Determining a position of a defect in an electron beam image

• US 10,211,025 B2
• Filed: 08/11/2016
• Issued: 02/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: KLA-Tencor Corporation (KLA Corporation)
• Original Assignee: KLA-Tencor Corporation (KLA Corporation)
• Inventors: Lee, Hucheng, Thattaisundaram, Govindarajan
• Primary Examiner(s): Stoffa, Wyatt
• Application Number:
  US15/233,971
• Publication Number:
  US 20170047195A1
• Time in Patent Office: 922 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10061 from scanning electron microscope
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20081 Training; Learning
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30148 Semiconductor; IC; Wafer
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0006 using a design-rule based approach
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0008 checking presence/absence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/74 involving reference images or patches
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/24592 Inspection and quality control of devices
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/2817 Pattern inspection
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/222 Image processing arrangements associated with the tube
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 22/12 for structural parameters, e.g. thickness, line width, refractive index, temperature, warp, bond strength, defects, optical inspection, electrical measurement of structural dimensions, metallurgic measurement of diffusions electrical measurement of diffusions H01L22/14
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 22/20 Sequence of activities consisting of a plurality of measurements, corrections, marking or sorting steps

Abstract

Methods and systems for determining a position of a defect in an electron beam image of a wafer are provided. One method includes determining a second position of a defect with respect to patterns imaged in a test image based on a first position of the defect in a difference image. The method also includes determining a third position of the defect with respect to the patterns in an electron beam image for the defect and determining an association between the first and third positions. In addition, the method includes determining a position of another defect in an electron beam image based on a first position of the other defect in a difference image and the determined association.

Claims

1. A system configured for determining a position of a defect in an electron beam image of a wafer, comprising:

an electron beam defect review subsystem comprising at least an electron beam source and a detector, wherein the electron beam source is configured to generate electrons that are directed to a wafer, and wherein the detector is configured to detect electrons from the wafer and to generate electron beam images responsive to the detected electrons; and

a computer subsystem coupled to the electron beam defect review subsystem, wherein the computer subsystem comprises one or more processors that execute instructions from a memory medium, and wherein the computer subsystem is configured for;

determining a first position of a defect in a difference image generated for the wafer, wherein the difference image is generated by subtracting a reference image from a test image for an area on the wafer in which the defect is located, wherein the test image is generated for the wafer by an optical inspection system, and wherein the defect is detected on the wafer by the optical inspection system;

determining a second position of the defect with respect to optical image patterns in the test image based on the first position of the defect in the difference image;

determining a third position of the defect with respect to electron beam image patterns in an electron beam image generated for the defect on the wafer by the electron beam defect review subsystem;

determining an association between the first and third positions; and

determining a position of another defect in an electron beam image generated for the other defect on the wafer by the electron beam defect review subsystem, wherein the position of the other defect is determined based on a first position of the other defect in another difference image generated for the wafer and the determined association, wherein the other defect is detected on the wafer by the optical inspection system, wherein the other difference image is generated by subtracting a reference image from a test image for an area on the wafer in which the other defect is located, and wherein the test image used to generate the other difference image is generated for the wafer by the optical inspection system.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the optical image patterns and the electron beam image patterns comprise repeating patterned features.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the optical image patterns and the electron beam image patterns correspond to device features in a design for the wafer.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the optical image patterns and the electron beam image patterns are located in an array region of a design for the wafer.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the area on the wafer in which the other defect is located contains no alignment sites.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the other defect cannot be imaged by the electron beam defect review subsystem.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the other defect can be imaged by the electron beam defect review subsystem.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein determining the third position comprises determining an initial position of the defect with respect to the electron beam image patterns in the electron beam image generated for the defect and correcting the initial position for deviations of the initial position from a center of the electron beam image generated for the defect thereby determining the third position.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the computer subsystem is further configured for determining one or more additional candidate positions for the other defect in the electron beam image generated for the other defect and determining a confidence score for the one or more additional candidate positions based on a difference between the initial position and the third position.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer subsystem is further configured for determining one or more additional candidate positions for the other defect in the electron beam image generated for the other defect by comparing the test image generated for the other defect with other test images generated for one or more additional areas on the wafer by the wafer inspection system, and wherein the one or more additional areas are located within a field of view of the electron beam defect review subsystem with which the image for the other defect was generated.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the computer subsystem is further configured for, based on portions of the electron beam image generated for the other defect at the one or more additional candidate positions, automatically classifying defects detected by the optical inspection system at positions corresponding to the one or more additional candidate positions.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the defect is one of multiple defects in a sampled set of defects detected by inspection of the wafer performed by the optical inspection system and redetected by the computer subsystem in the images generated by the electron beam defect review subsystem for the wafer, wherein the computer subsystem is further configured for performing said determining the first position, determining the second position, and determining the third position for the multiple defects in the sampled set of defects, and wherein determining the association comprises determining the association between the first and third positions determined for the multiple defects in the sampled set.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the optical inspection system has optical characteristics that cause optical distortion in at least two images generated by the optical inspection system for areas on the wafer containing the same wafer patterns, and wherein the sampled set of defects comprises defects located in the areas in which the at least two images are generated thereby adapting the determined association to the optical distortion.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer subsystem is further configured for performing said determining a position for all defects detected on the wafer by the optical inspection system.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein determining the first position of the defect comprises upsampling the difference image generated for the defect and determining a center of gravity of a signal corresponding to the defect in the difference image generated for the defect.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the first position of the defect is determined with sub-pixel accuracy.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer subsystem is further configured for determining the first position of the other defect by upsampling the other difference image and determining a center of gravity of a signal corresponding to the other defect in the other difference image.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the first position of the other defect is determined with sub-pixel accuracy.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, storing program instructions executable on a computer system for performing a computer-implemented method for determining a position of a defect in an electron beam image of a wafer, wherein the computer-implemented method comprises:

determining a first position of a defect in a difference image generated for a wafer, wherein the difference image is generated by subtracting a reference image from a test image for an area on the wafer in which the defect is located, wherein the test image is generated for the wafer by an optical inspection system, and wherein the defect is detected on the wafer by the optical inspection system;

determining a second position of the defect with respect to optical image patterns in the test image based on the first position of the defect in the difference image;

generating an electron beam image for the defect on the wafer with an electron beam defect review subsystem, wherein the electron beam defect review subsystem comprises at least an electron beam source and a detector, wherein the electron beam source is configured to generate electrons that are directed to a wafer, wherein the detector is configured to detect electrons from the wafer and to generate electron beam images responsive to the detected electrons, wherein the computer system is coupled to the electron beam defect review subsystem, and wherein the computer system comprises one or more processors that execute instructions from a memory medium;

determining a third position of the defect with respect to electron beam image patterns in the electron beam image generated for the defect on the wafer by the electron beam defect review subsystem;

determining an association between the first and third positions; and

determining a position of another defect in an electron beam image generated for the other defect on the wafer by the electron beam detect review subsystem, wherein the position of the other defect is determined based on a first position of the other defect in another difference image generated for the water and the determined association, wherein the other defect is detected on the wafer by the optical inspection system, wherein the other difference image is generated by subtracting a reference image from a test image for an area on the wafer in which the other defect is located, wherein the test image used to generate the other difference image is generated for the wafer by the optical inspection system, and wherein determining the first, second, and third positions, the association, and the position are performed by the computer system.

20. A computer-implemented method for determining a position of a defect in an electron beam image of a wafer, comprising:

determining a first position of a defect in a difference image generated for a wafer, wherein the difference image is generated by subtracting a reference image from a test image for an area on the wafer in which the defect is located, wherein the test image is generated for the wafer by an optical inspection system, and wherein the detect is detected on the wafer by the optical inspection system;

determining a second position of the defect with respect to optical image patterns in the test image based on the first position of the defect in the difference image;

generating an electron beam image for the defect on the wafer with an electron beam defect review subsystem, wherein the electron beam defect review subsystem comprises at least an electron beam source and a detector, wherein the electron beam source is configured to generate electrons that are directed to a wafer, wherein the detector is configured to detect electrons from the wafer and to generate electron beam images responsive to the detected electrons, wherein a computer system is coupled to the electron beam defect review subsystem, and wherein the computer system comprises one or more processors that execute instructions from a memory medium;

determining a third position of the defect with respect to electron beam image patterns in the electron beam image generated for the defect on the wafer by the electron beam defect review subsystem;

determining an association between the first and third positions; and

determining a position of another defect in an electron beam image generated for the other defect on the wafer by the electron beam defect review subsystem, wherein the position of the other defect is determined based on a first position of the other defect in another difference image generated for the wafer and the determined association, wherein the other defect is detected on the wafer by the optical inspection system, wherein the other difference image is generated by subtracting a reference image from a test image for an area on the wafer in which the other defect is located, wherein the test image used to generate the other difference image is generated for the wafer by the optical inspection system, and wherein determining the first, second, and third positions, the association, and the position are performed by the computer system.