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Method for characterizing defects on semiconductor wafers Number:7,154,605 from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) owispatent

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Title: Method for characterizing defects on semiconductor wafers

Abstract: A method is described for characterizing defects on a test surface of a semiconductor wafer using a confocal-microscope-based automatic defect characterization (ADC) system. The surface to be tested and a reference surface are scanned using a confocal microscope to obtain three-dimensional images of the test and reference surfaces. The test and reference images are converted into sets of geometric constructs, or "primitives," that are used to approximate features of the images. Next, the sets of test and reference primitives are compared to determine whether the set of test primitives is different from the set of reference primitives. If such a difference exists, then the difference data is used to generate defect parameters, which are then compared to a knowledge base of defect reference data. Based on this comparison, the ADC system characterizes the defect and estimates a degree of confidence in the characterization.

Patent Number: 7,154,605 Issued on 12/26/2006 to Worster,   et al.


Inventors: Worster; Bruce W. (Saratoga, CA), Lee; Ken K. (Los Altos, CA)
Assignee: KLA-Tencor Corporation (san Jose, CA)
Appl. No.: 10/434,131
Filed: May 8, 2003


Related U.S. Patent Documents

Application NumberFiling DatePatent NumberIssue Date
09953742Sep., 20016661515
09305871May., 19996288782
08794673Feb., 19975923430
08497162Jun., 1995
08080014Jun., 19935479252

Current U.S. Class: 356/435
Current International Class: G01N 21/00 (20060101)
Field of Search: 356/435


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Primary Examiner: Niebling; John F.
Assistant Examiner: Stevenson; Andre'
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Parsons Hsue & de Runtz LLP

Parent Case Text



CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/953,742, filed Sep. 11, 2001 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,661,515 which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/305,871, filed May 5, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,288,782, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/794,673, filed Feb. 3, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,923,430, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/497,162, filed Jun. 30, 1995, now abandoned, which is a continuation-in-part of commonly-owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/080,014, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,479,252, filed Jun. 17, 1993, entitled "Laser Imaging System For Inspection and Analysis of Sub-Micron Particles," by Bruce W. Worster, Dale E. Crane, Hans J. Hansen, Christopher R. Fairley, and Ken K. Lee.

These applications are incorporated herein by this reference.
Claims



What is claimed is:

1. A method of locating defects on surface of a semiconductor sample, the method comprising: scanning an area of the surface with a focused beam of radiation; detecting intensity values of radiation resulting from interaction of the beam with the area of surface to obtain more than one two-dimensional representations of the same area of the surface; analyzing the two-dimensional representations to obtain three dimensional information of the area of the surface; providing reference three dimensional information for the area of the surface; and comparing the three-dimensional information obtained for the area of the surface to the reference three dimensional information for the area of the surface to determine presence of defects involving the surface.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising characterizing any defect determined to be present by its parameters.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising comparing said parameters to reference parameters to characterize the defect determined to be present.

4. The method of claim 2, parameters including height information relative to heights at other points in an image, and/or profile shape and/or surface slope.

5. The method of claim 4, comprising ascertaining, from the height information relative to other points in an image, presence of bulge(s) and subsurface defect(s).

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising obtaining a silhouette of any defect determined to be present by its parameters.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising obtaining a profile shape or surface slope of any defect determined to be present by its parameters.

8. The method of claim 1, said analyzing comprising: determining, for each column of points specified by a unique x-y coordinate in a test volume containing the surface, said volume represented by a Cartesian coordinate system having x, y, and z axes describing a set of unique x-y-z coordinates, a maximum intensity value of the radiation resulting from the interaction; storing all the maximum intensity values to form an array of test data representing a two-dimensional image of the test surface; extracting a set of intensity test primitives from the intensity test data.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said providing provides a set of intensity reference primitives and said comparing compares the set of intensity test primitives with the set of intensity reference primitives to determine whether the set of intensity test primitives is different from the set of intensity reference primitives.

10. A method of locating defects on surface of a semiconductor sample, the method comprising: scanning an area of the surface with a focused beam of radiation; detecting intensity values of radiation resulting from interaction of the beam with the area of surface; obtaining a three-dimensional representation of the area of the surface and three dimensional information therefrom; and providing reference three dimensional information for the area of the surface; and comparing the three-dimensional information obtained for the area of the surface to the reference three dimensional information for the area of the surface to determine presence of defects involving the surface.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising characterizing any defect determined to be present by its parameters.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising comparing said parameters to reference parameters to characterize the defect determined to be present.

13. The method of claim 11, said parameters including height information relative to heights at other points in an image, and/or profile shape and/or surface slope.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising ascertaining from the height information relative to other points in an image, presence of bulge(s) and subsurface defect(s).

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising obtaining a silhouette of any defect determined to be present by its parameters.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising obtaining a profile shape or surface slope of any defect determined to be present by its parameters.

17. The method of claim 10, said obtaining comprising: determining, for each column of points specified by a unique x-y coordinate in a test volume containing the surface, said volume represented by a Cartesian coordinate system having x, y, and z axes describing a set of unique x-y-z coordinates, a maximum intensity value of the radiation resulting from the interaction; storing all the maximum reflected intensity values to form an array of test data representing a two-dimensional image of the test surface; extracting a set of intensity test primitives from the intensity test data.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said providing provides a set of intensity reference primitives and said comparing compares the set of intensity test primitives with the set of intensity reference primitives to determine whether the set of intensity test primitives is different from the set of intensity reference primitives.

19. A method of locating defects on surface of a semiconductor sample, the method comprising: scanning an area of the surface with a focused beam of radiation; detecting intensity values of radiation resulting from interaction of the beam with the area of surface to obtain more than one two-dimensional representations of the same area of the surface; analyzing the two-dimensional representations to obtain three dimensional information of the area of the surface; determining presence of defects involving the surface from the three dimensional information; characterizing any defect determined to be present by its parameters; and comparing said parameters to reference parameters to characterize the defect determined to be present.

20. The method of claim 19, said parameters including height information relative to heights at other points in an image, and/or profile shape and/or surface slope.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising ascertaining from the height information relative to other points in an image, presence of bulge(s) and subsurface defect(s).

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising obtaining a silhouette of any defect determined to be present by its parameters.

23. The method of claim 19, further comprising obtaining a profile shape or surface slope of any defect determined to be present by its parameters.

24. The method of claim 19, said determining comprising: providing reference three dimensional information for the area of the surface; and comparing the three-dimensional information obtained for the area of the surface to the reference three dimensional information for the area of the surface to determine presence of defects involving the surface.

25. The method of claim 24, said analyzing comprising: determining, for each column of points specified by a unique x-y coordinate in a test volume containing the surface, said volume represented by a Cartesian coordinate system having x, y, and z axes describing a set of unique x-y-z coordinates, a maximum intensity value of the radiation resulting from the interaction; storing all the maximum intensity values to form an array of test data representing a two-dimensional image of the test surface; extracting a set of intensity test primitives from the intensity test data.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein said providing provides a set of intensity reference primitives and said comparing compares the set of intensity test primitives with the set of intensity reference primitives to determine whether the set of intensity test primitives is different from the set of intensity reference primitives.
Description



BACKGROUND

Defects in the form of structural flaws, process residues, and external contamination occur during the production of semiconductor wafers. Defects are typically detected by a class of instruments called defect scanners. Such instruments automatically scan wafer surfaces and detect optical anomalies using a variety of techniques. The location of these anomalies with respect to the pattern of semiconductor devices on the wafer surface is recorded. This information, or "defect map," is stored in a computer file and sent to a defect review station.

Using the defect map to locate each defect, a human operator observes each defect under a microscope and characterizes each defect according to type (e.g., particle, pit, scratch, or contaminant). Information gained from this process is used to correct the source of defects, and thereby improve the efficiency and yield of the semiconductor production process. Unfortunately, people are relatively slow and are quickly fatigued by the highly-repetitive task of observing and characterizing defects.

Methods of automatically char


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