Inspection apparatus and inspection method

• US 10,458,924 B2
• Filed: 07/04/2016
• Issued: 10/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/04/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi High-Tech Company Limited (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Inventors: Kanai, Hisaaki, Makuuchi, Masami, Mohara, Yukihisa, Imai, Eiji
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Hoa Q
• Application Number:
  US16/311,103
• Publication Number:
  US 20190178813A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,212 Days
• Field of Search: 3562371-2375, 382226, 382232, 382149, 358461, 358463, 358 21, 358 323, 358530
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/9501 Semiconductor wafers manufacturing processes per se of semiconductor devices implementing a measuring step H01L22/10
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/956 Inspecting patterns on the surface of objects contactless testing of electronic circuits G01R31/308; testing currency G07D; manufacturing processes per se of semiconductor devices implementing a measuring step H01L22/10

Abstract

A defect inspection apparatus includes a light irradiation unit irradiating a sample placed on a table unit with illumination light, a detection optical system forming a scattered light image from the sample and detecting the generated scattered light image through an image sensor, a processing unit receiving a signal from the image sensor of the detection optical system that detects the scattered light image, generating an image of the scattered light, and detecting a defect of the sample by processing the generated image, an output unit outputting the defect image processed by the image processing unit, and a control unit controlling the stable unit, the light irradiation unit, the detection optical system, and the image processing unit. The image processing unit includes an image generation unit that receives the signal and generates the image, a correction unit that corrects lightness discontinuity and a defect detection unit for image processing.

Claims

1. An inspection apparatus comprising:

a table unit that is movable with a sample placed thereon;

a light irradiation unit irradiating the sample placed on the table unit with illuminating light;

a detection optical system forming a scattered light image from the sample irradiated with the illumination light, and detecting the scattered light image by using an image sensor;

an image processing unit receiving a signal from the image sensor of the detection optical system that detects the scattered light image to generate an image of the scattered light, and processing the generated image to detect a defect of the sample;

an output unit outputting an image including the defect processed by the image processing unit; and

a control unit controlling the table unit, the light irradiation unit, the detection optical system, and the image processing unit, wherein

the image processing unit includes;

an image generation unit receiving the signal from the image sensor to generate the image of the scattered light;

an image correction unit correcting lightness discontinuity that occurs in the image of the scattered light, the image being generated by the image generation unit; and

a defect detection unit detecting the defect of the sample by processing the image, the lightness discontinuity of which is corrected by the image correction unit,

the control unit switches between a high sensitivity mode, in which a relatively narrow region of the sample is inspected with high sensitivity, and a high throughput mode, in which a relatively wide region of the sample is inspected at a relatively high speed, by controlling the table unit, the light irradiation unit, the detection optical system, and the image processing unit, and

the image correction unit receives a signal detecting the scattered light image generated from the sample in a state in which the temperature of the image sensor is changing before being stabilized immediately after switching between the high sensitivity mode and the high throughput mode by the control unit and corrects lightness discontinuity occurring in the image of scattered light, the image being generated by the image generation unit.

2. The inspection apparatus of claim 1, wherein the detection optical system includes a temperature detection unit measuring the temperature of the image sensor, and the image correction unit calculates a correction coefficient of an output from the image sensor, according to a relationship between the temperature of the image sensor and a sensitivity of the image sensor stored in advance, based on temperature information of the image sensor detected by the temperature detection unit, and corrects the lightness discontinuity occurring in the image of the scattered light, the image being generated by the image generation unit, by using the correction coefficient.

3. The inspection apparatus of claim 1, wherein the image sensor of the detection optical system outputs a signal of a dark-current flowing in the image sensor with a signal of detecting the scattered light image from the sample, and the image correction unit calculates a correction coefficient of an output from the image sensor, from a relationship between the dark-current of the image sensor and the temperature of the image sensor stored in advance, according to the signal of the dark-current output from the image sensor, and corrects the lightness discontinuity occurring in the image of the scattered light, the image being generated by the image generation unit, by using the correction coefficient.

4. The inspection apparatus of claim 1, wherein correction coefficient data stored in the image correction unit in advance is data about the correction coefficient of the output from the image sensor, based on a relationship between the temperature of the image sensor and a sensitivity of the image sensor according to the high sensitivity mode and the high throughput mode switched by the control unit.

5. An inspection method comprising:

irradiating a sample placed on a table unit from a light irradiation unit with illumination light from a light irradiation unit;

generating a scattered light image by condensing the scattered light from the sample irradiated with the illumination light, in a detection optical system and detecting the generated scattered light image by using an image sensor;

generating an image of the scattered light by receiving a signal from the image sensor that detects the scattered light image in an image processing unit and processing the generated image to detect a defect of the sample;

outputting, by an output unit, an image including the defect processed by the image processing unit; and

controlling, by a control unit, the table unit, the light irradiation unit, the detection optical system, and the image processing unit, wherein

the detecting of the defect of the sample by the image processing unit includes;

generating, by an image generation unit, an image of the scattered light after receiving a signal from the image sensor;

correcting, by an image correction unit, a lightness discontinuity that occurs in the image of the scattered light, the image being generated by the image generation unit; and

detecting, by a defect detection unit, a defect in the sample by processing the image, the lightness discontinuity of which is corrected by the image correction unit,

the control unit switches between a high sensitivity mode, in which a relatively narrow region of the sample is inspected with high sensitivity and a high throughput mode, in which a relatively wide region of the sample is inspected at a relatively high speed, by controlling the table unit, the light irradiation unit, the detection optical system, and the image processing unit, and

the image correction unit receives a signal detecting the scattered light image generated from the sample in a state in which the temperature of the image sensor is changing before being stabilized immediately after switching between the high sensitivity mode and the high throughput mode the control unit and corrects lightness discontinuity occurring in the image of scattered light, the image being generated by the image generation unit.

6. The inspection method of claim 5, wherein a temperature detection unit measures the temperature of the image sensor, and the image correction unit calculates a correction coefficient of an output from the image sensor, according to a relationship between the temperature of the image sensor and a sensitivity of the image sensor stored in advance, based on temperature information of the image sensor detected by the temperature detection unit, and corrects the lightness discontinuity occurring in the image of the scattered light, the image being generated by the image generation unit, by using the correction coefficient.

7. The inspection method of claim 5, wherein the image sensor outputs a signal of a dark-current flowing in the image sensor with a signal of detecting the scattered light image from the sample, and in the image correction unit, a correction coefficient of an output from the image sensor is calculated from a relationship between the dark-current of the image sensor and the temperature of the image sensor stored in advance, according to the signal of the dark-current output from the image sensor, and the lightness discontinuity occurring in the image of the scattered light, the image being generated by the image generation unit, is corrected by using the correction coefficient.

8. The inspection method of claim 5, wherein correction coefficient data stored in the image correction unit in advance is correction coefficient data of an output from the image sensor based on a relationship between a temperature of the image sensor and a sensitivity of the image sensor in correspondence with the high sensitivity mode and the high throughput mode switched by the control unit.