| HERMES MICROVISION, INC. Patent applications |
| Patent application number | Title | Published |
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| 20120100705 | METHOD FOR FORMING MEMORY CELL TRANSISTOR - A method for forming a memory cell transistor is disclosed which includes providing a substrate, forming a trench structure in the substrate, depositing a conductive substance on the surface of the substrate to form a conductive member inside the trench structure, forming one or more dielectric layers on the surface of the substrate, forming one or more first conductive layers on top of the dielectric layers, and etching the first conductive layers and the dielectric layers to form a hole structure extending through the first conductive and the dielectric layers, reaching to the substrate surface. One or more second conductive layers may be formed on top of the first conductive layers, with the second conductive layer material filling the hole structure. | 04-26-2012 |
| 20120098409 | Filament for Electron Source - This invention relates to a filament for electron emission cathode which is employed in an electron microscope, a critical dimension examine tool, an electron beam lithograph machine, an electron beam tester and other electron beam related systems as an electron source. Embodiments of the present invention discloses method with which a Re (Rhenium) is used as heat source such that vibration issue of prior tungsten filament can be depressed. | 04-26-2012 |
| 20120083055 | STRUCTURE AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING A DEFECT IN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT MANUFACTURING PROCESS - The present invention discloses a structure and method for determining a defect in integrated circuit manufacturing process, wherein the structure comprises a plurality of normal active areas formed in a plurality of first arrays and a plurality of defective active areas formed in a plurality of second arrays. The first arrays and second arrays are interlaced, and the defect is determined by monitoring a voltage contrast from a charged particle microscope image of the active areas. | 04-05-2012 |
| 20120074314 | STRUCTURE AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING A DEFECT IN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT MANUFACTURING PROCESS - The present invention discloses a structure and a method for determining a defect in integrated circuit manufacturing process. Test keys are designed for the structure to be the interlaced arrays of grounded and floating conductive cylinders, and the microscopic image can be predicted to be an interlaced pattern of bright voltage contrast (BVC) and dark voltage contrast (DVC) signals for a charged particle beam imaging system. The system can detect the defects by comparing patterns of the detected VC signals and the predicted VC signals. | 03-29-2012 |
| 20120070067 | Method for Inspecting Overlay Shift Defect during Semiconductor Manufacturing and Apparatus Thereof - A method for inspecting overlay shift defect during semiconductor manufacturing is disclosed herein and includes a step for providing a charged particle microscopic image of a sample, a step for identifying an inspection pattern measure in the charged particle microscopic image, a step for averaging the charged particle microscopic image by using the inspection pattern measure to form an averaged inspection pattern measure, a step for estimating an average width from the averaged inspection pattern measure, and a step for comparing the average width with a predefined threshold value to determine the presence of the overlay shift defect. | 03-22-2012 |
| 20120043462 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CHARGED PARTICLE BEAM INSPECTION - A method, apparatus and computer readable medium for charged particle beam inspection of a sample comprising at least one sampling region and at least one skip region is disclosed. The method, apparatus and computer readable medium comprise receiving an imaging recipe which at least comprises information of the area of the sampling and skip regions; calculating a default stage speed according to the imaging recipe; calculating an alternative stage speed at least according to the default stage speed, the sampling region area information, and the skip region area information; calculating at least one imaging scan compensation offset at least according to the alternative stage speed; and inspecting the sample at the alternative stage speed while adjusting the motion of the charged particle beam according to the imaging scan compensation offsets, such that the charged particle beam tightly follows the motion of the stage and images only the sampling regions on the sample. | 02-23-2012 |
| 20120032076 | METHOD FOR INSPECTING EUV RETICLE AND APPARATUS THEREOF - A method of inspecting an EUV reticle is proposed, which uses an electron beam (EB) with low density and high energy to scan the surface of an EUV reticle for inspecting the EUV reticle. A step of conditioning surface charge is followed by a step of inspecting surface of the EUV reticle. The step of conditioning surface can neutralize the surface charge and the step of inspecting can obtain an image of the EUV reticle. The present invention uses a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to provide a primary electron beam for conditioning the surface charge and a focused primary electron beam for scanning the surface. | 02-09-2012 |
| 20110291007 | Movable Detector for Charged Particle Beam Inspection or Review - The present invention generally relates to a detection unit of a charged particle imaging system. More particularly, portion of the detection unit can move into or out of the detection system as imaging condition required. With the assistance of a Wein filter (also known as an E×B charged particle analyzer) and a movable detector design, the present invention provides a stereo imaging system that suitable for both low current, high resolution mode and high current, high throughput mode. Merely by way of example, the invention has been applied to a scanning electron beam inspection system. But it would be recognized that the invention could apply to other system using charged particle beam as an observation tool. | 12-01-2011 |
| 20110260069 | PARTICLE DETECTION SYSTEM - This invention provides a design to process a large range of detection beam current at low noise with a single detector. With such a design, the detection system can generate up to 10 | 10-27-2011 |
| 20110260055 | Dynamic Focus Adjustment with Optical Height Detection Apparatus in Electron Beam system - The present invention generally relates to dynamic focus adjustment for an image system. With the assistance of a height detection sub-system, present invention provides an apparatus and methods for micro adjusting an image focusing according the specimen surface height variation by altering the field strength of an electrostatic lens between objective lens and sample stage/or a bias voltage applied to the sample surface. Merely by way of example, the invention has been applied to a scanning electron inspection system. But it would be recognized that the invention could apply to other system using charged particle beam as observation tool with a height detection apparatus. | 10-27-2011 |
| 20110215241 | Charged Particle Beam Detection Unit with Multi Type Detection Subunits - A detection unit of a charged particle imaging system includes a multi type detection subunit in the charged particle imaging system, with the assistance of a Wien filter (also known as an E×B charged particle analyzer). The imaging system is suitable for a low beam current, high resolution mode and a high beam current, high throughput mode. The unit can be applied to a scanning electron inspection system as well as to other systems that use a charged particle beam as an observation tool. | 09-08-2011 |
| 20110192975 | SELECTABLE COULOMB APERTURE IN E-BEAM SYSTEM - A selectable Coulomb aperture in charged particle system comprises a non-magnetic conductive plate with a plurality of holes therein. The plurality of holes has variant sizes or diameters to select different beam currents of primary beam in the charged particle system. The charged particle system may include a charged particle source for emitting a primary beam, a condenser lens for receiving the primary beam and condensing the primary beam, an objective lens for receiving the primary beam and focusing the primary beam on a surface of a specimen. The selectable Coulomb aperture is positioned between the charged particle source and the condenser lens. | 08-11-2011 |
| 20110139996 | MULTI-AXIS MAGNETIC LENS - The present invention relates to a multi-axis magnetic lens for a charged particle beam system. The apparatus eliminates the undesired non-axisymmetric transverse magnetic field components from the magnetic field generated by a common excitation coil and leaves the desired axisymmetric field for focusing each particle beam employed within the system. | 06-16-2011 |
| 20110101222 | Z-STAGE CONFIGURATION AND APPLICATION THEREOF - A stage configuration is provided, wherein a ceramic plate is used as the z-stage body to decrease the use of the metal plates in the conventional configuration, so that the compact structure of the z-stage may decrease the vibrational movements of the z-stage. Further, two Laser interferometer are used to detect a movement of different points along a vertical line of the z-stage sidewall to calculate a movement of the specimen surface, so that a horizontal movement of the specimen surface can be detected more accurately | 05-05-2011 |
| 20110084591 | THERMAL FIELD EMISSION CATHODE - A thermal field emission cathode which is employed in an electron microscope, a critical dimension examine tool, an electron beam lithograph machine, an electron beam tester and other electron beam related systems as an electron source is disclosed. Embodiments disclose changing coating shape, coating position and shorten emitter length to extend the lifetime of the field emission cathode. | 04-14-2011 |
| 20110052040 | SUBSTRATE INSPECTION METHOD - A substrate inspection method is disclosed. The disclosed method includes 1) providing one or more images of one or more sample substrates; 2) identifying, from the images, two or more occurrences of a target pattern in the images; and 3) comparing the identified target-pattern occurrences against each other to determine, from the images, a presence of abnormalities in the compared target-pattern occurrences, hence determining one or more defects physically present in the target-pattern occurrences. The disclosed method may be implemented via execution of a computer program encoded in a computer readable medium, where the computer program instructs an imaging apparatus to form images of the of-interest sample substrates and instructs an image analyzing apparatus to identify and compare, from the images, the target-pattern occurrences on the sample substrates. | 03-03-2011 |
| 20110051306 | WAFER GROUNDING AND BIASING METHOD, APPARATUS, AND APPLICATION - A wafer grounding apparatus and method adaptable to a charged particle beam apparatus is disclosed. A wafer substrate is supported by a wafer mount. A grounding pin is arranged to be in contact with a backside film formed on a backside of the wafer substrate. A grounding pulse generator provides at least one pulse to drive the grounding pin such that dielectric breakdown occurring at the backside film leads to establishment of a current path through the backside films. Accordingly, a current flows in the wafer substrate through this current path and then flows out of the wafer substrate via at least one current return path formed from capacitive coupling between the wafer substrate and the wafer mount. | 03-03-2011 |
| 20110049595 | METHOD FOR FORMING MEMORY CELL TRANSISTOR - A method for forming a memory cell transistor is disclosed which includes providing a substrate, forming a trench structure in the substrate, depositing a conductive substance on the surface of the substrate to form a conductive member inside the trench structure, forming one or more dielectric layers on the surface of the substrate, forming one or more first conductive layers on top of the dielectric layers, and etching the first conductive layers and the dielectric layers to form a hole structure extending through the first conductive and the dielectric layers, reaching to the substrate surface. The formed memory cell transistor thus comprises a hole structure which is formed from the surface of the top first conductive layer, extending downwards through the first conductive layers and the dielectric layers, and reaching the substrate surface. One or more second conductive layers may be formed on top of the first conductive layers, with the second conductive layer material filling the hole structure. | 03-03-2011 |
| 20110036981 | CHARGED PARTICLE BEAM INSPECTION METHOD - An imaging method and apparatus for forming images of substantially the same area on a sample for defect inspection within the area are disclosed. The disclosed method includes line-scanning the charged particle beam over the area to form a plurality of n*Y scan lines by repeatedly forming a group of n scan lines for Y times. During the formation of each group of n scan lines, an optical beam is, from one line scan to another, selectively illuminated on the area prior to or simultaneously with scanning of the charged particle beam. In addition, during the formation of each group of n scan lines, a condition of illumination of the optical beam selectively changes from one line scan to another. The conditions at which individual n scan lines are formed are repeated for the formation of all Y groups. | 02-17-2011 |
| 20110018470 | ELECTRON GUN WITH MAGNETIC IMMERSION DOUBLE CONDENSER LENSES - An electron gun comprises an electron emitter, an electrode surrounding the electron emitter, an extraction electrode, and a double condenser lens assembly, the double condenser lens assembly comprising a magnetic immersion pre-condenser lens and a condenser lens. In combination with a probe forming objective lens, the electron gun apparatus can provide an electron beam of independently adjustable probe size and probe current, as is desirable in electron beam applications. The electron emitter is immersed in the magnetic field generated by a magnetic type pre-condenser lens. When activated, the pre-condenser lens collimates the beam effectively to increase its angular intensity while at the same time enlarging the virtual source as compared with non-immersion case, due to geometric magnification and aberrations of its lens action. The pre-condenser lens is followed by a condenser lens. If the condenser lens is of the magnetic type, its peak magnetic field is far enough away and thus its action does not significantly affect the size of the virtual source. Independent adjustment of the lenses, combined with suitable selection of final probe forming objective aperture size, allows various combination of the final probe size and probe current to be obtained in a range sufficient for most electron beam applications. | 01-27-2011 |
| 20100320381 | METHOD FOR CHARACTERIZING IDENTIFIED DEFECTS DURING CHARGED PARTICLE BEAM INSPECTION AND APPLICATION THEREOF - A method for characterizing identified defects during charged particle beam inspection of a sample is disclosed. The method comprises obtaining a voltage contrast image of the sample by using a charged particle beam imaging apparatus at an inspection temperature; identifying, from the voltage contrast image, the presence of at least one defect on the sample; providing reference data of the sample, wherein the reference data represent at least one reference defect on the sample; comparing the location or geographical distribution of the identified defects and the reference defects on the sample to correlate the identified defects with the inspection temperature thereby characterizing the identified defects. | 12-23-2010 |
| 20100314539 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IDENTIFYING PLUG-TO-PLUG SHORT FROM A CHARGED PARTICLE MICROSCOPIC IMAGE - A method of inspecting for plug-to-plug short (short circuit) defects on a sample is disclosed. A charged particle beam for imaging the sample is repeatedly line-scanned over the sample with a line-to-line advancement direction perpendicular to the line-scan direction. The method includes scanning the sample with a line-to-line advancement along a first and a second direction, to obtain a first and a second image of the sample, respectively. Then, the method includes identifying plug patterns, represented in the obtained images with abnormal grey levels, as abnormal plug patterns. Next, the method compares the locations of the abnormal plug patterns to determine the presence of plug-to-plug short defects on the sample. | 12-16-2010 |
| 20100302520 | CLUSTER E-BEAM LITHOGRAPHY SYSTEM - A hybrid lithography system is disclosed to achieve high throughput and high resolution of sub 32 nm lithography. The hybrid system contains an optical lithographer for expose pattern area where features above 32 nm, and a cluster E-beam lithography system for expose pattern area where features is sub 32 nm | 12-02-2010 |
| 20100270468 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR A CHARGED PARTICLE BEAM - System and method for charged particle beam. According an embodiment, the present invention provides a charged particle beam apparatus. The apparatus includes a charged particle source for generating a primary charged particle beam. The apparatus also includes at least one condenser lens for pre-focusing the primary charge particle beam. Furthermore, the apparatus includes a compound objective lens for forming the magnetic field and the electrostatic field to focus the primary charged particle beam onto a specimen in the charged particle beam path. The specimen includes a specimen surface. The compound objective lens includes a conical magnetic lens, an immersion magnetic lens, and an electrostatic lens, the conical magnetic lens including an upper pole piece, a shared pole piece being electrically insulated from the upper pole piece, and an excitation coil. | 10-28-2010 |
| 20100270467 | METHOD FOR VENTING GAS INTO CLOSED SPACE AND GAS SUPPLY ASSEMBLY THEREOF - A method for venting a gas into a closed space is disclosed. At the beginning of the venting process the flow rate of the venting gas starts from zero and then increases at a substantially differential incremental rate for at least a certain period of time. When a predefined saturation pressure inside the closed space is reached, the flow rate of the venting gas is maintained or increased to speed up the venting process. | 10-28-2010 |
| 20100246929 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DETERMINING A DEFECT DURING CHARGED PARTICLE BEAM INSPECTION OF A SAMPLE - A method for determining a defect during charged particle beam inspection of a sample locates at least one examination region within a charged particle microscopic image of the sample by making reference to a database graphic of the sample corresponding to the charged particle microscopic image. Each located examination region concerns at least one element of the sample, and each element has at least one characteristic in common. At least one point response value is then generated for each point in the located examination regions. The presence of a defect at the location of the concerned point is then determined by applying at least one decision tree operator to the generated point response values of the concerned point. Applications of the proposed method as a computing agent and a charged particle beam inspection system are also disclosed. | 09-30-2010 |
| 20100211202 | METHOD AND MACHINE FOR EXAMINING WAFERS - Method and machine utilizes the real-time recipe to examine a series of wafers during the fabrication of integrated circuits. Each real-time recipe essentially corresponds to a practical fabrication history of a wafer to be examined and/or the examination results of at least one examined wafer of same “lot”. Therefore, different wafers can be examined by using different recipes where each recipe corresponds to a specific condition of a wafer to be examined, even these wafers are received by a machine for examining at the same time. | 08-19-2010 |
| 20100165346 | APPARATUS FOR DETECTING A SAMPLE - An apparatus for effectively detecting and calibrating a sample of examination system. The apparatus has an optics-electricity assembly for detecting the sample by a light and an elastically supporting assembly for providing motion freedoms to adjust the relative geometric conditions between the optics-electricity assembly and the sample. The elastically supporting assembly has a planer structure and a cubic structure, and provides both motion freedoms on a plane and motion freedoms vertical to the plane. The optics electricity assembly could analyze the received reflected light to get geometric information of the sample, and could adjust the light used to detect the sample. | 07-01-2010 |
| 20100155596 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR HEATING SUBSTRATE IN VACUUM ENVIRONMENT AND METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR IDENTIFYING DEFECTS ON SUBSTRATE - A method for heating a substrate in a vacuum environment and a system therefor is provided. The system includes a chamber capable of holding the substrate located in the vacuum environment and a light source capable of projecting a light beam only on a portion of the substrate. The method includes the following steps. First, the substrate is placed in the vacuumed chamber. Thereafter, the light beam emitted from the light source is projected on the portion of the substrate, such that the portion is significantly heated before whole the substrate is heated. When the light beam is a charged particle beam projected by a charged particle beam assembly and projected on defects located on the substrate, the defects are capable of being identified by an examination result provided by an examination assembly after termination of light beam projection. | 06-24-2010 |
| 20100150429 | E-BEAM DEFECT REVIEW SYSTEM - The present invention relates to a defect review system, and/or particularly, to an apparatus and method of defect review sampling, review method and classification on a semiconductor wafer or a pattern lithography reticle during integrated circuit fabrication. These objects are achieved in comparing a reviewed image with a reference image pick-up through a smart sampling filter. A clustering computer system base on high speed network will provide data cache and save operation time and memory. A smart review sampling filter automatically relocate abnormal pattern or defects and classify the device location extracted from design database and/or from golden die image on the same substrate. The column of the present defect review system is comprised of the modified SORIL type objective lens. This column provides solution of improving throughput during sample review, material identification better image quality, and topography image of defect. One embodiment of the present invent adopts an optical auto focusing system to compromise micro height variation due wafer surface topography. And another embodiment adopts surface charge control system to regulate the charge accumulation due to electron irradiation during the review process. | 06-17-2010 |
| 20100140498 | OPERATION STAGE FOR WAFER EDGE INSPECTION AND REVIEW - The present invention relates to an operation stage of a charged particle beam apparatus which is employed in a scanning electron microscope for substrate (wafer) edge and backside defect inspection or defect review. However, it would be recognized that the invention has a much broader range of applicability. A system and method in accordance with the present invention provides an operation stage for substrate edge inspection or review. The inspection region includes top near edge, to bevel, apex, and bottom bevel. The operation stage includes a supporting stand, a z-stage, an X-Y stage, an electrostatic chuck, a pendulum stage and a rotation track. The pendulum stage mount with the electrostatic chuck has the ability to swing from 0° to 180° while performing substrate top bevel, apex and bottom bevel inspection or review. In order to keep the substrate in focus and avoid a large position shift during altering the substrate observation angle by rotation the pendulum stage, one embodiment of the present invention discloses a method such that the rotation axis of the pendulum stage consist of the tangent of upper edge of the substrate to be inspected. The electrostatic chuck of the present invention has a diameter smaller than which of the substrate to be inspected. During the inspection process the substrate on the electrostatic chuck may be rotated about the central axis on the electrostatic chuck to a desired position, this design insures all position on the bevel and apex are able to be inspected. | 06-10-2010 |
| 20100103583 | WAFER GROUNDING METHODOLOGY - An apparatus for increasing electric conductivity to a wafer substrate, when exposed to electron beam irradiation, is disclosed. More specifically, a methodology to breakdown the insulating layer on wafer backside is provided to significantly reduce the damage on the wafer backside while proceeding with the grounding process. | 04-29-2010 |
| 20100102227 | ELECTRON BEAM APPARATUS - The present invention relates to a charged particle beam apparatus which employs a scanning electron microscope for sample inspection and defect review. | 04-29-2010 |
| 20100078554 | Structure and Method for Determining a Defect in Integrated Circuit Manufacturing Process - The present invention discloses a structure and a method for determining a defect in integrated circuit manufacturing process. Test keys are designed for the structure to be the interlaced arrays of grounded and floating conductive cylinders, and the microscopic image can be predicted to be an interlaced pattern of bright voltage contrast (BVC) and dark voltage contrast (DVC) signals for a charged particle beam imaging system. The system can detect the defects by comparing patterns of the detected VC signals and the predicted VC signals. | 04-01-2010 |
| 20100019462 | APPARATUS FOR INCREASING ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY TO A SEMICONDUCTOR WAFER SUBSTRATE WHEN EXPOSURE TO ELECTRON BEAM - An apparatus for increasing electric conductivity to a wafer substrate when exposures to electron beam irradiation is disclosed. More specifically, a more free mechanical contact between a wafer and electric contact pins (within an electrostatic chuck) is provided to significantly reduce the scratch and damage on the wafer backside. | 01-28-2010 |
| 20090315444 | THERMAL FIELD EMISSION CATHODE - A thermal field emission cathode which is employed in an electron microscope, a critical dimension examine tool, an electron beam lithograph machine, an electron beam tester and other electron beam related systems as an electron source is disclosed. Embodiments disclose changing coating shape, coating position and shorten emitter length to extend the lifetime of the field emission cathode. | 12-24-2009 |
| 20090294664 | ELECTRON BEAM APPARATUS - The present invention includes an electron beam device for examining defects on semiconductor devices. The device includes an electron source for generating a primary electron beam, wherein the total acceleration potential is divided and is provided across the ground potential. Also included is at least one condenser lens for pre-focusing the primary electron beam, an aperture for confining the primary electron beam to ameliorate electron-electron interaction, wherein the aperture is positioned right underneath the last condenser lens, and a SORIL objective lens system for forming immersion magnetic field and electrostatic field to focus the primary beam onto the specimen in the electron beam path. A pair of grounding rings for providing virtual ground voltage potential to those components within the electron beam apparatus installed below a source anode and above a last polepiece of the SORIL objective lens. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090242761 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CHARGED PARTICLE BEAM INSPECTION - A method, apparatus and computer readable medium for charged particle beam inspection of a sample comprising at least one sampling region and at least one skip region is disclosed. The method, apparatus and computer readable medium comprise receiving an imaging recipe which at least comprises information of the area of the sampling and skip regions; calculating a default stage speed according to the imaging recipe; calculating an alternative stage speed at least according to the default stage speed, the sampling region area information, and the skip region area information; calculating at least one imaging scan compensation offset at least according to the alternative stage speed; and inspecting the sample at the alternative stage speed while adjusting the motion of the charged particle beam according to the imaging scan compensation offsets, such that the charged particle beam tightly follows the motion of the stage and images only the sampling regions on the sample. | 10-01-2009 |
| 20090121159 | CLUSTER E-BEAM LITHOGRAPHY SYSTEM - A hybrid lithography system is disclosed to achieve high throughput and high resolution of sub 32 nm lithography. The hybrid system contains an optical lithographer for expose pattern area where features above 32 nm, and a cluster e-beam lithography system for expose pattern area where features is sub 32 nm. | 05-14-2009 |
| 20090090866 | CHARGED PARTICLE DETECTION DEVICES - A charged particle detector consists of four independent light guide modules assembled together to form a segmented on-axis annular detector, with a center opening for allowing the primary charged particle beam to pass through. One side of the assembly facing the specimen is coated with or bonded to scintillator material as the charged particle detection surface. Each light guide module is coupled to a photomultiplier tube to allow light signals transmitted through each light guide module to be amplified and processed separately. A charged particle detector is made from a single block of light guide material processed to have a cone shaped circular cutout from one face, terminating on the opposite face to an opening to allow the primary charged particle beam to pass through. The opposite face is coated with or bonded to scintillator material as the charged particle detection surface. The outer region of the light guide block is shaped into four separate light guide output channels and each light guide output channel is coupled to a photomultiplier tube to allow light signal output from each channel to be amplified and processed separately. | 04-09-2009 |
| 20090080763 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR THE VISUAL CLASSIFICATION OF DEFECTS - A method and system for the classifying of defects in a device is disclosed. The method and system comprises directly classifying samples based upon a feature space; and creating knowledge from the samples of a feature group within the feature space for a supervised classifier. Finally, the method and system includes selecting features to create a best feature group from the feature space for a particular classification of defects. A visual classifier in accordance with the present invention is utilized in three different ways to improve speed and accuracy of the classification. First, the visual classifier directly classifies data. Second, the visual classifier can help to create knowledge about the defects quickly and correctly. Third, a feature selection process is also performed by the visual classifier in accordance with the present invention. | 03-26-2009 |
| 20080302974 | OPTICAL AUTO FOCUSING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ELECTRON BEAM INSPECTION TOOL - A method and system for inspecting a semiconductor wafer. The method includes providing an illumination flux through a pattern plate and a lens to a surface of a specimen to project a pattern onto the surface of the specimen. The pattern is associated with the pattern plate. Additionally, the method includes detecting the illumination flux reflected from the surface of the specimen with a detector, processing information associated with the detected illumination flux, and generating a first image based on at least information associated with the detected illumination flux. The first image includes a first image part for the pattern and a second image part for the specimen. Moreover, the method includes adjusting the lens to a state in order to achieve a first predetermined quality for the first image part, and moving the specimen to a first position. | 12-11-2008 |
| 20080267489 | METHOD FOR DETERMINING ABNORMAL CHARACTERISTICS IN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT MANUFACTURING PROCESS - A method for determining abnormal characteristics in integrated circuit manufacturing process is disclosed. The method comprises obtaining a charged particle microscope image of a sample test structure, wherein the sample including a reference pattern and a test pattern; measuring gray levels of the reference pattern and the test pattern; calculating a standard deviation from a distribution of the gray levels of the reference pattern measured; and determining the abnormal characteristics of the test pattern based on the gray levels measured and the standard deviation. | 10-30-2008 |
| 20080265251 | STRUCTURE AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING A DEFECT IN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT MANUFACTURING PROCESS - The present invention discloses a structure and method for determining a defect in integrated circuit manufacturing process, wherein the structure comprises a plurality of normal active areas formed in a plurality of first arrays and a plurality of defective active areas formed in a plurality of second arrays. The first arrays and second arrays are interlaced, and the defect is determined by monitoring a voltage contrast from a charged particle microscope image of the active areas. | 10-30-2008 |
| 20080215276 | IN-LINE OVERLAY MEASUREMENT USING CHARGED PARTICLE BEAM SYSTEM - A method and system for controlling an overlay shift on an integrated circuit is disclosed. The method and system comprises utilizing a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to measure the overlay shift between a first mask and a second mask of the circuit after a second mask and comparing the overlay shift to information about the integrated circuit in a database. The method and system includes providing a control mechanism to analyze the overlay shift and feed forward to the fabrication process before a third mask for error correction. | 09-04-2008 |
