE INSPECTION - A semiconductor inspection tool comprises an edge top camera for obtaining images of a top edge of a wafer, an edge normal camera for obtaining images of a normal edge of the wafer, and a controller for receiving the images of the top edge of the wafer and the images of the normal edge of the wafer and for analyzing the images of the top edge of the wafer and the images of the normal edge of the wafer for wafer edge defects. | 09-04-2008 |
20080218751 | Inspection device and inspection method of an object to be inspected - An inspection device of an object, comprising: a laser beam source for oscillating a laser beam and irradiating the laser beam onto a surface of an object to be inspected, a rotary table for loading and rotating the object, a moving mechanism for moving the rotary table in a transfer direction of the object, a plurality of light receptors disposed above the object for receiving a scattering light scattered from the surface of the object when the laser beam irradiated from the laser beam source onto the surface of the object loaded on the rotary table, and a data processor for performing operations on the basis of received signals of the scattering light received by the plurality of light receptors and discriminating a boundary position between a flat plane area of the surface of the object which is irradiated with the laser beam and a predetermined area corresponding to an edge portion outside the plane area. | 09-11-2008 |
20080225283 | IMAGING SYSTEM WITH HIGH-SPECTRUM RESOLUTION AND IMAGING METHOD FOR THE SAME - An imaging system comprises a light source module configured to generate a combination beam, a controller configured to control the light source module, an image-capturing module configured to capture the reflected beam by a sample. The light source module comprises a plurality of light-emitting devices configured to emit lights of different wavelengths, and the controller is configured to drive the light-emitting devices to emit the lights to form the combination beam consisting of at least two lights of different wavelengths. An imaging method comprises the steps of forming a first combination beam consisting essentially of at least two lights of different wavelengths, capturing the reflected first combination beam by a sample to have a first image, forming a second combination beam consisting of at least two lights of different wavelengths and capturing the reflected second combination beam by the sample to have a second image. | 09-18-2008 |
20080225284 | METHOD, APPARATUS, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR OPTIMIZING INSPECTION RECIPES USING PROGRAMMED DEFECTS - A method and computer program product for implementing inspection recipe services are provided. The method includes defining a modified reticle pitch for use in inspecting programmed defects on a test structure, the modified reticle pitch extending the distance of one reticle field plus a portion of an adjacent reticle field on the test structure. The test structure includes a number of arrays linearly arranged on the test structure and spaced equidistant, and each of the arrays corresponds to a reticle field and includes a number of cells. The method also includes using the modified reticle field pitch and an alignment site on the test structure to perform a random mode inspection of the test structure. | 09-18-2008 |
20080231845 | HIGH RESOLUTION WAFER INSPECTION SYSTEM - A method for inspecting a region, including irradiating the region via an optical system with a pump beam at a pump wavelength. A probe beam at a probe wavelength irradiates the region so as to generate returning probe beam radiation from the region. The beams are scanned across the region at a scan rate. A detector receives the returning probe radiation, and forms an image of the region that corresponds to a resolution better than pump and probe Abbe limits of the optical system. Roles of the pump and probe beams may be alternated, and a modulation frequency of the pump beam may be changed, to produce more information. Information extracted from the probe signal can also differentiate between different materials on the region | 09-25-2008 |
20080231846 | LEVEL DETECTION APPARATUS - A level detection apparatus includes an illumination slit in which a rectangular first opening which causes illumination light to pass is formed, an optical system configured to illuminate a target object surface by illumination light passing through the illumination slit and focuses reflected light from the target object surface, first and second detection slits which are arranged in front of and in back of a focal point and in each of which a second opening is formed such that a short side of a rectangle is shorter than a short side of a illumination slit image formed by the illumination slit and a long side of the rectangle is larger than a long side of the illumination slit image, first and second light amount sensors configured to detect amounts of light of the reflected lights passing through the first and second detection slits, and a calculating unit configured to calculate a level of the target object surface based on outputs from the first and second light amount sensors. | 09-25-2008 |
20080239302 | Inspecting apparatus for glass substrate - An inspecting apparatus for a glass substrate detects blurs of a green color filter layer, a blue color filter layer, a column spacer layer, a pixel layer of a thin film transistor, or the like, which are generally hardly inspected. The inspecting apparatus for a glass substrate includes: a first illumination unit supplying reflective light to a surface of the substrate to inspect whether the surface of the substrate is defective or not; a second illumination unit supplying transmissive light from a rear side of the substrate to inspect whether the interior of the substrate is defective or not; a latticed rear plate provided on a rear surface of the substrate; and a driving interferometer system generating a phase difference of light by driving such that a driving guide is moved along the rear plate or the rear plate itself is moved. | 10-02-2008 |
20080246959 | Method of manufacturing nitride semiconductor device including SiC substrate and apparatus for manufacturing nitride semiconductor device - Excitation light is irradiated onto a GaN layer on a silicon carbide substrate constituting a layered product that is set on a stage. Then light is emitted from a defective part caused by a structural defect of the silicon carbide substrate out of the GaN layer. By using this light luminescence phenomena, a position of a defective part of the silicon carbide substrate can be detected. | 10-09-2008 |
20080259326 | Die Column Registration - A method for inspecting a plurality of dies, that are typically disposed on a surface of a semiconducting wafer. Each of the dies includes respective functional features within the die. The method consists of identifying within a first die a first multiplicity of the functional features having respective characteristics, and measuring respective first locations of the first multiplicity with respect to an origin of the first die. Within a group of second dies a second multiplicity of the functional features having the respective characteristics is identified, respective second locations of the second multiplicity are measured. The second locations are compared to the first locations to determine a location of an origin of the group of the second dies. | 10-23-2008 |
20080259327 | Device for Inspecting a Microscopic Component | 10-23-2008 |
20080273196 | Confocal wafer inspection system and method - A semiconductor wafer inspection system and method is provided which uses a multiple element arrangement, such as an offset fly lens array. The preferred embodiment uses a laser to transmit light energy toward a beam expander, which expands the light energy to create an illumination field. An offset fly lens array converts light energy from the illumination field into an offset pattern of illumination spots. A lensing arrangement, including a first lens, a transmitter/reflector, an objective, and a Mag tube imparts light energy onto the specimen and passes the light energy toward a pinhole mask. The pinhole mask is mechanically aligned with the offset fly lens array. Light energy passing through each pinhole in the pinhole mask is directed toward a relay lens, which guides light energy onto a sensor. The offset fly lens array corresponds to the pinhole mask. The offset pattern of the offset fly lens array is chosen such that spots produced can be recombined into a continuous image, and the system utilizes a time delay and integration charge coupled device for rapid sensing along with an autofocus system that measures and cancels topological features of the specimen. | 11-06-2008 |
20080285023 | Optical inspection of a specimen using multi-channel responses from the specimen - A method and inspection system to inspect a first pattern on a specimen for defects against a second pattern that is intended to be the same where the second pattern has known responses to at least one probe. The inspection is performed by applying at least one probe to a point of the first pattern on the specimen to generate at least two responses from the specimen. Then the first and second responses are detected from the first pattern, and each of those responses is then compared with the corresponding response from the same point of the second pattern to develop first and second response difference signals. Those first and second response difference signals are then processed together to unilaterally determine a first pattern defect list. | 11-20-2008 |
20080291437 | METHOD OF INSPECTING A SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE AND AN APPARATUS THEREOF - A method and apparatus of inspecting a sample, in which the sample is inspected under a plurality of inspection conditions, and inspection data obtained by inspecting the sample under each of the plurality of inspection conditions and position information on the sample of the inspection date in correspondence with the respective inspection conditions, are stored. The inspection data for each of the plurality of inspection conditions is against each other by the use of the position information on the sample to determine a position to be inspected in detail, and an image of the sample at a position to be inspected in detail is obtained. The obtained image is classified, the inspection condition of the sample by the use of information of classification of the image is determined. | 11-27-2008 |
20080297783 | DEFECT INSPECTION SYSTEM AND METHOD OF THE SAME - In an inspection subject substrate, there is a problem that a defect signal is overlooked due to scattered light from a pattern and sensitivity decreases in an irregular circuit pattern part. The inventors propose a defect inspection method, characterized by comprising: an illumination step of guiding light emitted from a light source to a predetermined area on an inspection subject substrate under a plurality of predetermined optical conditions; a detection step of obtaining an electric signal by guiding scattered light components propagating in a predetermined range of azimuthal angle and in a predetermined range of elevation angle to a detector for each of a plurality of scattered light distributions occurred correspondingly to the plurality of optical conditions in the predetermined area; and a defect determination step of determining a defect based on the plurality of electric signals obtained in the detection step. | 12-04-2008 |
20080304055 | SURFACE DEFECT INSPECTION METHOD AND APPARATUS - A surface defect inspection apparatus is structured to add detection signals of multi-directionally detected scattered lights to detect a tiny defect and to individually process the respective detection signals to prevent an error failing to detect an anisotropic defect. | 12-11-2008 |
20080304056 | METHODS FOR DETECTING AND CLASSIFYING DEFECTS ON A RETICLE - Methods for detecting and classifying defects on a reticle are provided. One method includes acquiring images of the reticle at first and second conditions during inspection of the reticle. The first condition is different than the second condition. The method also includes detecting the defects on the reticle using one or more of the images acquired at the first condition. In addition, the method includes classifying an importance of the defects detected on the reticle using one or more of the images acquired at the second condition. The detecting and classifying steps are performed substantially simultaneously during the inspection. | 12-11-2008 |
20080304057 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING LIGHT SCATTERED FROM A WORKPIECE SURFACE IN A SURFACE INSPECTION SYSTEM - In one embodiment, a surface analyzer system comprises a radiation targeting assembly to target a radiation beam onto a surface; and a scattered radiation collecting assembly that collects radiation scattered from the surface. The radiation targeting assembly generates primary and secondary beams. Data collected from the reflections of the primary and secondary beams may be used in a dynamic range extension routine, alone or in combination with a power attenuation routine. | 12-11-2008 |
20080304058 | Coordinate measuring machine and method for structured illumination of substrates - A coordinate measuring machine ( | 12-11-2008 |
20080316475 | Defect inspection apparatus and defect inspection method - An apparatus and a method for defect inspection enables a reduction in the amount of noise light from an underlying layer and a good defect inspection reliably. The apparatus includes an illumination device that irradiates, with illumination light, a substrate to be inspected including a resist layer having cyclic patterns formed on the upper layer, and an optical image forming system that forms an image of the substrate to be inspected according to light that emerges from the substrate to be inspected by the irradiation with illumination light. The wavelength of the illumination light is set so that intensity of the light from the surface of the resist layer, among the light emerged from the substrate to be inspected, is greater than that of light that has passed through the surface of the cyclic pattern layer formed below the resist layer. | 12-25-2008 |
20090009754 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR INSPECTING A WAFER WITH INCREASED SENSITIVITY - One system includes an inspection subsystem configured to direct light to a spot on the wafer and to generate output signals responsive to light scattered from the spot on the wafer. The system also includes a gas flow subsystem configured to replace a gas located proximate to the spot on the wafer with a medium that scatters less of the light than the gas thereby increasing the sensitivity of the system. In addition, the system includes a processor configured to detect defects on the wafer using the output signals. | 01-08-2009 |
20090009755 | METHOD FOR DETECTING POSITION OF DEFECT ON SEMICONDUCTOR WAFER - A method of this invention involves: detecting a shape of an outer periphery of a semiconductor wafer with a first detecting device; determining a center position of the semiconductor wafer based on a detected result by the first detecting device; receiving a light beam reflected from a surface of the semiconductor wafer with a second detecting device; detecting an alignment part based on a detected result by the second detecting device to determine a position of the alignment part; and detecting a defect based on the detected result by the second detecting device to determine a position of the defect. | 01-08-2009 |
20090027664 | Defect inspection apparatus and its method - In a defect inspection apparatus for performing an inspection with an optical system, the dimension of a defect is measured substantially concurrently with detection of the defect. In order to promote the accuracy of measurement of the defect dimension, a collation unit is provided which collates the defect dimension by using a standard sample such as a standard grain. | 01-29-2009 |
20090033925 | VISUAL INSPECTION APPARATUS FOR FLEXIBLE PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARDS - An exemplary visual inspection apparatus for a flexible printed circuit board includes a frame, an inspection station, a control system, a roller system and a power system. The inspection station is disposed on the frame. The inspection station has an inspection surface for placing the flexible printed circuit board thereon for visual inspection. The roller system includes a first roller for unwinding a flexible printed circuit board therefrom and a second roller for winding up the flexible printed circuit board therearound. The power system includes a driving device and a braking device. The driving device includes a torque motor engaging with the second roller to drive the second roller to roll. The braking device includes a detent engaging with the first roller to stop rolling of the first roller. The control system electrically connects to the power system for controlling the power system. | 02-05-2009 |
20090040512 | Semiconductor wafer inspection device and method - The surface of an epitaxial wafer is inspected using an optical scattering method. The intensities of light scattered with a narrow scattering angle and light scattered with, a wide scattering angle reflected from laser light scatterers (LLS) on the wafer surface are detected. If the intensifies of narrowly and widely scattered lights are within a prescribed sizing range, it is judged whether the laser light scatterer is a particle or killer defect by deciding into which zone ( | 02-12-2009 |
20090040513 | PATTERN INSPECTION APPARATUS AND PATTERN INSPECTION METHOD - A pattern inspection apparatus includes a light source configured to emit a pulsed light, a stage on which an inspection target workpiece is placed, a sensor, including a plurality of light receiving elements two-dimensionally arrayed, configured to capture a pattern image in a two-dimensional region of the inspection target workpiece which is irradiated with the pulsed light, by using the plurality of light receiving elements, and a comparing unit configured to compare data of the pattern image with predetermined reference pattern image data, wherein the stage moves to be shifted by a number of pixels, being the number of natural number times one pixel, between pulses of the pulsed light. | 02-12-2009 |
20090040514 | Method and apparatus for scanning, stitching and damping measurements of a double sided metrology inspection tool - A system for inspecting specimens such as semiconductor wafers is provided. The system provides scanning of dual-sided specimens using a damping arrangement which filters unwanted acoustic and seismic vibration, including an optics arrangement which scans a first portion of the specimen and a translation or rotation arrangement for translating or rotating the specimen to a position where the optics arrangement can scan the remaining portion(s) of the specimen. The system further includes means for stitching the scans together, thereby providing both damping of the specimen and the need for smaller and less expensive optical elements. | 02-12-2009 |
20090046281 | Method and System for Automated Inspection System Characterization and Monitoring - A method and system characterizing and monitoring an automated inspection system are provided. A method for automatically characterizing an automatic inspection system for photomasks may include removing portions of an optical attenuator layer disposed on a substrate in order to expose portions of the substrate and create a plurality of test features. The may further include forming a plurality of programmed defects, on the optical attenuator layer, the plurality of programmed defects comprising at least one of an optical reflector and an optical absorber. | 02-19-2009 |
20090059217 | SUBSTRATE PROCESSING METHOD, SUBSTRATE PROCESSING SYSTEM, PROGRAM, AND RECORDING MEDIUM - A wafer measurement/inspection instrument receives information on at least one of a processing result and an operating state of at least one of a coater/developer that performs film forming/resist processing to a wafer and an exposure apparatus that performs liquid immersion exposure to the wafer, and optimizes inspection conditions of the wafer based on the received information (steps | 03-05-2009 |
20090066942 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR EVALUATING AN OBJECT THAT HAS A REPETITIVE PATTERN - A method and system for evaluating an object that has a repetitive pattern. Illumination optics of an optical unit are adapted to scan a spot of radiation over a repetitive pattern that includes multiple regularly repeating structural elements that are optically distinguishable from their background, generating a diffraction pattern that includes multiple diffraction lobes. Collection optics are adapted to focus radiation from the repetitive pattern onto a detector. The focused radiation includes a single diffraction lobe while not including other diffraction lobes. A grey field detector generates detection signals, responsive to the focused collected radiation. The optical unit is adapted to maintain, at a detection surface of the grew field detector, a radiation pattern that includes a first radiation pattern component resulting from the repetitive pattern and a second radiation pattern component resulting from a defect; wherein the first radiation pattern component is stronger than the second radiation component. | 03-12-2009 |
20090066943 | Apparatus And Method For Inspecting Pattern - A method and apparatus for inspecting defects includes emitting an ultraviolet light from an ultraviolet light source, illuminating a specimen with the ultraviolet light in which a polarization condition of the ultraviolet light is controlled, controlling a polarization condition of light reflected from the specimen which is illuminated by the polarization condition controlled ultraviolet light, detecting the light reflected from the specimen, processing the detected light so as to detect defects, and outputting information about the defects. The ultraviolet light source is disposed in a clean environment supplied with clean gas and separated from outside. | 03-12-2009 |
20090073430 | INSPECTION APPARATUS AND INSPECTION METHOD - An inspection apparatus includes: a first light source having a first plurality of surface emitting laser elements which emit fundamental waves, respectively; a first illumination optical system configured to illuminate a first plurality of fundamental waves emitted from the first plurality of surface emitting laser elements on an object to be inspected; and a stage on which the object to be inspected is placed. | 03-19-2009 |
20090079974 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR LITHOGRAPHY PROCESS CONTROL - Methods and systems for evaluating and controlling a lithography process are provided. For example, a method for reducing within wafer variation of a critical metric of a lithography process may include measuring at least one property of a resist disposed upon a wafer during the lithography process. A critical metric of a lithography process may include, but may not be limited to, a critical dimension of a feature formed during the lithography process. The method may also include altering at least one parameter of a process module configured to perform a step of the lithography process to reduce within wafer variation of the critical metric. The parameter of the process module may be altered in response to at least the one measured property of the resist. | 03-26-2009 |
20090091752 | APPARATUS AND A METHOD FOR INSPECTION OF A MASK BLANK, A METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING A REFLECTIVE EXPOSURE MASK, A METHOD FOR REFLECTIVE EXPOSURE, AND A METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SEMICONDUCTOR INTEGRATED CIRCUITS - The mask blank inspection apparatus is constituted of a stage for mounting a reflective mask blank thereon, a light source for generating inspection light, a mirror serving as an illuminating optics, an imaging optical system, a beam splitter, two two-dimensional array sensors, signal storage units, an image processing unit, a main control unit for controlling operation of the whole apparatus, the first sensor being located at a position which is displaced by a predetermined distance from the focal plane of a first light beam, the second sensor being located at a position which is displaced by a predetermined distance from the focal plane of a second light beam along a opposite direction, whereby accurately and conveniently inspecting presence/absence and types of defects in reflective mask blank. | 04-09-2009 |
20090103080 | Surface inspecting apparatus - A surface inspecting apparatus is provided with an illuminating means for illuminating a repeated pattern formed on the surface of an object to be inspected by linear polarization; a setting means for setting an angle formed by a direction on the surface of an incidence plane of the linear polarization and a repeating direction of the repeated pattern at a prescribed value other than 0; an extracting means for extracting polarization components vertical to an oscillation surface of the linear polarization, from light generated in a specular direction from the repeated pattern; a light receiving means for receiving the light extracted by the extracting means, and outputting light intensity of the specular reflection light; and a detecting means for detecting defects of the repeated pattern, based on the light intensity of the specular reflection light outputted from the light receiving means. The setting means sets the angle formed by the direction on the surface of the incidence plane of the linear polarization and the repeating direction of the repeated pattern so that a difference between the intensity of light from a normal portion on the surface and the light intensity of light from a defective portion on the surface is at maximum. | 04-23-2009 |
20090122306 | Solder Material Inspecting Device - Before an electronic component is mounted on a board | 05-14-2009 |
20090135414 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR TESTING IMAGE SENSOR WAFERS TO IDENTIFY PIXEL DEFECTS - An image sensor testing apparatus is disclosed. The image sensor testing apparatus includes an electronic test system having a light source for illuminating an image sensor wafer to generate pixel data and a host processor for receiving the pixel data. An interface card coupled to the electronic test system has a programmable processor for processing the pixel data to generate processed data, the processed data transmitted to and analyzed by the host processor together with the pixel data to detect pixel defects in the image sensor wafer. | 05-28-2009 |
20090147250 | SEMICONDUCTOR WAFER SURFACE INSPECTION APPARATUS - The present invention provides an apparatus for inspecting the surface of a semiconductor wafer having a mirror surface and a chamfered outer circumferential portion by holding the outer circumferential portion of the semiconductor wafer, keeping the semiconductor held in the vertical direction and moving an inspection microscope lens toward the surface of the semiconductor wafer. The apparatus includes a wafer holding member holding the semiconductor wafer and including two or more contact portions that contact the outer circumferential portion of the semiconductor wafer. The contact portions include: a front surface contact portion that contacts a front-surface-side position of a chamfered portion of the semiconductor wafer; and a rear surface contact portion that contacts a rear-surface-side position of the chamfered portion of the semiconductor wafer at the same position as that where the front surface contact portion is arranged in the circumferential direction of the semiconductor wafer. | 06-11-2009 |
20090161097 | Method for optical inspection, detection and visualization of defects on disk-shaped Objects - A method for optical inspection, detection and visualization of defects ( | 06-25-2009 |
20090161098 | PHOTOMASK MOUNTING/HOUSING DEVICE AND RESIST INSPECTION METHOD AND RESIST INSPECTION APPARATUS USING SAME - A resist inspection apparatus is provided which has a configuration in which a reticle is separated from a pellicle. A reticle cassette is made up of two pieces of plate members. A hollowed portion with a shape allowing the reticle to be inserted into the plate member. Another hollowed portion having a shape being slightly larger than that of the resist of the reticle is formed on the plate member. In the circumference of the hollowed portion is placed a pellicle frame on which a protective film is formed in a stretched manner. In the concave portion is housed in the reticle with a resist on the reticle directed toward the hollowed portion. The reticle is put in sealed space. | 06-25-2009 |
20090185178 | SURFACE INSPECTION TOOL AND SURFACE INSPECTION METHOD - An object of the present invention is to provide a surface inspection tool in which a flat inspection range capable of measuring surface roughness of a wafer with patterns with high accuracy and in a nondestructive manner can be searched without visual search. In order to solve the object, in a surface inspection tool | 07-23-2009 |
20090201494 | Inspection Tools Supporting Multiple Operating States for Multiple Detector Arrangements - An inspection system can support operation in multiple states. For instance, when inspecting an article, such as a semiconductor wafer, the tool can switch between imaging multiple locations using respective detectors to another operating state wherein multiple detectors operating in multiple imaging modes inspect a single location. An inspection system may combine the use of multiple detectors for multiple locations and the use of multiple viewing angles or modes for the same locations and thereby achieve high throughput. The different imaging modes can comprise, for example, different collection angles, polarizations, different spectral bands, different attenuations, different focal positions relative to the wafer, and other different types of imaging. | 08-13-2009 |
20090213365 | Device and method for checking and rotating electronic components - The invention relates to a device for inspecting and rotating electronic components, particularly flip chips, comprising a component which is rotatably mounted at a position of rotation and which is used to rotate electric components. A first receiving element is fixed to the outer side of the component in order to receive a single electronic component of a carrier and to secure it during a rotational movement of the component. A second receiving element is arranged on the outer side of the component opposite the first receiving element in relation to the point of rotation such that when the component is rotated by 180° it respectively faces the carrier, and a through opening is arranged in the component between the receiving elements such that when the component is rotated by 90° or 270° the through opening faces the carrier. The invention relates to a method for inspecting and rotating electronic components, particularly flipchips. | 08-27-2009 |
20090219519 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR INSPECTING CIRCUIT STRUCTURES - An apparatus is described for scanning a circuit structure. The apparatus has a linear sensor ( | 09-03-2009 |
20090219520 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR INSPECTING A SURFACE OF A WAFER - A surface inspection apparatus and method increase wafer productivity, wherein to increase an efficiency of the surface inspection apparatus to detect defects during a scanning of the wafer surface, a scanning speed for a subsequent defect detection is varied according to an increase/decrease of defect density represented on a plurality of images acquired successively. When the density of defects is reduced, the scanning speed increases and a level of a skip rule increases, and when the density of defects increases, the scanning speed decreases and a level of the skip rule decreases to precisely detect defects, thereby increasing reliability, throughput, and productivity. | 09-03-2009 |
20090244530 | MASK INSPECTION APPARATUS - A lightweight and inexpensive mask inspection apparatus having highly efficient environmental radiation resistance is provided. The mask inspection apparatus is a mask inspection apparatus for inspecting for mask defects and includes a light source, an illuminating optical system configured to irradiate a mask with an inspection light emitted from the light source, a magnifying optical system configured to cause the inspection light with which the mask is irradiated to form an image as an optical image, and image sensor configured to acquire the optical image. The image sensor has an environmental radiation shielding member of heavy metal having a specific gravity equal to or greater than that of tantalum (Ta) at least on a side opposite to a receiving surface of a sensor chip. | 10-01-2009 |
20090244531 | OPTICAL APPARATUS, PHOTOMASK INSPECTING APPARATUS, AND EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An optical apparatus includes a laser light source for emitting a beam of light, an integrator for dividing the beam of light into plural beams of light, and a light focusing optical system for focusing the beams of light passed through the integrator. The optical apparatus also includes a stage, on which the light concentrated by the light focusing optical system is irradiated and on which an object may be placed, and includes a projecting optical system for projecting the light transmitted through the object. The following conditions satisfy the following numerical formula (1). The projecting optical system has a visual field including an effective visual field, and the integrator has a division number N corresponding to a predetermined direction in a predetermined effective visual field. A ghost image is formed in the effective visual field in the predetermined direction and has contrast γ. The light focusing optical system has numerical aperture NA | 10-01-2009 |
20090251691 | Liquid Immersion Microscope - To provide a liquid immersion microscope device enabling nondestructive liquid immersion observation of a substrate without deteriorating quality of the substrate. To attain this, a liquid immersion microscope device of the present invention includes a supporting unit supporting a substrate as an observation target, an objective lens of a liquid immersion type, a first supplying unit supplying ultrapure water as a liquid for observation to a gap between a tip of the objective lens and the substrate, a first draining unit draining the liquid for observation after observation of the substrate, a second supplying unit supplying a liquid for cleaning, which is different from the liquid for observation drained by the first draining unit, to an area, of the substrate, that has been in contact with the liquid for observation, and a second draining unit draining the liquid for cleaning after the substrate is cleaned. | 10-08-2009 |
20090279081 | DEFECT INSPECTION APPARATUS - A defect inspection apparatus for inspecting a surface of a sample includes a stage for holding the sample, an illumination optical system that irradiates a laser beam to form a linear illuminated area on the surface of the sample, a detection optical system, and a signal processing system. The detection optical system includes a detector device having a plurality of pixels for detecting light scattered from the linear illuminated area of the surface of the sample, and that outputs in parallel a plurality of detection signals having mutually different sensitivities acquired from the plurality of pixels of the detector device. The signal processing system selects an unsaturated detection signal from the plurality of detection signals and detects a defect in accordance with the selected detection signal. | 11-12-2009 |
20090296082 | Circuit board detecting device and method thereof - A circuit board detecting device and a detecting method are provided. The circuit board detecting device includes an image capture apparatus and a main unit. The image capture apparatus is coupled to the main unit to capture images of the surfaces of a sample circuit board and a test circuit board. In addition, the main unit is used to receive a sample frame and a test frame and compare the images of every object on the sample frame with the images of every object on the test frame to confirm if the test circuit board has flaws on the surface. | 12-03-2009 |
20090316143 | VISUAL INSPECTION APPARATUS, VISUAL INSPECTION METHOD, AND PERIPHERAL EDGE INSPECTION UNIT THAT CAN BE MOUNTED ON VISUAL INSPECTION APPARATUS. - This visual inspection apparatus has a macro-inspection section and a micro-inspection section. In the micro-inspection section, a inspection stage and a microscope are loaded into a loading plate. The inspection stage can be moved in any directions of the X, Y, and Z directions, and can also be rotated in the θ direction. Moreover, a peripheral edge inspection section that acquires an enlarged image of a peripheral edge of wafer W is fixed to the loading plate. The peripheral edge inspection section is arranged so as to image the peripheral edge of wafer W held by the inspection stage. | 12-24-2009 |
20090323052 | Dynamic Illumination in Optical Inspection Systems - An optical inspection system or tool can be configured to inspect objects using dynamic illumination where one or more characteristics of the illumination is/are adjusted to meet the inspection needs of different areas. For example, the illumination intensity may be increased or decreased as the tool inspects areas of memory and periphery features in a wafer die. In some embodiments, the adjustment can be based on data obtained during a pre-inspection setup sequence in which images taken based on illumination with varying characteristics are evaluated for suitability in the remainder of the inspection process. | 12-31-2009 |
20090323053 | Optical Inspection Tools Featuring Light Shaping Diffusers - An optical inspection system or tool can be configured to adjust the distribution of light by using one or more diffusers. The diffusers can be variable in some embodiments. For example, the angular or spatial distribution of the illumination can be adjusted to minimize intensity of illumination outside of an imaged area to thereby reduce illumination loss. The angular or spatial distribution may additionally or alternatively be adjusted so that the illumination across an illuminated area is substantially uniform. The use of one or more diffusers may aid in the inspection of semiconductor objects including, but not limited to, semiconductor wafers and the like. | 12-31-2009 |
20090323054 | METHOD FOR INSPECTING DEFECT AND APPARATUS FOR INSPECTING DEFECT - The present invention is an apparatus for inspecting foreign particles/defects, comprises an illumination optical system, a detection optical system, a shielding unit which is provided in said detection optical system to selectively shield diffracted light pattern coming from circuit pattern existing on an inspection object and an arithmetic processing system, wherein said shielding unit comprises a micro-mirror array device or a reflected type liquid crystal, or a transmission type liquid crystal, or an object which is transferred a shielding pattern to an optical transparent substrate, or a substrate or a film which is etched so as to leave shielding patterns, or an optical transparent substrate which can be changed in transmission by heating, sudden cold, or light illumination, or change of electric field or magnetic field, or a shielding plate of cylindrical shape or plate shape. | 12-31-2009 |
20100007875 | Field Replaceable Units (FRUs) Optimized for Integrated Metrology (IM) - An Integrated Metrology Sensor (IMS) including a plurality of Field Replaceable Units (FRUs) for measuring a target on a wafer. The FRU configurations can be optimized to include the appropriate elements, so that each FRU can be pre-aligned and calibrated in the factory to minimize the time need to swap the FRU in the field due to failure or scheduled maintenance. The FRU configuration of the IMS is optimized to shorten the time to repair a failure or perform scheduled maintenance and increase the system reliability. | 01-14-2010 |
20100014074 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETECTING SCRATCHES ON NON-SEMICONDUCTOR WAFER SURFACES - A method of detecting one or more scratches on a surface of a wafer made of a non-semiconductor material is provided. A UV beam is produced from a UV illumination source. The UV beam is incident on a front surface of the wafer. The UV beam being characterized that for scratches of a given material having a UV cutoff wavelength λ | 01-21-2010 |
20100014075 | Method and Apparatus for Inspecting Defects - An apparatus for inspecting a substrate surface is provided, which includes illumination optics for irradiating the substrate surface linearly with rectilinearly polarized light from an oblique direction, detection optics for acquiring images of the substrate surface, each of the images being formed by the light scattered from the light-irradiated substrate surface, and means for comparing an image selected as an inspection image from the plurality of substrate surface images that the detection optics has acquired to detect defects, and another image selected from the plural images of the substrate surface as a reference image different from the inspection image; the illumination optics being formed with polarization control means for controlling a polarizing direction of the light according to a particular scanning direction of the substrate or a direction orthogonal to the scanning direction. | 01-21-2010 |
20100026997 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR INSPECTING EDGE OF SEMICONDUCTOR WAFER - A linear actuator which can make a bed flat in emergency. A linear actuator ( | 02-04-2010 |
20100033716 | Optical inspection of a specimen using multi-channel responses from the specimen - A method and inspection system to inspect a first pattern on a specimen for defects against a second pattern that is intended to be the same where the second pattern has known responses to at least one probe. The inspection is performed by applying at least one probe to a point of the first pattern on the specimen to generate at least two responses from the specimen. Then the first and second responses are detected from the first pattern, and each of those responses is then compared with the corresponding response from the same point of the second pattern to develop first and second response difference signals. Those first and second response difference signals are then processed together to unilaterally determine a first pattern defect list. | 02-11-2010 |
20100060888 | COMPUTER-IMPLEMENTED METHODS FOR INSPECTING AND/OR CLASSIFYING A WAFER - Computer-implemented methods for inspecting and/or classifying a wafer are provided. One computer-implemented includes detecting defects on a wafer using one or more defect detection parameters, which are determined based on a non-spatially localized characteristic of the wafer that is determined using output responsive to light scattered from the wafer generated by an inspection system. Another computer-implemented method includes classifying a wafer based on a combination of a non-spatially localized characteristic of the wafer determined using output responsive to light scattered from the wafer generated by an inspection system and a spatially localized characteristic of the wafer determined using the output. | 03-11-2010 |
20100060889 | SUBSTRATE INSPECTION DEVICE AND SUBSTRATE INSPECTION METHOD - A substrate inspection method includes the following steps. Substrates are sequentially moved while an optical system including a light-projecting system and a light-receiving system are moved in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of each substrate, so as to change the scanned area of each substrate which is scanned with an inspection light having a specific width in the direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the substrate from the light-projecting system; data of the inspected defects of the substrates in the scanned areas are stored for each scanned area; and the stored data of the defects of the substrates in the scanned areas are updated with newly inspected data of the defects of the substrates in the same scanned areas for each substrate, and defect data of one substrate are produced based on the data of the defects of the substrates in a plurality of scanned areas. | 03-11-2010 |
20100060890 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PATTERN INSPECTION - A pattern inspection apparatus includes a pulsed light source configured to emit pulsed light; a stage configured to mount thereon an inspection target object with a pattern formed thereon; a time delay integration (TDI) sensor configured to detect, a plurality of times with a time delay, each pixel value of an optical image of the inspection target object, wherein the optical image is acquired by emitting the pulsed light onto the inspection target object, and to integrate a detected each pixel value for each pixel of the optical image; a light quantity sensor configured to detect a light quantity of the pulsed light after emitting the pulsed light onto the inspection target object; a light quantity measurement circuit configured to input the light quantity detected by the light quantity sensor, and to measure a light quantity of each pulse while being synchronized with a period of the pulsed light; a correction unit configured to input the light quantity of each pulse and an integrated pixel value output from the TDI sensor, and to correct the integrated pixel value output from the TDI sensor, for each pixel of the optical image, using a total light quantity of the light quantity of corresponding each pulse; and an inspection unit configured to inspect whether there is a defect of the pattern, using the integrated pixel value corrected. | 03-11-2010 |
20100060891 | SEMICONDUCTOR WAFER INSPECTION METHOD - A semiconductor wafer inspection method includes: an imaging step in which a first image being an image of the chamfered surface seen from the main surface side and a second image being an image of the chamfered surface seen from the back surface side are taken; a calculation step in which a first width is obtained based on the first image, the first width being a width of the chamfered surface seen from the main surface side, a second width is obtained based on the second image, the second width being a width of the chamfered surface seen from the back surface side, and a ratio of the first width to the second width thus obtained is calculated; and a shape determination step in which a form of the chamfered surface is determined to be abnormal in a case where the ratio is out of a predetermined range. | 03-11-2010 |
20100066998 | SURFACE INSPECTION APPARATUS - [Problem] To provide a surface inspection apparatus able to suitably inspect the outer circumference edge part of a semiconductor wafer or other plate-shaped member. | 03-18-2010 |
20100079748 | Inspection Apparatus, Lithographic Apparatus and Method for Sphero-Chromatic Aberration Correction - A semiconductor inspection system and method are described. The system includes an illumination system transmitting light at a given wavelength and an optical system receiving light from the illumination system and transmit light at the given wavelength to a surface. The optical system includes at least one lens that is moveable (for example, a zoomable lens) to change the nominal wavelength of the semiconductor inspection system to correspond to the illumination wavelength of the illumination system so that the sphero-chromatic aberration of the semiconductor inspection system meets a user-defined tolerance. | 04-01-2010 |
20100085561 | LASER SCATTERING DEFECT INSPECTION SYSTEM AND LASER SCATTERING DEFECT INSPECTION METHOD - A laser scattering defect inspection system includes: a stage unit that rotates a workpiece W and transports the workpiece W in one direction; a laser light source that emits a laser beam LB toward the workpiece W mounted on the stage unit; an optical deflector that scans the laser beam LB emitted from the laser light source on the workpiece W; an optical detector that detects the laser beam LB scattered from the surface of the workpiece W; a storage unit that stores defect inspection conditions for each inspection step of a manufacturing process of the workpiece W, where the conditions include the rotation speed and the moving speed of the workpiece W by the stage unit, the scan width on the workpiece W and the scan frequency by the optical deflector; and a control unit that reads the defect inspection conditions stored for each inspection step in the storage unit and controls the driving of the stage unit and the optical deflector under the conditions. | 04-08-2010 |
20100118297 | MICROSCOPE HAVING MULTIPLE IMAGE-OUTPUTTING DEVICES AND PROBING APPARATUS FOR INTEGRATED CIRCUIT DEVICES USING THE SAME - A microscope includes an object splitter configured to split the object image into a first optical path and a second optical path, a first imaging module positioned on the first path and a second imaging module positioned on the second path. The object splitter includes a first beam splitter configured to direct an illumination light to an object, an objective lens configured to collect the reflected light from the object and couple the reflected light on the first beam splitter, and a second beam splitter configured to split the reflected light into the first optical path and the second optical path, wherein the distance between the object and the objective lens is constant. The first imaging module includes a first close up lens configured to render a first object image to a first imaging device with auto-focusing and remote-zooming capabilities, and the second imaging module includes a second close up lens and a negative lens configured to render a second object image to a second imaging device with auto-focusing and remote-zooming capabilities. | 05-13-2010 |
20100141937 | APPARATUS TO PERFORM A NON-CONTACT TEST OF A SEMICONDUCTOR PACKAGE - An apparatus to test a semiconductor package includes a vertical illuminator to supply vertical illumination in the same axial direction as a measurement target and a vertical image unit to capture a vertical image of the measurement target so that a testing apparatus may 2-dimensionally determine information on the shape, size, or position of a solder ball. An inclined illuminator may supply inclined illumination in a different axial direction from the measurement target, and an inclined image capture unit may capture a side image of the measurement target so that the testing apparatus may 3-dimensionally determine information on a state of contact of the solder ball with the ball land. The inclined image capture unit may include a color camera using color information, thereby markedly increasing test reliability and yield. | 06-10-2010 |
20100171947 | PATTERN INSPECTION DEVICE AND METHOD - A pattern inspection device has a light irradiator configured to irradiate a light on an inspection area set in a pattern forming location on a semiconductor wafer and an adjustment area set different from the inspection area in association with the inspection area on the semiconductor wafer, an image pickup part for inspection configured to pick up a light which is irradiated by the light irradiator and reflected on the inspection area to generate an inspection image, a tester configured to conduct a pattern inspection of the semiconductor wafer based on the inspection image, an image pickup part for adjustment configured to pick up a light which is irradiated by the light irradiator and reflected on the adjustment area to generate an adjustment image, and a light amount adjuster configured to adjust an amount of the light irradiated on the inspection area by the light irradiator so as to reduce a fluctuation of a luminance of the inspection image due to a difference of a thickness of the pattern based on the adjustment image. | 07-08-2010 |
20100188657 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETECTING DEFECTS ON A WAFER - Systems and methods for detecting defects on a wafer are provided. One method includes generating output for a wafer by scanning the wafer with an inspection system using first and second optical states of the inspection system. The first and second optical states are defined by different values for at least one optical parameter of the inspection system. The method also includes generating first image data for the wafer using the output generated using the first optical state and second image data for the wafer using the output generated using the second optical state. In addition, the method includes combining the first image data and the second image data corresponding to substantially the same locations on the wafer thereby creating additional image data for the wafer. The method further includes detecting defects on the wafer using the additional image data. | 07-29-2010 |
20100188658 | HIGH RESOLUTION WAFER INSPECTION SYSTEM - A method for inspecting a region, including irradiating the region via an optical system with a pump beam at a pump wavelength. A probe beam at a probe wavelength irradiates the region so as to generate returning probe beam radiation from the region. The beams are scanned across the region at a scan rate. A detector receives the returning probe radiation, and forms an image of the region that corresponds to a resolution better than pump and probe Abbe limits of the optical system. Roles of the pump and probe beams may be alternated, and a modulation frequency of the pump beam may be changed, to produce more information. Information extracted from the probe signal can also differentiate between different materials on the region | 07-29-2010 |
20100195096 | HIGH EFFICIENCY MULTI WAVELENGTH LINE LIGHT SOURCE - Embodiments of the present invention provide apparatus and method for inspecting a substrate. Particularly, embodiments of the present invention provide apparatus and method for detecting pinholes in one or more light absorbing films deposited on a substrate. One embodiment of the present invention provides an inspection station comprising an illumination assembly having a first light source providing light of wavelengths in a first spectrum and a second light source providing light of wavelengths in a second spectrum, wherein light in the first spectrum and second spectrum can be absorbed by light absorbing films on the substrate. | 08-05-2010 |
20100195097 | Inspection device and inspection method for the optical examination of object surfaces, particularly of wafer surfaces - An inspection device and a method of inspection, for optical examination of object surfaces, particularly wafer surfaces, wherein the object surface is illuminated by a first illumination device and a second illumination device, wherewith the light reflected and/or scattered from irregularities on the object surface is detected by means of a “scattered light detector” operating in the dark field of the first and second illumination devices, and wherewith the object surface is illuminated by a first illumination device and a second illumination device, wherewith the first illumination device has a laser for illuminating a measurement point on the object surface. The second illumination device is disposed (and oriented) to illuminate the same measurement point on the object surface but with a larger image spot, with the use of light of lower coherence and/or with less anisotropy than that of the laser. | 08-05-2010 |
20100201976 | WAFER SURFACE MEASURING APPARATUS - A wafer surface measuring apparatus which measures a surface of the wafer by irradiating a laser beam on a wafer comprising a measuring stage that supports the outer edge of the wafer and loads the wafer in a manner not contacting the rear surface of the wafer and the stage surface, a wafer carrying means that moves the wafer over the measuring stage and loads the wafer on the measuring stage from an upward side, a rotary drive unit which rotates the measuring stage, and an ejection hole formed at a center portion of the stage surface to supply gas to a rear surface of the wafer loaded on the measuring stage. The wafer carrying means includes a chuck which sucks and holds the surface of the wafer in a non-contact manner and bends the wafer in an upwardly convex shape. | 08-12-2010 |
20100208251 | INSPECTION APPARATUS AND INSPECTION METHOD - An inspection apparatus includes a wafer stage for carrying a wafer, an illumination module which irradiates an inspection beam on the wafer carried on the wafer stage,a detection module which detects scattering rays or reflection rays from the wafer on the wafer stage and outputs an image signal, a coordinates control module which stores information about the arrangement of individual inspection areas on the wafer, and an imperfect area recognition module which recognizes, on the basis of the inspection area arrangement information stored in the coordinates control module, an imperfect inspection area interfering with a wafer edge. | 08-19-2010 |
20100214561 | DEFECT INSPECTING APPARATUS - A defect inspecting apparatus of the invention solves a problem that in a defect inspecting apparatus, because of improving detection sensitivity of a microscopic defect by reducing a detection pixel size, a focal depth becomes shallow, a height of imaging is varied due to environmental change and the detection sensitivity of a defect becomes unstable. This apparatus comprises an XY stage, which carries a substrate to be inspected and scans in a predetermined direction, and a mechanism having a system of irradiating a defect on the inspected substrate at a slant and detecting the defect by a detection optical system disposed on the upper side, which corrects a height of imaging in real time for change in temperature and barometric pressure in order to keep the imaging in a best condition. | 08-26-2010 |
20100225905 | INSPECTION METHOD AND INSPECTION APPARATUS FOR SEMICONDUCTOR SUBSTRATE - An inspection method for a semiconductor substrate includes irradiating an inspection beam on wires formed on a semiconductor substrate, detecting a secondary beam emitted from the semiconductor substrate, generating a contrast image, which indicates a state of an inspection surface of the semiconductor substrate, according to a gray level corresponding to signal intensity of the secondary beam, specifying a wire as an inspection target and a wire as a non-inspection target and acquiring a position and a dimension of the wire as the non-inspection target and a gray level corresponding to a wire non-forming area, replacing an image of the wire as the non-inspection target in the contrast image with an image having the gray level corresponding to the wire non-forming area, and inspecting, based on the contrast image after the replacement processing, a defect of the wire as the inspection target. | 09-09-2010 |
20100225906 | Surface inspection apparatus and surface inspection method - A surface inspection apparatus and a surface inspection method aim to securely deal with finer repetition pitch without shortening the wavelength of illumination light. To this end, the apparatus includes a unit illuminating repetitive pattern(s) formed on the substrate surface to be inspected with linearly polarized light, a unit setting to an oblique angle an angle between the direction of an intersecting line of a vibration plane of the linearly polarized light on the substrate surface and the repetition direction of repetitive pattern(s), a unit extracting a polarized light component perpendicular to the vibration plane of the linearly polarized light, from light having been emitted from the repetitive pattern(s) in a specular direction, and a unit detecting a defect of the repetitive pattern(s) according to the light intensity of the polarized light component. | 09-09-2010 |
20100225907 | SURFACE INSPECTION WITH VARIABLE DIGITAL FILTERING - A semiconductor wafer, which is an inspection object, is stuck by vacuum on a chuck and this chuck is mounted on an inspection object movement stage consisting of a rotational stage and a translational stage, located on a Z-stage. The rotational stage provides a rotational movement and the translational stage provides a translational movement. And when a foreign particle or a defect on an inspection object surface is detected, the parameter of digital filtering is dynamically changed during inspection, and the foreign particle or the defect is differentiated using the result after removing a low frequency fluctuation component to be a noise component. | 09-09-2010 |
20100245812 | DEFECT INSPECTING METHOD AND DEFECT INSPECTING APPARATUS - Provided is a method and apparatus for inspecting a defect of a shape formed on a substrate. Primary inspection is sequentially performed on specific patterns in a plurality of divided regions of the substrate by using an optical method, and one or more regions on which secondary inspection is to be performed are selected from the regions. One or more defects are detected by performing the secondary inspection using an electron beam on the selected regions. | 09-30-2010 |
20100245813 | MULTI-MODAL IMAGING - A method for scanning a surface with a number of different illumination configurations, the method comprises capturing a plurality of images in a sequential manner during a single sweep, each image including one or more lines of pixels, sequentially altering an illumination configuration used to capture the plurality of images according to a predefined sequence of illumination configurations and shifts of the relative position of the imaging unit for capturing each of the plurality of images, and repeating the sequence of illumination configurations settings and associated image capture positions until a desired area of the surface is scanned, wherein said predefined shift is between 10 pixels and less then one pixel. | 09-30-2010 |
20100265496 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR INSPECTING DEFECTS - A defect inspection apparatus includes a movable stage for mounting a substrate having circuit patterns as an object of inspection, an irradiation optical system which irradiates a slit-shaped light beam from an oblique direction to the circuit patterns of the substrate, a detection optical system which includes an image sensor for receiving reflected/scattered light from the substrate by irradiation of the slit-shaped light beam and converting the received light into a signal, and an image processor which processes the signal. The irradiation optical system includes a cylindrical lens and a coherency reduction optical system, which receives the light beam and emits a plurality of slit-shaped light sub-beams which are spatially reduced in coherency in a light-converging direction of the cylindrical lens. The cylindrical lens focuses the plurality of slit-shaped light sub-beams into the slit-shaped light beam irradiated to the surface of the substrate. | 10-21-2010 |
20100321678 | SOLID IMMERSION LENS OPTICS ASSEMBLY - A solid immersion lens optics assembly, a test station for probing and testing of integrated circuits on a semiconductor wafer, and a method of landing a SIL on an object. The optics assembly comprises an objective lens housing for receiving an objective lens, and a solid immersion lens (SIL) housing for mounting an SIL and adapted for connection to the objective lens housing; wherein a peripheral wall of the SIL housing comprises an integrated spring section adapted to provide a biased support for the SIL. | 12-23-2010 |
20100321679 | MEASUREMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD - A multi-station measurement system concept is presented, particularly based on an X-Y stage and plurality of horizontal load/unload units. The system allows loading/unloading of wafers from several load/unload units by the direct action of the X-Y stage, thus creating a buffer for wafers without actually requiring an additional buffer mechanism. | 12-23-2010 |
20100321680 | CIRCUIT PATTERN DEFECT DETECTION APPARATUS, CIRCUIT PATTERN DEFECT DETECTION METHOD, AND PROGRAM THEREFOR - The present invention provides a defect detection apparatus for a circuit pattern, including: an illumination optical system that irradiates illumination light, having a predetermined polarization condition, onto a detection subject having a circuit pattern formed thereon; a detection device that detects change in the polarization condition of the illumination light between before and after the illumination light passes through the detection subject or between before and after the illumination light is reflected by the detection subject; and a defect detection device that detects a defect of the circuit pattern based on an output of the detection device. | 12-23-2010 |
20100328655 | Diffraction Based Overlay Metrology Tool and Method - A method for determining overlay between a first grating ( | 12-30-2010 |
20110026017 | SURFACE INSPECTING METHOD AND SURFACE INSPECTING APPARATUS - Provided is a surface inspecting method for inspecting a surface of a semiconductor substrate having linear line patterns repeatedly arranged and hole-shaped hole patterns formed on the line patterns. The surface inspecting method has a setting step (S | 02-03-2011 |
20110043797 | Image Collection - An inspection system for creating images of a substrate. A light source directs an incident light onto the substrate, and a light source timing control controls a pulse timing of the incident light. A stage holds the substrate and moves the substrate under the incident light, so that the substrate reflects the incident light as a reflected light. A stage position sensor reports a position of the stage, and a stage position control controls the position of the stage. A time domain integration sensor receives the reflected light, and a time domain integration sensor timing control controls a line shift of the time domain integration sensor. A control system is in communication with the light source timing control, the stage position control, and the time delay integration sensor timing control, and sets the pulse timing of the incident light, the position of the stage, and the line shift of the time delay integration sensor, such that a single line of the time domain integration sensor integrates reflected light from more than one pulse of the incident light from the light source. | 02-24-2011 |
20110043798 | OPTICAL INSPECTION SYSTEM AND METHOD - An inspection system includes optics, an object support for mounting an object in a region of an object plane of the optics, a bright-field light source, and a dark-field light source. The inspection system also includes an image detector having a radiation sensitive substrate disposed in a region of an image plane of the optics and a beam dump. | 02-24-2011 |
20110051132 | Method and apparatus for producing and Measuring dynamically focussed, steered, and shaped oblique laser illumination for spinning wafer inspection system - A method and apparatus for producing high frequency dynamically focused oblique laser illumination for a spinning wafer inspection system. The focus is changed by changing the beam direction incidence angle so as to bring focal spot onto the wafer surface. | 03-03-2011 |
20110069306 | Referenced Inspection Device - A tool for investigating a substrate, where the tool has a tool head for investigating the substrate, a chuck for disposing an upper surface of the substrate in proximity to the tool head, and an air bearing disposed on the tool head adjacent the substrate. The air bearing has a pressure source and a vacuum source, where the vacuum source draws the substrate toward the air bearing and the pressure source prevents the substrate from physically contacting the air bearing. The pressure source and the vacuum source work in cooperation to dispose the upper surface of the substrate at a known distance from the tool head. By using the air bearing as part of the tool in this manner, registration of the substrate to the tool head is accomplished relative to the upper surface of the substrate, not the back side of the substrate. | 03-24-2011 |
20110075138 | External beam delivery system using catadioptric objective with aspheric surfaces - An inspection system including a catadioptric objective that facilitates dark-field inspection is provided. The objective includes an outer element furthest from the specimen having an outer element partial reflective surface oriented toward the specimen, an inner element nearest the specimen having a center lens comprising an inner element partial reflective surface oriented away from the specimen, and a central element positioned between the outer lens and the inner lens. At least one of the outer element, inner element, and central element has an aspheric surface. The inner element is spatially configured to facilitate dark-field inspection of the specimen. | 03-31-2011 |
20110075139 | OPTICAL INSPECTION METHOD AND OPTICAL INSPECTION SYSTEM - An optical semiconductor wafer inspection system and a method thereof are provided for classifying and inspecting defects such as scratches, voids and particles produced in a flattening process by a polishing or grinding technique used for semiconductor manufacturing. The present invention is an optical semiconductor wafer inspection system and a method thereof characterized by obliquely illuminating a scratch, void or particle produced on the surface of a polished or ground insulating film at substantially the same velocity of light, detecting scattered light at the time of oblique illumination from the surface of an inspection target at different angles and thereby classifying the scratch, void or particle. | 03-31-2011 |
20110085162 | Inspection Method and Apparatus - A method and apparatus is used for inspection of devices to detect processing faults on semiconductor wafers. Illuminating a strip of a die along a scan path with a moving measurement spot. Detecting scattered radiation to obtain an angle-resolved spectrum that is spatially integrated over the strip. Comparing the scattering data with a library of reference spectra, obtained by measurement or calculation. Based on the comparison, determining the presence of a fault of the die at the strip. The measurement spot is scanned across the wafer in a scan path trajectory comprising large (constant) velocity portions and the acquisition of the angle-resolved spectrum is taken, and comparisons are done, at full scan speed. If a long acquisition is performed along a strip across the die in the Y direction, then variation in the acquired spectrum resulting from position variation will primarily depend on the X position of the spot. Spot position variation will occur because no alignment of the spot to the wafer is performed along the high-speed scan path trajectory. A library of reference spectra are obtained for a range of scan paths at respective X-positions on the die to allow for variation in the X position of the high-speed measurement spot. | 04-14-2011 |
20110096324 | RETICLE DEFECT INSPECTION APPARATUS AND RETICLE DEFECT INSPECTION METHOD - A reticle defect inspection apparatus that can carry out a defect inspection with high detection sensitivity are provided. The apparatus includes an optical system of transmitted illumination for irradiating one surface of a sample with a first inspection light, an optical system of reflected illumination for irradiating another surface of the sample with a second inspection light, and a detecting optical system that can simultaneously detect a transmitted light obtained by the first inspection light being passed through the sample and a reflected light obtained by the second inspection light being reflected by the sample. And the optical system of transmitted illumination includes a focusing lens driving mechanism for correcting a focal point shift of the transmitted light resulting from thickness of the sample. | 04-28-2011 |
20110116085 | DEFECT DETECTION RECIPE DEFINITION - A method of forming a device is disclosed. The method includes providing a substrate and processing a layer of the device on the substrate. The layer is inspected with an inspection tool for defects. The inspection tool is programmed with an inspection recipe determined from studying defects programmed into the layer at known locations. | 05-19-2011 |
20110134419 | Inspection Method and Apparatus, and Corresponding Lithographic Apparatus - A method and associated apparatus determine an overlay error on a substrate. A beam is projected onto three or more targets. Each target includes first and second overlapping patterns with predetermined overlay offsets on the substrate. The asymmetry of the radiation reflected from each target on the substrate is measured. The overlay error not resultant from the predetermined overlay offsets is determined. The function that enables calculation of overlay from asymmetry for other points on the wafer is determined by limiting the effect of linearity error when determining the overlay error from the function. | 06-09-2011 |
20110141462 | WAFER INSPECTION SYSTEM - Apparatus for inspecting a surface, including a plurality of pump sources having respective pump optical output ends and providing respective pump beams through the pump optical output ends, and a plurality of probe sources having respective probe optical output ends and providing respective probe beams through the probe optical output ends. There is an alignment mounting which holds the respective pump optical output ends and probe optical output ends in equal respective effective spatial offsets, and optics which convey the respective pump beams and probe beams to the surface, so as to generate returning radiation from a plurality of respective locations thereon, and which convey the returning radiation from the respective locations. The apparatus includes a receiving unit which is adapted to receive the returning radiation and which is adapted to determine a characteristic of the respective locations in response thereto. | 06-16-2011 |
20110141463 | DEFECT INSPECTION METHOD, AND DEFECT INSPECTION DEVICE - Provided are a defect inspection device and a defect inspecting method, which enlarge the uptake range of a light scattered from a fine defect thereby to heighten signal intensity. The defect inspection device is provided with: a stage unit ( | 06-16-2011 |
20110170091 | INSPECTION GUIDED OVERLAY METROLOGY - Inspection guided overlay metrology may include performing a pattern search in order to identify a predetermined pattern on a semiconductor wafer, generating a care area for all instances of the predetermined pattern on the semiconductor wafer, identifying defects within generated care areas by performing an inspection scan of each of the generated care areas, wherein the inspection scan includes a low-threshold or a high sensitivity inspection scan, identifying overlay sites of the predetermined pattern of the semiconductor wafer having a measured overlay error larger than a selected overlay specification utilizing a defect inspection technique, comparing location data of the identified defects of a generated care area to location data of the identified overlay sites within the generated care area in order to identify one or more locations wherein the defects are proximate to the identified overlay sites, and generating a metrology sampling plan based on the identified locations. | 07-14-2011 |
20110170092 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR INSPECTING PATTERN - A method and apparatus for inspecting defects includes emitting an ultraviolet light from an ultraviolet light source, illuminating a specimen with the ultraviolet light in which a polarization condition of the ultraviolet light is controlled, controlling a polarization condition of light reflected from the specimen which is illuminated by the polarization condition controlled ultraviolet light, detecting the light reflected from the specimen, processing the detected light so as to detect defects, and outputting information about the defects. The ultraviolet light source is disposed in a clean environment supplied with clean gas and separated from outside. | 07-14-2011 |
20110285988 | ADVANCED INSPECTION METHOD UTILIZING SHORT PULSES LED ILLUMINATION - An illumination module that may include a LED driver; a strip cable comprising multiple conductors that have a high ratio form factor and a low impedance and a low inductance factor; the forms factor is a ratio between a width of the strip cable and a thickness of the strip cable; a group of light emitting diodes (LEDs) that comprises at least one LED; the group of LED is coupled to the LED driver via the strip cable; wherein the LED driver is arranged to activate the group of LEDs by driving a high current short duration driving signal via the strip cable; and wherein the group of LEDs is arranged to emit at least one light pulse in response to the high current short duration driving signal. | 11-24-2011 |
20110285989 | INSPECTION APPARATUS AND INSPECTION METHOD - An inspection apparatus includes a wafer stage for carrying a wafer, an illumination module which irradiates an inspection beam on the wafer carried on the wafer stage, a detection module which detects scattering rays or reflection rays from the wafer on the wafer stage and outputs an image signal, a coordinates control module which stores information about the arrangement of individual inspection areas on the wafer, and an imperfect area recognition module which recognizes, on the basis of the inspection area arrangement information stored in the coordinates control module, an imperfect inspection area interfering with a wafer edge. | 11-24-2011 |
20120008137 | Active Planar Autofocus - A system for inspecting a constant layer depth relative to a particular device layer. The system has an image sensor with a fixed focal plane. A focus sensor senses the surface topography of the substrate and outputs a focus data stream. A stage moves the substrate in an XY plane, and a motor moves the substrate in a Z dimension. A controller operates the system in one of a setup mode and an inspection mode. In the setup mode the controller controls XY movement of the substrate so as to scan a first portion of the substrate. The controller receives the focus data stream, concurrently receives XY data, and stores correlated XYZ data for the substrate. In the inspection mode the controller controls XY movement of the substrate so as to scan a second portion of the substrate. The controller receives the focus data stream, concurrently receives XY data, and subtracts the stored Z data from the focus data stream to produce a virtual data stream. The controller feeds the virtual data stream plus an offset to the motor for moving the substrate up and down during the inspection, thereby holding the focal plane at a desired Z distance, regardless of the surface topography of the substrate. | 01-12-2012 |
20120008138 | SURFACE DEFECT INSPECTION METHOD AND APPARATUS - A surface defect inspection apparatus and method for irradiating a beam multiple times to a same region on a surface of an inspection sample, detecting each scattered light from the same region by detection optical systems individually to produce plural signals, and wherein irradiating the beam includes performing a line illumination of the beam on a line illumination region of the sample surface. The line illumination region is moved in a longitudinal direction at a pitch shorter than a length of the line illumination region in the longitudinal direction. | 01-12-2012 |
20120013899 | System and Method for Capturing Illumination Reflected in Multiple Directions - An optical inspection system in accordance with the disclosure can be configured to simultaneously capture illumination reflected in multiple directions from the surface of a substrate, thereby overcoming inaccurate or incomplete characterization of substrate surface aspects as a result of reflected intensity variations that can arise when illumination is captured only from a single direction. Such a system includes a set of illuminators and an image capture device configured to simultaneously capture at least two beams of illumination that are reflected off the surface. The at least two beams of illumination that are simultaneously captured by the image capture device have different angular separations between their reflected paths of travel. The set of illuminators can include a set of thin line illuminators positioned and configured to supply one or more beams of thin line illumination incident to the surface. For instance, two beams of thin line illumination can be directed to the surface at different angles of incidence to a normal axis of the surface. | 01-19-2012 |
20120019816 | DEFECT INSPECTION METHOD AND DEFECT INSPECTION APPARATUS - The present invention provides a spatial filtering technology for exposing a defect image independently of polarization properties of defect scattered light, a defect inspection method for increasing a defect capture rate by suppressing the brightness saturation of a normal pattern, and a defect inspection apparatus that uses the defect inspection method. An array of spatial filters is disposed in one or more optical paths, which are obtained by polarizing and splitting a detection optical path, to filter diffracted light and scattered light emitted from the normal pattern. An image whose brightness saturation is suppressed is obtained by controlling an illumination light amount and/or detection efficiency during image detection in accordance with the amount of scattered light from the normal pattern. | 01-26-2012 |
20120026490 | SURFACE INSPECTION APPARATUS - A surface inspection apparatus for observing an edge portion of an object to be inspected includes an illumination device that irradiates an illumination light to the edge portion; and an observation device that forms an image of an observation region of the edge portion illuminated with the illumination light. The illumination device emits a first irradiation beam and a second irradiation beam as the illumination light. The first irradiation beam is incident at approximately right angles to the edge portion for compensating brightness of the image and the second irradiation beam is obliquely incident laterally to the observation region of the edge portion for generating a shadow depending on a surface state of the observation region. | 02-02-2012 |
20120038911 | DEFECT DETECTION APPARATUS - There is provided a defect detection apparatus including: a light illumination section; a group of lenses including an object lens and a focusing lens; a light splitter section that splits the light passing through the lens group into two beams; a deflecting section; a phase shifting section that shifts the phase of the at least one of the beams from the two beams; a wave combining section that wave combines the two beams phase shifted by the phase shifting section; and an imaging section that captures an optical image of light wave combined by the wave combining section, wherein the object lens and the focusing lens are disposed such that two beams that have passed through the focusing lens are parallel to each other and the main axes of the two beams that have passed through the focusing lens are parallel to each other. | 02-16-2012 |
20120044486 | Detecting Defects on a Wafer - Systems and methods for detecting defects on a wafer are provided. | 02-23-2012 |
20120057155 | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR INSPECTING SEMICONDUCTOR WAFERS - The invention relates to a device for inspecting the edge of semiconductor wafers, including a chromatic confocal microscope ( | 03-08-2012 |
20120062877 | Referenced Inspection Device - A tool for investigating a substrate, where the tool has a tool head for investigating the substrate, a chuck for disposing an upper surface of the substrate in proximity to the tool head, and an air bearing disposed on the tool head adjacent the substrate. The air bearing has a pressure source and a vacuum source, where the vacuum source draws the substrate toward the air bearing and the pressure source prevents the substrate from physically contacting the air bearing. The pressure source and the vacuum source work in cooperation to dispose the upper surface of the substrate at a known distance from the tool head. By using the air bearing as part of the tool in this manner, registration of the substrate to the tool head is accomplished relative to the upper surface of the substrate, not the back side of the substrate. | 03-15-2012 |
20120069330 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INSPECTING SUBSTRATES - A method and an apparatus for inspecting a substrate are provided. The method includes irradiating light to a semiconductor device formed on a substrate and detecting light reflected from the semiconductor device in order to inspect a defect of the semiconductor device. An irradiation position of the light may gradually move from a semiconductor device formed at the center of the substrate to a semiconductor device formed on an edge of the substrate. at least one semiconductor device formed on a substrate, a light irradiating member which irradiates light onto the semiconductor surface formed on the substrate; a light detecting member which detects light reflected from the semiconductor device in order to inspect the semiconductor device for defects; and an irradiation position of the light gradually moves from a semiconductor device formed at the center of the substrate to a semiconductor device formed on an edge of the substrate. | 03-22-2012 |
20120075625 | OPTICAL SURFACE DEFECT INSPECTION APPARATUS AND OPTICAL SURFACE DEFECT INSPECTION METHOD - The present invention is to provide an optical surface defect inspection apparatus or an optical surface defect inspection method that can improve a signal-to-noise ratio according to a multi-segmented cell method without performing autofocus operations, and can implement highly sensitive inspection. The present invention is an optical surface defect inspection apparatus or an optical surface defect inspection method in which an inspection beam is applied onto a test subject, an image of a scattered light from the surface of the test subject is formed on a photo-detector, and a defect on the surface of the test subject is inspected based on an output from the photo-detector. The photo-detector has an optical fiber bundle. One end thereof forms a circular light receiving surface to receive the scattered light. The other end thereof is connected to a plurality of light receiving devices. The optical fiber bundle is divided into a plurality of fan-shaped cells in the light receiving surface, and connected to the light emitting devices in units of the cells for performing the inspection based on the outputs of the plurality of cells. | 03-29-2012 |
20120081702 | METHOD OF INSPECTING SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE - Reliability of a semiconductor device is improved. In a flatness inspection of BGA (semiconductor device), there is formed a flatness standard where a permissible range in the direction of (+) of flatness at normal temperature is smaller than a permissible range in the direction of (−). With use of the above flatness standard, a flatness inspection of the semiconductor device at normal temperature is performed to determine whether the mounted item is non-defective or defective. With the above process, defective mounting caused by a package warp when heated during reflow soldering etc. is reduced and reliability of BGA is improved. At the same time, flatness management of a substrate-type semiconductor device with better consideration of a mounting state can be performed. | 04-05-2012 |
20120099101 | Gantry Apparatus - A gantry apparatus includes a structure to couple and support an optical system has enhanced rigidity, which minimizes deformation of the structure even if a plurality of optical systems is coupled to the structure. The gantry apparatus includes an optical system, a drive device to drive the optical system, and a structure to couple and support the drive device. The structure includes a plurality of first plates arranged parallel to one another, and a plurality of second plates intersecting the plurality of first plates to define receptive corridors, each of which receives the drive device. | 04-26-2012 |
20120113416 | OPTICAL DEFECT AMPLIFICATION FOR IMPROVED SENSITIVITY ON PATTERNED LAYERS - A method for wafer defect inspection may include, but is not limited to: providing an inspection target; applying at least one defect inspection enhancement to the inspection target; illuminating the inspection target including the at least one inspection enhancement to generate one or more inspection signals associated with one or more features of the inspection target; detecting the inspection signals; and generating one or more inspection parameters from the inspection signals. An inspection target may include, but is not limited to: at least one inspection layer; and at least one inspection enhancement layer. | 05-10-2012 |
20120127463 | INSPECTION APPARATUS - An inspection apparatus includes a work stage part, an optical module, and an optical module moving part. The work stage part receives a board. The work stage part includes work stages disposed in parallel. The optical module includes a projecting part disposed over the board, an image capturing part disposed at a side portion of the projecting part to receive the grating pattern light and capture a reflection image, and an optical path changing part changing a path of the grating pattern light and guiding the grating pattern light to the image capturing part so that the grating pattern light is downwardly incident into the image capturing part. The optical module moving part is disposed over and coupled to the optical module to move the optical module. Thus, time may be reduced and a space may be secured, required for inspecting a board. | 05-24-2012 |
20120154797 | INSPECTION APPARATUS AND INSPECTION METHOD - Reflected light caused by the state of the surface of a wafer, a foreign material, or a defect is superimposed on a haze frequency component caused by the type and thickness of a film or a surface irregularity. In order to detect a haze frequency component caused by a haze present on the surface of an object to be inspected, light propagating from the object to be inspected is detected and converted into an electric signal. The electric signal is sampled at a predetermined sampling time interval and converted into digital data. A frequency component caused by a foreign material, a defect or the like is separated from the digital data to ensure that a haze frequency component is selected. The haze frequency component is caused by a stain attached to the surface of the wafer, hazy tarnish, a surface irregularity or the like. | 06-21-2012 |
20120154798 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INSPECTING PATTERNED MEDIA DISK - In an inspection apparatus that inspects both surfaces of a patterned media disk, to perform inspection while maintaining a high level of throughput, a patterned media disk inspection apparatus of the present invention includes an optical inspection unit, a table unit that includes plural substrate rotation drive units on which a substrate is mounted and rotated and rotates and conveys the substrates mounted on the substrate rotation drive units between a position at which the substrate is inspected by the optical inspection unit and a position at which the substrate is taken out and supplied, a substrate reversing unit, a cassette unit that accommodates substrates, and a substrate handling unit that takes out an uninspected substrate from the cassette unit and supplies the uninspected substrate to the table unit, and further stores a substrate, both surfaces of which have already been inspected, in the cassette unit. | 06-21-2012 |
20120176612 | METHOD OF DETECTING SPECIFIC DEFECT, AND SYSTEM AND PROGRAM FOR DETECTING SPECIFIC DEFECT - The present invention provides a detection method which allows specific defects that would occur on a wafer surface to be detected more reliably. A method of detecting a specific defect of the present invention includes the steps of: acquiring a light point map which is in-plane position information of a light point detected in a position corresponding to a defect on a surface of a wafer by irradiating the surface of the wafer with light (S | 07-12-2012 |
20120194810 | Apparatus for inspecting printed circuit board - Disclosed herein is an apparatus for inspecting a printed circuit board. The apparatus includes a first laser light source; a first light condensing unit condensing a light emitted from the first laser light source onto a printed circuit board having a via-hole; a first dichroic beam splitting unit separating fluorescent light a fluorescence generated from the printed circuit board by the light condensed by the first light condensing unit from the light emitted from the first laser light source; and a determining unit determining an unplated state of the printed circuit board from the light passing through the first dichroic beam splitting unit, wherein the via-hole formed in the printed circuit board includes an internal side surface having an unplated part which is not plated, and the light emitted from the first light condensing unit is incident at a first angle with respect to the printed circuit board and condensed to the unplated part of the internal side surface of the via-hole. Through this apparatus, the defects of the printed circuit board can be promptly determined. | 08-02-2012 |
20120224173 | INSPECTION APPARATUS AND INSPECTION METHOD - An inspection apparatus includes a wafer stage for carrying a wafer, an illumination module which irradiates an inspection beam on the wafer carried on the wafer stage, a detection module which detects scattering rays or reflection rays from the wafer on the wafer stage and outputs an image signal, a coordinates control module which stores information about the arrangement of individual inspection areas on the wafer, and an imperfect area recognition module which recognizes, on the basis of the inspection area arrangement information stored in the coordinates control module, an imperfect inspection area interfering with a wafer edge. | 09-06-2012 |
20120229802 | Surface Scanning Inspection System With Adjustable Scan Pitch - A surface scanning wafer inspection system with independently adjustable scan pitch and associated methods of operation are presented. The scan pitch may be adjusted independently from an illumination area on the surface of a wafer. In some embodiments, scan pitch is adjusted while the illumination area remains constant. For example, defect sensitivity is adjusted by adjusting the rate of translation of a wafer relative to the rate of rotation of the wafer without additional optical adjustments. In some examples, the scan pitch is adjusted to achieve a desired defect sensitivity over an entire wafer. In other examples, the scan pitch is adjusted during wafer inspection to optimize defect sensitivity and throughput. In other examples, the scan pitch is adjusted to maximize defect sensitivity within the damage limit of a wafer under inspection. | 09-13-2012 |
20120242985 | PATTERN INSPECTION APPARATUS AND PATTERN INSPECTION METHOD - In accordance with an embodiment, a pattern inspection apparatus includes a stage supporting a substrate with a pattern, a light source irradiating the substrate with light, a detection unit, an optical system, a focus position change unit, a control unit, and a determination unit. The detection unit detects reflected light from the substrate. The optical system leads the light from the light source to the substrate and leads the reflected light to the detection unit. The focus position change unit changes a focus position of the light to the substrate in a direction vertical to the surface of the substrate. The control unit associates the movement of the stage with the light irradiation and controls the stage drive unit and the focus position change unit, thereby changing the focus position. The determination unit determines presence/absence of a defect of the pattern based on the signal from the determination unit. | 09-27-2012 |
20120242986 | APPARATUS FOR OPTICAL INSPECTION - An apparatus for optical inspection comprises a platform extending in a first direction, a transmitting unit for transporting at least one carrier in the first direction from an input port to an output port thereof, each of the at least one carrier to support one of at least one object to be inspected, a first detector disposed above the platform and extending in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction for inspecting the at least one object on the at least one carrier, the first detector including a first scanner extending in the second direction between the input port and the output port, and a first roller set between the first scanner and the input port to apply force onto a surface of each of the at least one object. | 09-27-2012 |
20120250011 | PATTERN VERIFICATION-TEST METHOD, OPTICAL IMAGE INTENSITY DISTRIBUTION ACQUISITION METHOD, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM - A pattern verification-test method according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: deriving an illumination condition at a verification-test subject position in a photomask surface of a mask pattern as a verification or a test subject based on the verification-test subject position and illumination condition information about a distribution of an illumination condition in a photomask surface of exposure light incident on the mask pattern, performing lithography simulation on the mask pattern based on the derived illumination condition and the mask pattern, and verifying or testing the mask pattern based on a result of the lithography simulation. | 10-04-2012 |
20120268734 | PATTERN DEFECT INSPECTION APPARATUS AND METHOD - A pattern defect inspection apparatus capable of detecting minute defects on a sample with high sensitivity without generating speckle noise in signals is realized. Substantially the same region on a surface of a wafer is detected by using two detectors at mutually different timings. Output signals from the two detectors are summed and averaged to eliminate noise. Since a large number of rays of illumination light are not simultaneously irradiated to the same region on the wafer, a pattern defect inspection apparatus capable of suppressing noise resulting from interference of a large number of rays, eliminating noise owing to other causes and detecting with high sensitivity minute defects on the sample without the occurrence of speckle noise in the signal can be accomplished. | 10-25-2012 |
20120268735 | Systems and Methods for Detecting Defects on a Wafer - Systems and methods for detecting defects on a wafer are provided. One method includes generating output for a wafer by scanning the wafer with an inspection system using first and second optical states of the inspection system. The first and second optical states are defined by different values for at least one optical parameter of the inspection system. The method also includes generating first image data for the wafer using the output generated using the first optical state and second image data for the wafer using the output generated using the second optical state. In addition, the method includes combining the first image data and the second image data corresponding to substantially the same locations on the wafer thereby creating additional image data for the wafer. The method further includes detecting defects on the wafer using the additional image data. | 10-25-2012 |
20120281207 | DEFECT INSPECTION DEVICE USING CATADIOPTRIC OBJECTIVE LENS - A defect inspection device comprises an inspection optical system including a light source, a half mirror for reflecting illumination light emitted from the light source, a catadioptric objective lens for collecting reflected light from the sample by illumination light reflected by the half mirror, an imaging lens for focusing the reflected light transmitted through the catadioptric objective lens, a relay lens having a blocking member provided at a position at which specularly reflected light from the sample is focused by the imaging lens, and a detector for defecting the reflected light of the specularly deflected light blocked by the blocking member; and a computation processing unit for detecting defects of the sample on the basis of the signals detected by the detector. | 11-08-2012 |
20120293794 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OPTICAL INSPECTION, DETECTION AND ANALYSIS OF DOUBLE SIDED AND WAFER EDGE MACRO DEFECTS - Method and apparatus for detection and characterization of defects, and working order assessment of fab processing operation. | 11-22-2012 |
20120293795 | DEFECT INSPECTION DEVICE AND METHOD OF INSPECTING DEFECT - Disclosed is a defect inspection device comprising: an illumination optical portion which illuminates an object to be inspected with illuminating light; a detection optical portion system illuminated by the illumination optical portion and provided with a plurality of detectors which respectively detects components of scattering light which scatter from the inspected object each in a different direction of azimuthal angle or in a different direction of angle of elevation with respect to a surface of the inspected object; and a signal processing portion which makes gain adjustments and defect decisions in parallel on plural signals based on the components of the scattering light from the inspected object detected by the detectors, respectively, the defect decisions being based on a threshold value decision, and which extracts defects based on results of the gain adjustments and of the defect decisions. | 11-22-2012 |
20130003052 | DEFECT INSPECTION DEVICE AND DEFECT INSPECTION METHOD - A defect inspection device has: an illumination optical system which irradiates a predetermined region of an inspection target with illumination light; a detection optical system which has a detector provided with a plurality of pixels by which scattered light from the predetermined region of the inspection target due to illumination light from the illumination optical system can be detected; and a signal processing portion which is provided with a correction portion which corrects pixel displacement caused by change in a direction perpendicular to a surface of the inspection target with respect to a detection signal based on the scattered light detected by the detector of the detection optical system, and a defect determination portion which determines a defect on the surface of the inspection target based on the detection signal corrected by the correction portion. | 01-03-2013 |
20130010291 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PATTERN INSPECTION - A pattern inspection apparatus includes a light source, a stage configured to mount thereon a substrate with a pattern formed thereon, a first laser measuring unit configured to measure a position of the stage by using a laser beam, a sensor configured to capture a pattern image obtained from the pattern, formed on the substrate, irradiated by light from the light source, an optical system configured to focus the pattern image on the sensor, a second laser measuring unit configured to measure a position of the optical system by using a laser beam, a correction unit configured to correct a captured pattern image by using a difference between the position of the stage and the position of the optical system, and an inspection unit configured to inspect whether there is a defect of the pattern by using a corrected pattern image. | 01-10-2013 |
20130016346 | Wafer Inspection - Systems configured to inspect a wafer are provided. | 01-17-2013 |
20130033705 | INSPECTION DEVICE AND INSPECTION METHOD - An inspection device for inspecting defects of an inspection object including a light source for irradiating a luminous flux to the inspection object; an optical system for guiding reflected light from the inspection object; a photoelectric image sensor having a plurality of photoelectric cells arranged, for converting the light guided to detection signals; a detection signal transfer unit having channels each constituted by a signal correction unit, a converter and an image formation unit, and corresponding to each of a plurality of regions formed by dividing the photoelectric image sensor, respectively; and an image synthesis unit for forming an image of the surface of the object by synthesizing partial images outputted; the inspection device inspecting defects of the object by processing the synthesized image; whereby it becomes possible to correct a detection signal from said photoelectric cell close to a predetermined reference target value. | 02-07-2013 |
20130038866 | AIR FLOW MANAGEMENT IN A SYSTEM WITH HIGH SPEED SPINNING CHUCK - The present invention is directed to a high speed, spinning chuck for use in a semiconductor wafer inspection system. The chuck of the present disclosure is configured with a turbulence-reducing lip. Spinning of the chuck produces radial airflows proximal to a surface of the wafer and proximal to the bottom of the chuck. The turbulence-reducing lip of the chuck of the present disclosure directs the radial airflows off of the top surface of the wafer and the bottom surface of the chuck in a manner that minimizes the size of the low pressure zone formed between these radial airflows. The minimization of the low pressure zone reduces air turbulence about the periphery of the chuck and substrate, thereby reducing the possibility of contaminants in the system being directed onto the surface of the substrate by such air turbulence. | 02-14-2013 |
20130057855 | PASSIVE POSITION COMPENSATION OF A SPINDLE, STAGE, OR COMPONENT EXPOSED TO A HEAT LOAD - Disclosed herein is an apparatus for providing passive correction for thermal effects on a mounted mechanical component. Further disclosed is a wafer inspection system employing the passive thermal effect correction apparatus. | 03-07-2013 |
20130077092 | SUBSTRATE SURFACE DEFECT INSPECTION METHOD AND INSPECTION DEVICE - A substrate surface inspection device includes an inspection optical system irradiating at least one light onto a substrate, which is an inspection target and carried on a turnable stage, and having at least one detector detecting reflected or scattered light from the substrate, a detector processing the signals, which are outputted from the at least one detector and A/D converted, and detecting a defect on the substrate, an output calculator performing scattered light simulation on a defect detection model and estimating a plurality of detector outputs; and a classifier constructor constructing a classifier by mechanical learning of a rule base, wherein the classifier constructor is adapted to present collection of a necessary actual defect sample on the basis of the classifier obtained by scattered light simulation, and construct the classifier under necessary and sufficient conditions. | 03-28-2013 |
20130083318 | PATTERN INSPECTION APPARATUS AND PATTERN INSPECTION METHOD - A pattern inspection apparatus in accordance with one aspect of the present invention includes a laser light source configured to emit a laser light, an integrator lens configured to input the laser light, and form a light source group by dividing the laser light inputted, a scattering plate, arranged at a front side of an incident surface of the integrator lens, configured to scatter the laser light which is to enter the integrator lens, and an inspection unit configured to inspect a defect of a pattern on an inspection target object where a plurality of figure patterns are formed, by using the laser light having passed through the integrator lens as an illumination light. | 04-04-2013 |
20130083319 | SEMICONDUCTOR INSPECTION METHOD AND SEMICONDUCTOR INSPECTION APPARATUS - A semiconductor inspection apparatus ( | 04-04-2013 |
20130083320 | High Throughput Thin Film Characterization And Defect Detection - Methods and systems for determining band structure characteristics of high-k dielectric films deposited over a substrate based on spectral response data are presented. High throughput spectrometers are utilized to quickly measure semiconductor wafers early in the manufacturing process. Optical dispersion metrics are determined based on the spectral data. Band structure characteristics such as band gap, band edge, and defects are determined based on optical dispersion metric values. In some embodiments a band structure characteristic is determined by curve fitting and interpolation of dispersion metric values. In some other embodiments, band structure characteristics are determined by regression of a selected dispersion model. In some examples, band structure characteristics indicative of band broadening of high-k dielectric films are also determined. The electrical performance of finished wafers is estimated based on the band structure characteristics identified early in the manufacturing process. | 04-04-2013 |
20130088714 | SUCTION APPARATUS, SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE OBSERVATION DEVICE, AND SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE OBSERVATION METHOD - A suction unit | 04-11-2013 |
20130094018 | OPTICAL EQUIPMENT AND REGISTRATION METHOD - An optical equipment for inspecting and addressing a specimen is disclosed. The optical equipment comprises an optical device and a processing module. The optical device comprises a light source, a sample inspecting device and an address detecting device. The sample inspecting device comprises a first objective lens and a first detector. A beam is focused on a sample placed in an inspected site of a specimen by the first objective lens. The address detecting device comprises a second objective lens and a second detector. A beam is focused on the address coding site by the second objective lens. The processing module controls the beam to be focused on the sampling points of the inspected site to generate first optical signals, and simultaneously controls the beam of the light source to be focused on the corresponding address codes of the address coding site to generate second optical signals. | 04-18-2013 |
20130100441 | OPTICAL INSPECTION APPARATUS AND EDGE INSPECTION DEVICE - The invention provides an optical inspection apparatus having an edge inspection device capable of accommodating wide positional changes in the edges of wafers. | 04-25-2013 |
20130114074 | SUBSTRATE INSPECTION APPARATUS AND SUBSTRATE INSPECTION METHOD - A substrate inspection apparatus for detecting a conditionof an EBR line at a substrate edge, comprising a turntable for rotating a substrate having a film coated thereon, a light irradiator, and a photoelectric converter that receives specularly reflected light from the substrate and ouputs a captured image signal. A two-dimensional image is generation by adding detection values of electrical signals corresponding to one radial scan from a center of the substrate for one turn of a rotator, and a changing point is judged using a judgment band set along one direction of the two-dimensional image. | 05-09-2013 |
20130148114 | OPTICAL SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INSPECTION OF PATTERNED SAMPLES - An optical inspection system for inspecting a patterned sample located in an inspection plane includes an illumination unit defining an illumination path, and a light collection unit defining a collection path, each path having a certain angular orientation with respect to the inspection plane. The illumination unit comprises an illumination mask located in a first spectral plane with respect to the inspection plane and the light collection unit comprises a collection mask located in a second spectral plane with respect to the inspection plane being conjugate to the first spectral plane. Arrangements of features of the first and second patterns are selected in accordance with a diffraction response from said patterned sample along a collection channel defined by the angular orientation of the illumination and collection paths. | 06-13-2013 |
20130148115 | OPTICAL SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INSPECTION OF PATTERNED SAMPLES - An optical inspection system for inspecting a patterned sample located in an inspection plane includes an illumination unit defining an illumination channel of a predetermined numerical aperture and first predetermined angular orientation with respect to the inspection plane, and a light collection unit defining a collection channel of second predetermined angular orientation with respect to the inspection plane. The illumination unit comprises an illumination mask located in a first spectral plane with respect to the inspection plane and defining an illumination pupil comprising a first pattern formed by at least one elongated light transmitting region having a physical dimension along one axis larger than along a perpendicular axis. The light collection unit comprises a collection mask located in a second spectral plane with respect to the inspection plane being conjugate to the first spectral plane, the collection mask comprising a second predetermined pattern of spaced-apart light blocking regions. | 06-13-2013 |
20130148116 | INSPECTION SYSTEM, INSPECTION METHOD, AND PROGRAM - Setting a spatial filter requires repeatedly confirming a scan image through visual inspection by an operator and adjusting the spatial filter. A setting state is also dependent on the operator. Therefore, in the present invention, a scattered light image (beam image) and a diffracted light image (Fourier image) are simultaneously observed, and an intensity profile of the scattered light image (beam image) and an intensity profile of the diffracted light image (Fourier image) are simultaneously monitored. A field of view of a diffracted light image is scanned with only one spatial filter, and a state change with respect to the intensity profiles in the absence of insertion of the spatial filter is detected. A setting condition for a spatial filter is determined on the basis of the detected state change. | 06-13-2013 |
20130176558 | DETECTING METHOD FOR FORMING SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE - In one embodiment, a method for detecting design defects is provided. The method includes receiving design data of an integrated circuit (IC) on a wafer, measuring wafer topography across the wafer to obtain topography data, calculating a scanner moving average from the topography data and the design data to provide a scanner defocus map across the wafer, and determining a hotspot design defect from the scanner defocus map. A computer readable storage medium, and a system for detecting design defects are also provided. | 07-11-2013 |
20130188179 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MEASURING SHAPE AND THICKNESS VARIATION OF A WAFER - The invention provides a new dual-sided Moiré wafer analysis system that integrates wafer flatness measurement capability with wafer surface defect detection capability. The invention may be, but is not necessarily, embodied in methods and systems for simultaneously applying phase shifting reflective Moiré wafer analysis to the front and back sides of a silicon wafer and comparing or combining the front and back side height maps. This allows wafer surface height for each side of the wafer, thickness variation map, surface nanotopography, shape, flatness, and edge map to be determined with a dual-sided fringe acquisition process. The invention also improves the dynamic range of wafer analysis to measure wafers with large bows and extends the measurement area closer to the wafer edge. | 07-25-2013 |
20130208269 | Extended Defect Sizing Range for Wafer Inspection - Various embodiments for extended defect sizing range for wafer inspection are provided. | 08-15-2013 |
20130208270 | DEFECT INSPECTING APPARATUS AND DEFECT INSPECTING METHOD - The defect inspecting apparatus is capable of easily performing adjustment with a change of an elevation angle of illumination to a substrate to be inspected, while being low in cost. A plane parallel plate and a cylindrical lens supported by a lens holder are symmetrically disposed at the same tilt angle θ with respect to a horizontal plane. A shift in optical axis at a focal position of light ( | 08-15-2013 |
20130208271 | SURFACE DEFECT INSPECTION METHOD AND APPARATUS - A surface defect inspection apparatus and method for irradiating a beam multiple times to a same region on a surface of an inspection sample, detecting each scattered light from the same region by detection optical systems individually to produce plural signals, and wherein irradiating the beam includes performing a line illumination of the beam on a line illumination region of the sample surface. The line illumination region is moved in a longitudinal direction at a pitch shorter than a length of the line illumination region in the longitudinal direction. | 08-15-2013 |
20130215420 | Method and System for Determining One or More Optical Characteristics of Structure of a Semiconductor Wafer - Determination of one or more optical characteristics of a structure of a semiconductor wafer includes measuring one or more optical signals from one or more structures of a sample, determining a background optical field associated with a reference structure having a selected set of nominal characteristics based on the one or more structures, determining a correction optical field suitable for at least partially correcting the background field, wherein a difference between the measured one or more optical signals and a signal associated with a sum of the correction optical field and the background optical field is below a selected tolerance level, and extracting one or more characteristics associated with the one or more structures utilizing the correction optical field. | 08-22-2013 |
20130222795 | Optical Metrology Using Targets With Field Enhancement Elements - Methods and systems for enhancing metrology sensitivity to particular parameters of interest are presented. Field enhancement elements (FEEs) are constructed as part of a specimen to enhance the measurement sensitivity of structures of interest present on the specimen. The design of the FEEs takes into account measurement goals and manufacturing design rules to make target fabrication compatible with the overall device fabrication process. Measurement of opaque materials, high-aspect ratio structures, structures with low-sensitivity, or mutually correlated parameters is enhanced by the addition of FEEs. Exemplary measurements include critical dimension, film thickness, film composition, and optical scatterometry overlay. In some examples, a target element includes different FEEs to improve the measurement of different structures of interest. In other examples, different target elements include different FEEs. In some other examples, field enhancement elements are shaped to concentrate an electric field in a thin film deposited over the FEE. | 08-29-2013 |
20130222796 | PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD - A printed circuit board including a substrate of electrically insulating material and a pattern of electrically conducting paths formed on at least one side of the substrate. One or more electronic components mounted to the substrate in connection with the electrically conductive paths. At least one of the components including a base solder connection between a base surface and a facing conducting surface of the component. The base solder connection is substantially obscured from view from the side of the substrate to which the component is attached and an opening is provided extending through the substrate beneath the base surface of the component so that the base solder connection is visible through the opening. | 08-29-2013 |
20130235373 | DEFECT INSPECTION METHOD - A defect inspection method according to the present invention is a defect inspection method for inspecting a defect of a semiconductor wafer, including the steps of: (a) forming a mark on a semiconductor wafer that is an inspection object, the mark corresponding to the size of a device chip that will be obtained from the semiconductor wafer, the mark being formed with respect to a predetermined device chip on the semiconductor wafer; and (b) during a predetermined process included in a semiconductor wafer process or before the semiconductor wafer process, performing a defect inspection on the semiconductor wafer and recognizing defect information based on the mark as a reference. | 09-12-2013 |
20130235374 | Wafer Inspection with Multi-Spot Illumination and Multiple Channels - Systems configured to inspect a wafer are provided. One system includes an illumination subsystem configured to illuminate a set of spots on a wafer and a collection subsystem configured to collect light from the set of spots. The collection subsystem separately images the light collected from each of the individual spots onto only a corresponding first detector of a first detection subsystem. The collection subsystem also images the light collected from at least some of the individual spots onto a number of second detectors of a second detection subsystem that is less than a number of spots in the set. Output produced by the first and second detectors can be used to detect defects on the wafer. | 09-12-2013 |
20130242293 | Appearance Inspection Apparatus - An appearance inspection apparatus analyzes a difference in detection characteristics of detection signals obtained by detectors to flexibly meet various inspection purposes without changing a circuit or software. The apparatus includes a signal synthesizing section that synthesizes detection signals from the detectors in accordance with a set condition. An input operating section sets a synthesizing condition of the detection signal by the signal synthesizing section, and an information display section displays a synthesizing map structured based on a synthesized signal which is synthesized by the signal synthesizing section in accordance with a condition set by the input operating section. | 09-19-2013 |
20130242294 | DEFECT INSPECTION DEVICE AND DEFECT INSPECTION METHOD - To prevent overlooking of a defect due to reduction in a defect signal, a defect inspection device is configured such that: light is irradiated onto an object to be inspected on which a pattern is formed; reflected, diffracted, and scattered light generated from the object by the irradiation of the light is collected, such that a first optical image resulting from the light passed through a first spatial filter having a first shading pattern is received by a first detector, whereby a first image is obtained; the reflected, diffracted, and scattered light generated from the object is collected, such that a second optical image resulting from the light passed through a second spatial filter having a second shading pattern is received by a second detector, whereby a second image is obtained; and the first and second images thus obtained are processed integrally to detect a defect candidate(s). | 09-19-2013 |
20130250286 | APPARATUS FOR MEASURING PATTERNS ON A REFLECTIVE PHOTOMASK - An apparatus for inspecting, measuring, or inspecting and measuring a reflective photomask may comprise a light illuminating part including a light source and beam shaping part; a stage configured to cause the light generated to be incident at an angle through the beam shaping part; and/or a light detector configured to receive optical image information of the photomask mounted on the stage. An apparatus for inspecting, measuring, or inspecting and measuring a reflective photomask may comprise a light illuminating part including a light source and configured to adjust a progress direction of light from the light source at an angle; a stage in a direction at which the light is irradiated from the light illuminating part at the angle and configured to mount the photomask; a slit plate between the light illuminating part and the stage; and/or a light detector configured to receive image information of the photomask. | 09-26-2013 |
20130250287 | Systems and Methods for Detecting Defects on a Wafer - Systems and methods for detecting defects on a wafer are provided. One method includes generating output for a wafer by scanning the wafer with an inspection system using first and second optical states of the inspection system. The first and second optical states are defined by different values for at least one optical parameter of the inspection system. The method also includes generating first image data for the wafer using the output generated using the first optical state and second image data for the wafer using the output generated using the second optical state. In addition, the method includes combining the first image data and the second image data corresponding to substantially the same locations on the wafer thereby creating additional image data for the wafer. The method further includes detecting defects on the wafer using the additional image data. | 09-26-2013 |
20130265572 | Protective Fluorine-Doped Silicon Oxide Film For Optical Components - An optical component includes a substrate and a fluorine-doped thin film formed on the substrate. This fluorine-doped thin film is dense, and thus very low absorbing and insensitive to various vacuum, temperature, and humidity conditions. This dense film has a high refractive index, which remains stable irrespective of environmental conditions. The fluorine-doped thin film can advantageously ensure low scattering, low reflectance, and high transmittance. Moreover, the fluorine-doped thin film is damage resistant to incident radiation density. The fluorine-doped thin film may be a fluorine-doped silicon oxide film having a thickness of approximately 1-10 nm and a fluorine concentration of 0.1% to 5%. | 10-10-2013 |
20130278925 | DETECTING DEVICE AND METHOD FOR SUBSTRATE - A detecting method for a substrate includes the following steps: positioning the substrate; optically scanning the substrate and determining whether there is any defect on the substrate, if there is at least one defect on the substrate, determining the position of the at least one defect; obtaining a plurality of size images of a plurality of measuring areas of the substrate and transferring the size images; and calculating a width of each line on the substrate, and simultaneously obtaining a defection image of the at least one defect. The present disclosure further provides a detecting device for the substrate. With the detecting method and device, the defect detecting and measurement of the width of each line can be carried out simultaneously, which reduces the manufacturing time of the substrate and improves the manufacturing efficiency thereof. | 10-24-2013 |
20130278926 | Measuring Apparatus - Surface states have traditionally been measured with apparatuses such as an atomic force microscope (AFM), and these measurements have been high in resolution but low in speed. In conventional apparatuses for inspecting the foreign matter sticking to a wafer surface, and for inspecting defects present on the wafer surface, the inspection has had a tendency to be restricted in a region of the highest noise level arising from the roughness of the surface, the surface state, and/or crystal orientations, and thereby to reduce detection sensitivity in a region of lower noise levels. In these conventional techniques, signal processing of the light scattered from the object to be inspected has been based only upon the intensity of the light. | 10-24-2013 |
20130286386 | OPTICAL SURFACE DEFECT INSPECTION APPARATUS AND OPTICAL SURFACE DEFECT INSPECTION METHOD - The invention provides an optical surface defect inspection apparatus and an optical surface defect inspection method that reduces an influence from a dead zone of a sensor array and that reduces the influence from reduction of a detected light amount in a case of extending over light receiving elements, thereby enabling a defect inspection with high sensitivity. According to the invention, a subject is irradiated with an inspection light, an image is formed on the sensor array including the light receiving elements separated by the dead zone insensitive to light scattered by a surface of the subject and arranged in a plurality of lines, outputs from two adjacent light receiving elements are added, and a defect on the surface of the subject is inspected for based on the result of the addition. | 10-31-2013 |
20130286387 | DEFECT INSPECTION METHOD AND DEFECT INSPECTION DEVICE - When the intensity of scattering light from a defect on a sample becomes very low according to the diameter of the defect, the dark noise from a sensor device itself accounts which a large proportion of the detected signal outputted from the sensor and thus it is difficult to detect minute defects. Furthermore, since a laser light source is pulsed into oscillation, pulse components from the laser light source are superimposed on the detected signal outputted from the sensor, and therefore it is difficult to detect defects with high accuracy. The present invention is a defect inspection device having irradiation means which producing pulsed operation and irradiating a surface of a sample with a laser beam, detection means which detecting scattering light generated at the surface of the sample in response to the irradiation provided by the irradiation means, and a processing portion which generating a delay signal based on the laser beam emitted by the irradiation means and processing the scattering light detected by the detection means using the delay signal. | 10-31-2013 |
20130293880 | DEFECT TESTING METHOD AND DEVICE FOR DEFECT TESTING - In a defect inspection method and an apparatus of the same, for enabling to conduct an inspection of fine defects without applying thermal damages on a sample, the following steps are conducted: mounting a sample on a rotatable table to rotate; irradiating a pulse laser emitting from a laser light source upon the sample rotating; detecting a reflected light from the sample, upon which the pulse laser is irradiated; detecting the reflected light from the sample detected; and detecting a defect on the sample through processing of a signal obtained through the detection, wherein irradiation of the pulse laser emitting from the laser light source upon the sample rotating is conducted by dividing the one pulse emitted from the laser light source into plural numbers of pulses, and irradiating each of the divided pulse lasers upon each of separate positions on the sample, respectively. | 11-07-2013 |
20130301041 | Inspection Apparatus - In semiconductor surface inspection apparatus, foreign matter that sticks to the wafer can reduce the quality of the wafer. The present invention is directed to improving the internal cleanliness of the apparatus. Specifically, during rotation of a semiconductor wafer, foreign matter suspended in an atmosphere surrounding the wafer is attracted to a central section of the wafer, and that while heading from the central section of the wafer, towards an outer edge thereof, the foreign matter is most likely to stick to the wafer. In conventional techniques, sufficient consideration is not given to such likelihood of foreign matter sticking This invention supplies a medium from two directions to an inner circumferential section of a substrate. In accordance with the invention, foreign matter that sticks to a wafer can be reduced more significantly than in the conventional techniques. | 11-14-2013 |
20130301042 | DEFECT INSPECTION METHOD AND DEFECT INSPECTION APPARATUS - A defect inspection method includes: illuminating an area on surface of a specimen as a test object under a specified illumination condition; scanning a specimen to translate and rotate the specimen; detecting scattering lights to separate each of scattering lights scattered in different directions from the illuminated area on the specimen into pixels to be detected according to a scan direction at the scanning a specimen and a direction approximately orthogonal to the scan direction; and processing to perform an addition process on each of scattering lights that are detected at the step and scatter approximately in the same direction from approximately the same area of the specimen, determine presence or absence of a defect based on scattering light treated by the addition process, and compute a size of the determined defect using at least one of the scattering lights corresponding to the determined defect. | 11-14-2013 |
20130321797 | SUPER RESOLUTION INSPECTION SYSTEM - The disclosure is directed to a system and method for inspecting a sample by illuminating the sample at a plurality of different angles and independently processing the resulting image streams. Illumination is directed through a plurality of pupil apertures to a plurality of respective field apertures so that the sample is imaged by portions of illumination directed at different angles. The corresponding portions of light reflected, scattered, or radiated from the surface of the sample are independently processed. Information associated with the independently processed portions of illumination is utilized to determine a location of at least one defect of the sample. Independently processing multiple image streams associated with different illumination angles allows for retention of frequency content that would otherwise be lost by averaging information from multiple imaging angles. | 12-05-2013 |
20130321798 | DEFECT INSPECTION METHOD, LOW LIGHT DETECTING METHOD AND LOW LIGHT DETECTOR - A defect inspection method includes an illumination light adjustment step of adjusting light emitted from a light source, an illumination intensity distribution control step of forming light flux obtained in the illumination light adjustment step into desired illumination intensity distribution, a sample scanning step of displacing a sample in a direction substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the illumination intensity distribution, a scattered light detection step of counting the number of photons of scattered light emitted from plural small areas in an area irradiated with illumination light to produce plural scattered light detection signals corresponding to the plural small areas, a defect judgment step of processing the plural scattered light detection signals to judge presence of a defect, a defect dimension judgment step of judging dimensions of the defect in each place in which the defect is judged to be present and a display step of displaying a position on sample surface and the dimensions of the defect in each place in which the defect is judged to be present. | 12-05-2013 |
20130329221 | WAFER SCREENING DEVICE AND METHODS FOR WAFER SCREENING - Wafer breakage is a serious problem in the photovoltaic industry because a large fraction of wafers (between 5 and 10%) break during solar cell/module fabrication. The major cause of this excessive wafer breakage is that these wafers have residual microcracks—microcracks that were not completely etched. Additional propensity for breakage is caused by texture etching and incomplete edge grinding. To eliminate the cost of processing the wafers that break, it is best to remove them prior to cell fabrication. Some attempts have been made to develop optical techniques to detect microcracks. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to detect microcracks that are embedded within the roughness/texture of the wafers. Furthermore, even if such detection is successful, it is not straightforward to relate them to wafer breakage. We believe that the best way to isolate the wafers with fatal microcracks is to apply a stress to wafers—a stress that mimics the highest stress during cell/module processing. If a wafer survives this stress, it has a high probability of surviving without breakage during cell/module fabrication. Based on this, we have developed a high throughput, noncontact method for applying a predetermined stress to a wafer. The wafers are carried on a belt through a chamber that illuminates the wafer with an intense light of a predetermined intensity distribution that can be varied by changing the power to the light source. As the wafers move under the light source, each wafer undergoes a dynamic temperature profile that produces a preset elastic stress. If this stress exceeds the wafer strength, the wafer will break. The broken wafers are separated early, eliminating cost of processing into cell/module. We will describe details of the system and show comparison of breakage statistics with the breakage on a production line. | 12-12-2013 |
20130329222 | INSPECTING APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE - There is provide an inspection apparatus configured to detect a change in shape of a pattern in the depth direction o the pattern, the apparatus including: an illumination section | 12-12-2013 |
20140009755 | DEFECT INSPECTION METHOD AND DEVICE USING SAME - In order to enable inspections to be conducted at a sampling rate higher than the pulse oscillation frequency of a pulsed laser beam emitted from a laser light source, without damaging samples, a defect inspection method is disclosed, wherein: a single pulse of a pulsed laser beam emitted from the laser light source is split into a plurality of pulses; a sample is irradiated with this pulse-split pulsed laser beam; scattered light produced by the sample due to the irradiation is focused and detected; and defects on the sample are detected by using information obtained by focusing and detecting the scattered light from the sample. Said defect inspection method is configured such that the splitting a single pulse of the pulsed laser beam into a plurality of pulses is controlled in such a manner that the peak values of the split pulses are substantially uniform. | 01-09-2014 |
20140009756 | SURFACE INSPECTING APPARATUS AND SURFACE INSPECTING METHOD - A surface inspecting apparatus rotates a semiconductor wafer | 01-09-2014 |
20140016125 | System and Method for Apodization in a Semiconductor Device Inspection System - An inspection system with selectable apodization includes an illumination source configured to illuminate a surface of a sample, a detector configured to detect at least a portion of light emanating from the surface of the sample, the illumination source and the detector being optically coupled via an optical pathway of an optical system, a selectably configurable apodization device disposed along the optical pathway, wherein the apodization device includes one or more apodization elements operatively coupled to one or more actuation stages configured to selectably actuate the one or more apodization elements along one or more directions, and a control system communicatively coupled to the one or more actuation and configured to selectably control apodization of illumination transmitted along the optical pathway by controlling an actuation state of the one or more apodization elements. | 01-16-2014 |
20140022541 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR NEAR INFRA-RED OPTICAL INSPECTION - An inspection system and a method for defect detection, the method includes: generating a first beam that includes a near infrared spectral component and a visible light component; directing at least the near infrared spectral component towards a backside of an inspected object, the backside includes first elements made of a substantially transparent to near infrared radiation first material and second elements that are made of a second material arranged to reflect near infrared radiation; directing, towards a sensor, a near infrared spectral component of a second beam generated from the illuminating of the inspected object; wherein the sensor is sensitive to visible light radiation and to near infrared radiation; generating, by the sensor, detection signals that are responsive to the near infrared component of the second beam; and detecting at least one attribute of at least the second elements by processing the detection signals. | 01-23-2014 |
20140043602 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR INSPECTING AN OBJECT - An apparatus and method for optically inspecting an object, comprising an object carrier for carrying the object, a pattern generating unit for illuminating the object with a measurement pattern, an image capture unit for capturing a number of images of the object, imaging optics for influencing a light beam path between the object and the image capture unit, and a data processing unit for determining at least one property of the object on the basis of the captured images. The apparatus can be set to at least a first operating distance and a second operating distance, and furthermore has a diffusing unit, which can be changed between an active state, in which the diffusing unit influences the light beam path in front of the pattern generating unit and an inactive state, in which the diffusing unit does not influence the light beam path in front of the pattern generating unit. | 02-13-2014 |
20140043603 | SURFACE INSPECTING APPARATUS HAVING DOUBLE RECIPE PROCESSING FUNCTION - In order to enable an evaluation for changing parameters without stopping the inspection of a magnetic disk in production lines, the surface inspecting apparatus illuminates a sample with light while rotating the sample and moving the same in a direction perpendicular to the axis of rotation, detects light reflected/scattered in a first direction from the sample illuminated with the light to obtain a first detection signal, detects light reflected/scattered in a second direction from the sample illuminated with the light to obtain a second detection signal, and a detection of a defect on the sample by processing the first detection signal and the second detection signal, based on a first inspection recipe and a detection of a defect on the sample by processing the first detection signal and the second detection signal, based on a second inspection recipe are performed to detect a defect on the sample. | 02-13-2014 |
20140055780 | PATTERN TEST APPARATUS - According to one embodiment, a pattern test apparatus includes a light source configured to apply test light to a test sample, a polarizing beam splitter which reflects or transmits the test light, an imaging device which receives light which has been reflected by the test sample and transmitted through or reflected by the polarizing beam splitter, an optical system which forms a Fourier transform plane of the test sample between the test sample and the polarizing beam splitter, and a polarizing controller disposed in the Fourier transform plane. The polarizing controller includes a first region which lets the test light through, and a second region which is greater than the first region and lets the light reflected by the test sample through, and the each regions have different retardation quantities. | 02-27-2014 |
20140055781 | ADVANCED INSPECTION METHOD UTILIZING SHORT PULSES LED ILLUMINATION - An illumination module that may include a LED driver; a group of light emitting diodes (LEDs) that comprises at least one LED; the group of LED is coupled to the LED driver; wherein the LED driver is arranged to activate the group of LEDs by driving a high current short duration driving signal; and wherein the group of LEDs is arranged to emit at least one light pulse in response to the high current short duration driving signal. | 02-27-2014 |
20140111799 | DEEP ULTRA-VIOLET LIGHT SOURCES FOR WAFER AND RETICLE INSPECTION SYSTEMS - Disclosed are methods and apparatus for generating a sub-208 nm laser. A laser apparatus includes one or more seed radiation sources for generating a first radiation beam having a first fundamental wavelength on a first optical path and a second radiation beam having a second fundamental wavelength on a second optical path, a first amplifier for amplifying the first radiation beam, a second amplifier for amplifying the second radiation beam, and a wavelength conversion module comprising a plurality of crystals for frequency multiplying and mixing the amplified first and second radiation beams to produce an output beam at a fifth harmonic that is less than about 208 nm. | 04-24-2014 |
20140118729 | Illumination Energy Management in Surface Inspection - The disclosure is directed to a system and method of managing illumination energy applied to illuminated portions of a scanned wafer to mitigate illumination-induced damage without unnecessarily compromising SNR of an inspection system. The wafer may be rotated at a selected spin frequency for scanning wafer defects utilizing the inspection system. Illumination energy may be varied over at least one scanned region of the wafer as a function of radial distance of an illuminated portion from the center of the wafer and the selected spin frequency of the wafer. Illumination energy may be further applied constantly over one or more scanned regions of the wafer beyond a selected distance from the center of the wafer. | 05-01-2014 |
20140118730 | Sample Inspection System Detector - Methods and systems for enhancing the dynamic range of a high sensitivity inspection system are presented. The dynamic range of a high sensitivity inspection system is increased by directing a portion of the light collected from each pixel of the wafer inspection area toward an array of avalanche photodiodes (APDs) operating in Geiger mode and directing another portion of the light collected from each pixel of the wafer inspection area toward another array of photodetectors having a larger range. The array of APDs operating in Geiger mode is useful for inspection of surfaces that generate extremely low photon counts, while other photodetectors are useful for inspection of larger defects that generate larger numbers of scattered photons. In some embodiments, the detected optical field is split between two different detectors. In some other embodiments, a single detector includes both APDs operating in Geiger mode and other photodetectors having a larger range. | 05-01-2014 |
20140132953 | BOARD INSPECTION METHOD - In order to inspect a board, first, an inspection area including a solder joint is provided with a first light having a first color, a second light having a second color and a third light having a third color at a first inclination angle, a second inclination angle smaller than the first inclination angle and a third inclination angle smaller than the second inclination angle with respect to the board, respectively. Then, a color image of the inspection area is acquired according to the first light, the second light and the third light provided to the inspection area. Thereafter, it is inspected whether the solder joint is good or bad by using a color distribution in the color image. Then, the inspection result is verified by using pre-measured height information of the solder joint. Thus, an inspection error may be prevented. | 05-15-2014 |
20140139828 | Pattern Matching Method, Apparatus and Line Width Measuring Machine - The present invention discloses a pattern matching method, which is used in measurement process for line width measuring machine, comprising: reading a standard pattern used for matching on the at least one predetermined position of a measured sample; respectively comparing each standard pattern of the measured sample with prestored multiple designed original images corresponding to the standard pattern; determining that the pattern matching is successful if the standard pattern on the measured sample successfully compares with at least one designed original image, and proceeding with the subsequent line width measurement process; otherwise, determining that the pattern matching is failed. The present invention also discloses a corresponding pattern matching method and a line width measuring machine. According to the embodiment of the present invention, it can improve the accuracy and the success rate of the pattern matching when measuring the line width. | 05-22-2014 |
20140139829 | Inspection Beam Shaping For Improved Detection Sensitivity - Methods and systems for reshaping the beam intensity distribution of an illumination light supplied to a specimen under inspection are presented. A scanning surface inspection system includes a beam shaping element that flattens the beam intensity distribution of a beam of light generated by an illumination source. The reshaped illumination light is directed to the wafer surface over an illumination spot. With a flattened beam intensity distribution, the incident beam power can be increased without the beam intensity exceeding the damage threshold of the wafer at any particular location. In addition, the illumination spot is shaped by the beam shaping element to have a variable beam width in a direction parallel to the inspection track. The location of a defect within an inspection area having a variable beam width is estimated based on an analysis of the output of the detector. | 05-22-2014 |
20140139830 | APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR DETECTING DEFECTS IN VERTICAL MEMORY - Disclosed are methods and apparatus for inspecting a vertical memory stack. On an inspection tool, incident light having a first wavelength range is used to detect defects on a surface of the vertical memory stack. On the inspection tool, incident light having a second wavelength range is used to detect defects on both the surface and throughout a depth of the vertical memory stack. The defects detected using the first and second wavelength range are compared to detect defects only throughout the depth of the vertical memory stack, excluding defects on the surface. | 05-22-2014 |
20140160471 | Optical Filtering Device, Defect Inspection Method and Apparatus Therefor - An optical filtering device and an optical inspection apparatus for detecting a defect in a high sensitivity using an optical filtering device which includes a shutter array formed in a two-dimensionally on an optically opaque thin film produced on a SOI wafer and the SOI wafer is removed at portions thereof on the lower side of the shutter patterns to form perforation portions while working electrodes are formed at the remaining portion of the SOI wafer, a glass substrate having electrode patterns formed on the surface thereof and having the shutter array mounted thereon, and a power supply section for supplying electric power to the electrode patterns formed on the glass substrate and the working electrodes of the SOI wafer. And the working electrodes is controlled to cause the shutter patterns to carry out opening and closing movements with respect to the perforation portions to carry out optical filtering. | 06-12-2014 |
20140192352 | OPTICAL TYPE INSPECTION APPARATUS, INSPECTION SYSTEM AND THE WAFER FOR COORDINATES MANAGEMENT - This optical inspection device has: a line sensor on which channels are arranged; a moving means for moving a wafer mounted on a stage relative to the line sensor; a stage position detection means for detecting the on-stage positions of pseudo-defects in images formed on the channels as pseudo-defect stage coordinates, said coordinate management wafer being a wafer on which one pseudo-defect die is formed per row and column of a matrix of dies and each pseudo-defect die has a plurality of pseudo-defects formed in a line in the columnar direction; a coordinate transformation means for transforming the pseudo-defect stage coordinates into pseudo-defect die coordinates; a difference computation means for computing the differences of the pseudo-defect die coordinates from design coordinates; and a characteristic pattern acquisition means for obtaining a coordinate error characteristic pattern in which the differences from the pseudo-defect stage coordinates increase or decrease along a straight line. | 07-10-2014 |
20140192353 | INSPECTION APPARATUS - An inspection method and apparatus for detecting defects or haze of a sample, includes illuminating light to the sample from an oblique direction relative to a surface of the sample with an illuminator, detecting first scattered light at a forward position relative to an illuminating direction from the sample with a first detector, detecting second scattered light at a sideward or backward position relative to the illuminating direction from the sample with a second detection, and processing a first signal of the first scattered light and a second signal of the second scattered light with different weighting for the first signal and for the second signal with a processor. | 07-10-2014 |
20140204371 | METHOD OF INSPECTING WAFER - Wafer inspection method to perform wafer inspection based on photo map information. The wafer inspection method may include: detecting a sample center location on a wafer; compensating the detected sample center location to a compensated center location based on photo map information; and detecting defective dies included in the wafer based on the compensated center location. | 07-24-2014 |
20140233024 | Defect Inspecting Apparatus and Defect Inspecting Method - An invention being applied is a defect detecting apparatus that has: an illuminating optical system with a laser light source for irradiating a sample on whose surface a pattern is formed with light; a detecting optical system with a sensor for detecting light generated from the sample illuminated by the illuminating optical system; and a signal processing unit that extracts a defect from an image based on the light detected by the detecting optical system, in which an amplification rate of the sensor is dynamically changed during a time when the light is detected by the detecting optical system. | 08-21-2014 |
20140233025 | Method and Apparatus for Angular-Resolved Spectroscopic Lithography Characterization - An apparatus and method to determine a property of a substrate by measuring, in the pupil plane of a high numerical aperture lens, an angle-resolved spectrum as a result of radiation being reflected off the substrate. The property may be angle and wavelength dependent and may include the intensity of TM- and TE-polarized radiation and their relative phase difference. | 08-21-2014 |
20140253910 | System and Method for Reviewing a Curved Sample Edge - The disclosure is directed to a system and method for reviewing a curved edge of a sample. A line scan detector is actuated along an actuation path defined by the edge of the sample to scan a plurality of locations along the sample edge. The scan data is assembled to generate at least one review image of at least a portion of the edge of the sample. In some embodiments a substantially normal angle of incidence is maintained between the sample edge and the scanning illumination. In some embodiments, brightfield and darkfield images may be collected utilizing a common objective with separately operable illumination sources directing illumination along a first and second illumination path to the sample edge for review. | 09-11-2014 |
20140253911 | INSPECTING DEVICE AND INSPECTING METHOD - An inspecting device includes: an irradiation part for dividing pulsed light emitted from a femtosecond laser into measurement pump light and measurement probe light, to irradiate a solar cell; a detection part for detecting an electromagnetic wave emitted from the solar cell in accordance with the irradiation with the measurement probe light; and a measurement delay part for delaying the time of arrival of the measurement probe light at the solar cell relatively to the measurement pump light. The irradiation part is provided with a galvano mirror for scanning with the measurement probe light a wide range which is wider than an irradiated range (pump light spot) being irradiated with the measurement pump light in a solar cell. | 09-11-2014 |
20140253912 | DEFECT INSPECTION METHOD AND DEVICE FOR SAME - In defect scanning carried out in a process of manufacturing a semiconductor or the like, a light detection optical system comprising a plurality of photosensors is used for detecting scattered light reflected from a sample. The photosensors used for detecting the quantity of weak background scattered light include a photon counting type photosensor having few pixels whereas the photosensors used for detecting the quantity of strong background scattered light include a photon counting type photosensor having many pixels or an analog photosensor. In addition, nonlinearity caused by the use of the photon counting type photosensor as nonlinearity of detection strength of defect scattered light is corrected in order to correct a detection signal of the defect scattered light. | 09-11-2014 |
20140268118 | Multi-Spot Defect Inspection System - The disclosure is directed to a system and method for inspecting a spinning sample by substantially simultaneously scanning multiple spots on a surface of the sample utilizing a plurality of illumination beams. Portions of illumination reflected, scattered, or radiated from respective spots on the surface of the sample are collected by at least one detector array. Information associated with at least one defect of the sample is determined by at least one computing system in communication with the detector array. According to various embodiments, at least one of scan pitch, spot size, spot separation, and spin rate is controlled to compensate pitch error due to tangential spot separation. | 09-18-2014 |
20140268119 | Method for Repairing a Mask - The present disclosure provides a method of repairing a mask. The method includes inspecting the mask using a mask inspection tool to identify a defect on a circuit pattern of the mask; repairing the defect using a mask repair tool to form a repaired pattern; forming a first group of diffraction images of the repaired pattern and a second group of diffraction images of a reference feature; and validating the mask by comparing the first group of diffraction images with the second group of diffraction images. | 09-18-2014 |
20140268120 | SINGLE-FIBER NONCRITICAL-ALIGNMENT WAFER-SCALE OPTICAL TESTING - A method of determining a parameter of a wafer is disclosed. Light is propagated through a waveguide disposed in the wafer. A first measurement of optical power is obtained at a first optical tap coupled to the waveguide and a second measurement of optical power is obtained at a second optical tap coupled to the waveguide using a photodetector placed at a selected location with respect to the wafer. A difference in optical power is determined between the first optical tap and the second optical tap from the first measurement and the second measurement. The parameter of the wafer is determined from the determined difference in optical power. | 09-18-2014 |
20140268121 | DARK-FIELD SEMICONDUCTOR WAFER INSPECTION DEVICE - The invention relates to a dark-field semi-conductor wafer inspection device including, in the following order, a light source for emitting an incident beam to a wafer along a first axis, a concentrator ( | 09-18-2014 |
20140285797 | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR INSPECTING SEMI-CONDUCTOR MATERIALS - A nanotopographic measuring device comprises an input arranged to receive sets of measurement data relating to a semi-conductor wafer ( | 09-25-2014 |
20140307254 | INSPECTION APPARATUS AND INSPECTION METHOD - An inspection apparatus comprising, a Rochon prism configured to branch the light transmitted through a half-wave plate, a first sensor and a second sensor for acquiring an optical image of a pattern of the sample, the branched light being incident to the first sensor and the second sensor, a light quantity acquisition unit configured to acquire a light quantity ratio (1:A) of the second sensor to the first sensor using the optical image, and to obtain an angle θ of the half-wave plate such that the light quantity ratio becomes A:1, an angle controller configured to receive information on the angle θ from the light quantity acquisition unit to control an angle of the half-wave plate, a light source controller configured to control a light quantity of the light source such that each of the light quantity values becomes a target value. | 10-16-2014 |
20140333922 | Inspection Method and Apparatus, Lithographic Apparatus, Lithographic Processing Cell and Device Manufacturing Method - The present invention makes the use of measurement of a diffraction spectrum in or near an image plane in order to determine a property of an exposed substrate. In particular, the positive and negative first diffraction orders are separated or diverged, detected and their intensity measured to determine overlay (or other properties) of exposed layers on the substrate. | 11-13-2014 |
20140333923 | INSPECTION APPARATUS - When it is tried to detect a microscopic defect, it is desired that the width of the above-mentioned illuminated region in the minor axis direction should be short. In the related art, although an illuminated region is formed by converging light by some means, it is not easy to form an illuminated region with a narrower width. This is because various aberrations possessed by optical elements themselves used for convergence, aberrations possessed by other optical elements disposed on optical paths, assembly errors, and the like have undesired influence on the formation of linear illumination. In the related art, sufficient consideration has not been paid to the above points. The present invention is characterized in that it includes a system for changing the wavefront of light. | 11-13-2014 |
20140354983 | APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR FINDING A BEST APERTURE AND MODE TO ENHANCE DEFECT DETECTION - Disclosed are methods and apparatus for optimizing a mode of an inspection tool. A first image or signal for each of a plurality of first apertures of the inspection tool is obtained, and each first image or signal pertains to a defect area. For each of a plurality of combinations of the first apertures and their first images or signals, a composite image or signal is obtained. Each composite image or signal is analyzed to determine an optimum one of the combinations of the first apertures based on a defect detection characteristic of each composite image. | 12-04-2014 |
20140354984 | SURFACE FEATURES BY AZIMUTHAL ANGLE - Provided herein is an apparatus, including a photon emitting means configured to emit photons onto a surface of an article at a number of azimuthal angles; and a processing means configured to process photon-detector-array signals corresponding to photons scattered from surface features of the article and generate one or more surface features maps for the article from the photon-detector-array signals corresponding to the photons scattered from the surface features of the article. | 12-04-2014 |
20140375987 | 2D PROGRAMMABLE APERTURE MECHANISM - Methods and systems for reconfiguring an aperture of an optical inspection system are presented. A programmable aperture system includes a two dimensional array of mechanical pixels that selectively block light passing through the aperture. An array of linear guiding elements is aligned parallel to one another, and each row of mechanical pixels is supported by a corresponding linear guiding element. Each mechanical pixel is configured to slide along the corresponding linear guiding element when pushed by an actuator subsystem. The actuator subsystem repositions one or more of the mechanical pixel elements to change the shape of the aperture. The actuator subsystem is configured to selectively engage one or more mechanical pixel elements and translate the one or more mechanical pixel elements along corresponding linear guiding elements to a new position. | 12-25-2014 |
20140375988 | SURFACE MEASUREMENT DEVICE - In conventional technologies in surface measurement and defect inspection, considerations are not made for the following points: (1) coarseness of resolution of spatial frequency; (2) variation of detection signal resulting from anisotropy of microroughness; and (3) variation of background signal resulting from anisotropy of microroughness. The present invention is characterized by acquiring a feature quantity about the anisotropy of the microroughness of the substrate surface. Further, the present invention is characterized by acquiring a surface state in consideration of the anisotropy of the microroughness of the substrate surface. Further the present invention is characterized by detecting a defect over the substrate in consideration of the anisotropy of the microroughness of the substrate surface. | 12-25-2014 |
20150029499 | AUTO-FOCUS SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR DIE-TO-DIE INSPECTION - Disclosed are methods and apparatus for detecting defects in a semiconductor sample having a plurality of identically designed areas. An inspection tool is used to construct an initial focus trajectory for a first swath of the sample. The inspection tool is then used to scan the first swath by following the initial focus trajectory for the first swath while collecting autofocus data. A z offset measurement vector for each identically designed area in the first swath is generated based on the autofocus data. A corrected z offset vector is constructed for inspection of the first swath with the inspection tool. Constructing the corrected z offset vector is based on combining the z offset measurement vectors for two or more of the identically designed areas in the first swath so that the corrected z offset vector specifies a same z offset for each set of same positions in the two or more identically designed areas. | 01-29-2015 |
20150036128 | INSPECTION APPARATUS - An inspection apparatus is capable of inspecting a light-emitting diode (LED). The inspection apparatus includes a reflecting cover, a base plate, a light-collecting unit and at least one inspection light source. An enclosed space is defined by the base plate and the reflecting cover having an opening. The LED is disposed on the base plate and located in the enclosed space. The light-collecting unit is disposed above the LED and in the enclosed space. A vertical distance from the light-collecting unit to the LED is H, a width of the opening of the reflecting cover is W, and H/W=0.05 to 10. The inspection light source is in the enclosed space. An inspection light emitted from the inspection light source is reflected by the reflecting cover and then emitted into the LED. | 02-05-2015 |
20150036129 | INSPECTION APPARATUS - An inspection apparatus is capable for inspecting at least one light-emitting device. The inspection apparatus includes a working machine and an inspection light source. The inspection light source is disposed on the working machine and located above the light-emitting device. A dominant wavelength of the inspection light source is smaller than a dominant wavelength of the light-emitting device so as to excite the light-emitting device and get an optical property of the light-emitting device. | 02-05-2015 |
20150055128 | Surface Scanning Inspection System With Independently Adjustable Scan Pitch - A surface scanning wafer inspection system with independently adjustable scan pitch and associated methods of operation are presented. The scan pitch may be adjusted independently from an illumination area on the surface of a wafer. In some embodiments, scan pitch is adjusted while the illumination area remains constant. For example, defect sensitivity is adjusted by adjusting the rate of translation of a wafer relative to the rate of rotation of the wafer without additional optical adjustments. In some examples, the scan pitch is adjusted to achieve a desired defect sensitivity over an entire wafer. In other examples, the scan pitch is adjusted during wafer inspection to optimize defect sensitivity and throughput. In other examples, the scan pitch is adjusted to maximize defect sensitivity within the damage limit of a wafer under inspection. | 02-26-2015 |
20150062571 | Tuning Wafer Inspection Recipes Using Precise Defect Locations - Systems and methods for determining one or more parameters of a wafer inspection process are provided. One method includes aligning optical image(s) of an alignment target to their corresponding electron beam images generated by an electron beam defect review system. The method also includes determining different local coordinate transformations for different subsets of alignment targets based on results of the aligning. In addition, the method includes determining positions of defects in wafer inspection system coordinates based on coordinates of the defects determined by the electron beam defect review system and the different local coordinate transformations corresponding to different groups of the defects into which the defects have been separated. The method further includes determining one or more parameters for an inspection process for the wafer based on defect images acquired at the determined positions by a wafer inspection system. | 03-05-2015 |
20150098081 | METROLOGY TOOL STAGE CONFIGURATIONS AND OPERATION METHODS - Metrology tool stage configurations and respective methods are provided, which comprise a pivoted connection arranged to receive a wafer and enable rotation thereof about a pivot; a radial axis arranged to radially move the rotatable pivoted connection attached thereto; and optics having a stationary part configured to generate a collimated illumination beam. For example, the optics may be stationary and the radial axis may be centrally rotated to enable stage operation without requiring additional space for guiding systems. In another example, a part of the optics may be rotatable, when configured to receive illumination via a mechanically decoupled or empty region, receive power and control wirelessly and deliver data wirelessly. The disclosed configurations provide more compact and more robust stages which efficiently handle large wafers. Stage configurations may be horizontal or vertical, the latter further minimizing the tool's footprint. | 04-09-2015 |
20150116701 | DEFECT INSPECTION APPARATUS AND METHOD - A defect inspection apparatus is disclosed that includes a stage, a photosensitive element, and a controller. The stage can support a semiconductor element that has a plurality of complete dies and partial dies surrounding the complete dies. The photosensitive element is located above the stage. The controller is electrically connected to the photosensitive element to drive the photosensitive element to inspect the defects of the complete dies and the partial dies. | 04-30-2015 |
20150116702 | DEFECT INSPECTION METHOD AND DEFECT INSPECTION DEVICE - To enable the detection of a more minute defect with a defect detection device, the defect inspection device is provided with: an illumination light irradiating section that irradiates illumination light on a linear area of a specimen from an inclined direction; a detection optical system section provided with multiple detection optical systems that comprise objective lenses and two-dimensional detectors, said objective lenses being placed in a direction substantially orthogonal to the length direction of the linear area, being placed in a surface that contains a normal line to the specimen front surface, and condensing scattered light generated from the linear area on the specimen, and said two-dimensional detectors detecting the scattered light condensed by the objective lenses; and a signal processing section that processes a signal detected by the detection optical system section and detects the defect on the specimen. | 04-30-2015 |
20150116703 | Reflective Optical Element - A reflective optical element for a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, a mask inspection apparatus or the like. The reflective optical element has an optically effective surface, an element substrate ( | 04-30-2015 |
20150124247 | Metrology Optimized Inspection - Methods and systems for determining one or more parameters of a wafer inspection process are provided. One method includes acquiring metrology data for a wafer generated by a wafer metrology system. The method also includes determining one or more parameters of a wafer inspection process for the wafer or another wafer based on the metrology data. | 05-07-2015 |
20150131087 | INSPECTION SYSTEM - To improve sensitivity of a defect inspection, it is required to decrease influence of excessive diffraction from a spatial filter. Further, it is preferable to secure signal intensity from defects and particles as much as possible, while the influence of the excessive diffraction is decreased as much as possible. The present invention is characterized in setting a width of a spatial filter surface such that an unnecessary image caused by diffraction, that is, an intensity of the excessive diffraction is sufficiently small with respect to an intensity of a desired image. In the present invention, an SN ratio that is an index for deciding a width of the spatial filter is calculated from a region subjected to the influence of the excessive diffraction in an inspection image, and a width of a shield unit of the spatial filter is set so as to maximize the SN ratio. | 05-14-2015 |
20150131088 | SUBSTRATE INVERTING APPARATUS AND SUBSTRATE PROCESSING APPARATUS - Provided is a technique which can properly invert a plurality of substrates at a time. To achieve this object, a substrate inverting apparatus includes: a support mechanism which supports a plurality of substrates in a state where the substrates are stacked vertically in a spaced-apart manner in a horizontal posture; and a clamping and inverting mechanism which clamps the plurality of substrates supported by the support mechanism respectively and inverts the plurality of substrates at a time. In the support mechanism, support members which support the substrate are moved to a standby position from a support position while being moved downward away from the center of the substrate as viewed in the vertical direction. On the other hand, in the clamping and inverting mechanism, clamping members which clamp the substrate are moved to a near position from a remote position by a clamping member drive part and are elastically biased by an elastic member toward side surfaces of the substrate at the near position. | 05-14-2015 |
20150138541 | OBJECTIVE LENS SWITCHING MECHANISM AND INSPECTION APPARATUS - An objective lens switching mechanism holds a plurality of objective lenses respectively disposed on each of the plurality of lens mounts, moves the plurality of objective lenses between a first position on the lens mounts and a second position above the lens mounts by a rotating mechanism and moves the plurality of objective lenses from the second position above the lens mounts to another second position above the lens mounts. | 05-21-2015 |
20150146200 | DEFECT INSPECTION DEVICE AND DEFECT INSPECTION METHOD - To detect an infinitesimal defect, highly precisely measure the dimensions of the detect, a detect inspection device is configured to comprise: a irradiation unit which irradiate light in a linear region on a surface of a sample; a detection unit which detect light from the linear region; and a signal processing unit which processes a signal obtained by detecting light and detecting a defect. The detection unit includes: an optical assembly which diffuses the light from the sample in one direction and forms an image in a direction orthogonal to the one direction; and a detection assembly having an array sensor in which detection pixels are positioned two-dimensionally, which detects the light diffused in the one direction and imaged in the direction orthogonal to the one direction, adds output signals of each of the detection pixels aligned in the direction in which the light is diffused, and outputs same. | 05-28-2015 |
20150293035 | Pattern Suppression in Logic for Wafer Inspection - Methods and systems for detecting defects on a wafer are provided. One system includes an illumination subsystem configured to direct light to at least one spot on a wafer. The system also includes at least one element configured to block first portion(s) of light scattered from the at least one spot from reaching a detector while allowing second portion(s) of the light scattered from the at least one spot to be detected by the detector. The first portion(s) of the light are scattered from one or more patterned features in a logic region on the wafer. The second portion(s) of the light are not scattered from the one or more patterned features. The detector is not an imaging detector. The system further includes a computer subsystem configured to detect defects on the wafer based on output of the detector. | 10-15-2015 |
20150293036 | APPARATUS FOR INSPECTING INTEGRATED CIRCUIT - An apparatus for inspecting an integrated circuit is an apparatus for inspecting an integrated circuit having a semiconductor substrate and a circuit portion formed on a front face a side of the semiconductor substrate. The apparatus comprises a light generation unit for generating light L for irradiating the integrated circuit, a wavelength width adjustment unit, for adjusting the wavelength width of the light irradiating the integrated circuit, an irradiation position adjustment unit for adjusting the irradiation position of the light irradiating the integrated circuit, and a light detection unit for detecting the light from the integrated circuit when the light from the light generation unit irradiates the circuit portion through a rear face of the semiconductor substrate. | 10-15-2015 |
20150293037 | SPECTRAL MAPPING OF PHOTO EMISSION - An apparatus and method for optical probing of a DUT is disclosed. The system enables identifying, localizing and classifying faulty devices within the DUT. A selected area of the DUT is imaged while the DUT is receiving test signals, which may be static or dynamic, i.e., causing certain of the active devices to modulate. Light from the DUT is collected and is passed through a transparent diffracting grating prior to imaging it by a sensor and converting it into an electrical signal. The resulting image includes the zero order and first order diffraction of the grating. The grating is configured such that the zero order is in registration with emission sites imaged when the grating is outside the optical path. | 10-15-2015 |
20150330907 | Method and Apparatus for Producing and Measuring Dynamically Focused, Steered, and Shaped Oblique Laser Illumination for Spinning Wafer Inspection System - A method and apparatus for producing high frequency dynamically focused oblique laser illumination for a spinning wafer inspection system. The focus is changed by changing the beam direction incidence angle so as to bring focal spot onto the wafer surface. | 11-19-2015 |
20150330914 | Wafer Edge Detection and Inspection - Methods and systems for determining wafer inspection coordinates for fixed location(s) on a wafer are provided. One system includes an illumination subsystem configured to direct light to a spot on an edge of a wafer. The spot extends beyond the edge of the wafer. The system also includes a stage that rotates the wafer thereby causing the spot to be scanned over the edge of the wafer. The system also includes a detector configured to detect light from the spot while the spot is being scanned over the edge and to generate output responsive thereto. The system further includes a computer processor configured to determine wafer inspection coordinates of two or more locations on the edge of the wafer based on the output and to determine wafer inspection coordinates of fixed location(s) on the wafer based on the wafer inspection coordinates of the two or more locations on the edge. | 11-19-2015 |
20150355106 | MINIATURIZED IMAGING APPARATUS FOR WAFER EDGE - Disclosed are methods and apparatus for imaging a rounded edge of a sample, such as a wafer with a beveled edge. In one embodiment, the system includes a curved diffuser having an internal surface for positioning towards the rounded edge of the sample and an external surface opposite the internal surface and light sources for generating a plurality of illumination beams adjacent to a plurality of positions on the external surface of the diffuser so that the diffuser outputs uniform light onto the rounded edge of the sample at a wide range of incident angles. The system further includes a sensor for receiving light scattered from the rounded edge of the sample in response to the incident light and generating a detected signal for generating an image. These elements are partially or entirely integrated into a compact assembly. | 12-10-2015 |
20150362438 | MAGNIFYING IMAGING OPTICAL UNIT AND EUV MASK INSPECTION SYSTEM WITH SUCH AN IMAGING OPTICAL UNIT - A magnifying imaging optical unit serves for inspecting lithography masks which are used in EUV projection exposure. The imaging optical unit comprises at least two mirrors (M | 12-17-2015 |
20150369750 | Confocal Line Inspection Optical System - A line scan wafer inspection system includes a confocal slit aperture filter to remove sidelobes and enhance resolution in the scanning direction. A position detector associated with the slit aperture filter monitors and corrects illumination line image positions relative to the slit aperture to keep image position variations within tolerable limits. Each detector measures a line position and then uses the line position signal to adjust optical, mechanical, and electronic components in the collection path in a feedback loop. The feedback loop may be employed in a runtime calibration process or during inspection to enhance stability. | 12-24-2015 |
20150369753 | Wafer Inspection - Systems configured to inspect a wafer are provided. One system includes an illumination subsystem configured to direct pulses of light to an area on a wafer; a scanning subsystem configured to scan the pulses of light across the wafer; a collection subsystem configured to image pulses of light scattered from the area on the wafer to a sensor, wherein the sensor is configured to integrate a number of the pulses of scattered light that is fewer than a number of the pulses of scattered light that can be imaged on the entire area of the sensor, and wherein the sensor is configured to generate output responsive to the integrated pulses of scattered light; and a computer subsystem configured to detect defects on the wafer using the output generated by the sensor. | 12-24-2015 |
20150369755 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE INSPECTION DEVICE AND SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE INSPECTION METHOD - A semiconductor device inspection system includes a laser light source for generating light to be irradiated a semiconductor device, an optical sensor for detecting the light reflected by the semiconductor device and outputting the detection signal, a tester unit for applying a operating signal to the semiconductor device, an electricity measurement unit to which the detection signal is input, an electricity measurement unit to which the detection signal and the operating signal are selectively input, and a switching unit having a detection signal terminal and a operating signal terminal. The switching unit inputs the detection signal to the electricity measurement unit by connecting a connection section to the detection signal terminal and inputs the operating signal by connecting the connection section to the operating signal terminal. | 12-24-2015 |
20150377797 | Determining a Configuration for an Optical Element Positioned in a Collection Aperture During Wafer Inspection - Methods and systems for determining a configuration for an optical element positioned in a collection aperture during wafer inspection are provided. One system includes a detector configured to detect light from a wafer that passes through an optical element, which includes a set of collection apertures, when the optical element has different configurations thereby generating different images for the different configurations. The system also includes a computer subsystem configured for constructing additional image(s) from two or more of the different images, and the two or more different images used to generate any one of the additional image(s) do not include only different images generated for single collection apertures in the set. The computer subsystem is further configured for selecting one of the different or additional configurations for the optical element based on the different images and the additional image(s). | 12-31-2015 |
20160011123 | DEFECT INSPECTION METHOD AND DEVICE USING SAME | 01-14-2016 |
20160018328 | OPTICAL TRANSFORMATION MODULE AND OPTICAL MEASUREMENT SYSTEM, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING A SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE USING OPTICAL TRANSFORMATION MODULE AND OPTICAL MEASUREMENT SYSTEM - An optical transformation module includes a light generator generating a parallel light beam to be incident onto a surface of an inspection object and changing a wavelength of the parallel light beam, and a rotating grating positioned on a path of the parallel light beam and rotatable by a predetermined rotation angle such that the parallel light beam is transformed according to the wavelength of the parallel light beam and the rotation angle of the rotating grating to have a desired incidence angle and a desired incidence position onto the surface of the inspection object. | 01-21-2016 |
20160025648 | Virtual Inspection Systems with Multiple Modes - Methods and systems for determining one or more characteristics for defects detected on a specimen are provided. One system includes one or more computer subsystems configured for identifying a first defect that was detected on a specimen by an inspection system with a first mode but was not detected with one or more other modes. The computer subsystem(s) are also configured for acquiring, from the storage medium, one or more images generated with the one or more other modes at a location on the specimen corresponding to the first defect. In addition, the computer subsystem(s) are configured for determining one or more characteristics of the acquired one or more images and determining one or more characteristics of the first defect based on the one or more characteristics of the acquired one or more images. | 01-28-2016 |
20160033763 | PROTECTED LENS COVER PLATE FOR AN OPTICAL METROLOGY DEVICE - A cover plate or lens for an optical metrology device that is positioned under a wafer during measurement is protected with a purge device. The purge device may include a ring that extends around a periphery of the cover plate or lens. The ring includes a plurality of apertures through which a purge gas or air is expelled over the surface of the cover plate or lens. Additionally or alternatively, one or more heating elements may be provided that extend around the periphery of the cover plate or lens. The heating elements heat the cover plate above a dewpoint temperature of contaminant vapor. A heat sensor may be used to monitor the temperature of the cover plate to control the heating elements and/or to compensate for optical changes of the cover plate caused by heating during measurement of a wafer. | 02-04-2016 |
20160041092 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INSPECTING DEFECTS - In optical dark field defect inspection, the present invention provides including: condensing laser emitted from a light source in a line shape; reflecting the laser, with a mirror; irradiating the reflected laser via an objective lens to a sample placed on a table from a vertical direction; condensing reflected scattered light from the sample with the objective lens; shielding diffraction light occurred from a periodical pattern formed on the sample, in the reflected scattered light from the sample and scattered light occurred from the mirror, with a spatial filter; receiving the reflected scattered light from the sample, not shielded with the spatial filter, with an imaging lens, and forming an image of the reflected scattered light; detecting the image of the reflected scattered light; and processing a detection signal obtained by detecting the image of the reflected scattered light and detecting a defect on the sample. | 02-11-2016 |
20160041107 | Method For Monitoring The Operational State Of A Surface Inspection System For Detecting Defects On The Surface Of Semiconductor Wafers - The operational state of a surface inspection system for detecting defects on the surface of semiconductor wafers is monitored by: | 02-11-2016 |
20160054237 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OPTICAL INSPECTION OF ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS - An optical inspection system for an electronic circuit comprises sensors of images of the electronic circuit, at least two supports on which are intended to rest two parts of the electronic circuit and a device for modifying the position of each support, independently of one another. | 02-25-2016 |
20160061745 | Repeater Detection - Systems and methods for detecting defects on a wafer are provided. One method includes generating test image(s) for at least a portion of an array region in die(s) on a wafer from frame image(s) generated by scanning the wafer with an inspection system. | 03-03-2016 |
20160061749 | Array Mode Repeater Detection - Systems and methods for detecting defects on a wafer are provided. One method includes generating test image(s) for at least a portion of an array region in die(s) on a wafer from frame image(s) generated by scanning the wafer with an inspection system. The method also includes generating a reference image for cell(s) in the array region from frame images generated by the scanning of the wafer. In addition, the method includes determining difference image(s) for at least one cell in the at least the portion of the array region in the die(s) by subtracting the reference image from portion(s) of the test image(s) corresponding to the at least one cell. The method further includes detecting defects on the wafer in the at least one cell based on the difference image(s). | 03-03-2016 |
20160077017 | METHOD OF INSPECTING A SURFACE OF AN OBJECT AND OPTICAL SYSTEM FOR PERFORMING THE SAME - A method of inspecting a surface of an object includes providing a laser beam irradiated in a first direction substantially parallel to the surface of the object, adjusting a diameter of the annular laser beam, reflecting the annular laser beam toward the surface of the object in a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction, in a primary reflection, and reflecting the primarily reflected laser toward an inspection region of the object, in a secondary reflection. An incident angle of the annular laser beam with respect to the surface of the object may be determined by the diameter of the annular laser beam. | 03-17-2016 |
20160091437 | WAFER EDGE INSPECTION WITH TRAJECTORY FOLLOWING EDGE PROFILE - This inspection system has an optical head, a support system, and a controller in electrical communication with the support system. The support system is configured to provide movement to the optical head with three degrees of freedom. The controller is programmed to control movement of the optical head using the support system such that the optical head maintains a constant angle of incidence relative to a wafer surface while imaging a circumferential edge of the wafer. An edge profiler may be scanned across the wafer to determine an edge profile. A trajectory of the optical head can be determined using the edge profile. | 03-31-2016 |
20160103080 | DUAL-FUNCTION WAFER HANDLING APPARATUS - A dual-function wafer handling apparatus for handling a wafer includes an aligner for rotating the wafer, an ID reader disposed corresponding to an edge of the wafer for reading an ID of the wafer, and an optical defect inspection unit for capturing images to analysis. | 04-14-2016 |
20160109376 | LENTICULAR WAFER INSPECTION - A system and method for inspecting a surface, comprising: illuminating said surface with an electromagnetic radiation to generate scattered radiation from features of said surface; inducing a change in phase to said scattered radiation for reducing divergence of said scattered radiation and for redirecting said scattered radiation towards a predetermined spatial region; focusing after said radiation has propagated to said spatial region; capturing an image of radiation, whereby said features of said surface are detected in said image of radiation. | 04-21-2016 |
20160109382 | DEFECT INSPECTION METHOD AND DEVICE FOR SAME - In defect scanning carried out in a process of manufacturing a semiconductor or the like, a light detection optical system comprising a plurality of photosensors is used for detecting scattered light reflected from a sample. The photosensors used for detecting the quantity of weak background scattered light include a photon counting type photosensor having few pixels whereas the photosensors used for detecting the quantity of strong background scattered light include a photon counting type photosensor having many pixels or an analog photosensor. In addition, nonlinearity caused by the use of the photon counting type photosensor as nonlinearity of detection strength of defect scattered light is corrected in order to correct a detection signal of the defect scattered light. | 04-21-2016 |
20160116421 | DEFECT INSPECTING METHOD AND DEFECT INSPECTING APPARATUS - A defect inspecting method and apparatus for inspecting a surface state including a defect on a wafer surface, in which a polarization state of a laser beam irradiated onto the wafer surface is connected into a specified polarization state, the converted laser beam having the specified polarization state is inserted onto the wafer surface, and a scattering light occurring from an irradiated region where the laser beam having the specified polarization state is irradiated, is separated into a first scattering light occurring due to a defect on the wafer and a second scattering light occurring due to a surface roughness on the wafer. An optical element for optical path division separates the first and second scattering lights approximately at the same time. | 04-28-2016 |
20160123898 | Wafer Defect Discovery - Systems and methods for discovering defects on a wafer are provided. One method includes detecting defects on a wafer by applying a threshold to output generated by a detector in a first scan of the wafer and determining values for features of the detected defects. The method also includes automatically ranking the features, identifying feature cut-lines to group the defect into bins, and, for each of the bins, determining one or more parameters that if applied to the values for the features of the defects in each of the bins will result in a predetermined number of the defects in each of the bins. The method also includes applying the one or more determined parameters to the output generated by the detector in a second scan of the wafer to generate a defect population that has a predetermined defect count and is diversified in the values for the features. | 05-05-2016 |
20160153914 | INSPECTION SYSTEMS AND TECHNIQUES WITH ENHANCED DETECTION | 06-02-2016 |
20160161422 | DEFECT INSPECTION METHOD AND DEFECT INSPECTION DEVICE - A defect inspection method and device for irradiating a linear region on a surface-patterned sample mounted on a table, with illumination light from an inclined direction to the sample, next detecting in each of a plurality of directions an image of the light scattered from the sample irradiated with the illumination light, then processing signals obtained by the detection of the images of the scattered light, and thereby detecting a defect present on the sample; wherein the step of detecting the scattered light image in the plural directions is performed through oval shaped lenses in which elevation angles of the optical axes thereof are different from each other, within one plane perpendicular to a plane formed by the normal to the surface of the table on which to mount the sample and the longitudinal direction of the linear region irradiated with the irradiation light. | 06-09-2016 |
20160161749 | Lens Array-Based Illumination for Wafer Inspection - Systems configured to provide illumination for wafer inspection performed by a wafer inspection tool are provided. One system includes one or more pupil lenses configured to focus a first far field pattern having a shape different than a shape of light generated by a light source. The system also includes a field lens array positioned between the one or more pupil lenses and an aperture stop. In addition, the system includes a lens group configured to focus a second far field pattern generated by the field lens array to a back focal plane of the lens group. The back focal plane of the lens group is a field plane of a wafer inspection tool at which a wafer to be inspected is placed during wafer inspection. | 06-09-2016 |
20160254199 | AN APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR INSPECTING A SEMICONDUCTOR PACKAGE | 09-01-2016 |
20160377552 | System and Method for Production Line Monitoring - A method for production line monitoring during semiconductor device fabrication includes acquiring a plurality of inspection results from a plurality of reference samples with an inspection sub-system. The method includes storing the acquired inspection results and geometric pattern codes for each of the reference samples in a database. The method includes acquiring an additional inspection result from an additional sample, where the additional inspection result includes an additional set of geometric pattern codes for identifying each defect identified within the additional inspection result from the additional sample. The method also includes correlating the set of geometric pattern codes of the additional sample with the geometric pattern codes from the reference set of samples to identify at least one of one or more new patterns or one or more patterns displaying a frequency of occurrence above a selected threshold. | 12-29-2016 |