Manufacturing method of semiconductor substrative and method and apparatus for inspecting defects of patterns on an object to be inspected
First Claim
1. A method for detecting information relating to a pattern on an object to be inspected comprising the steps of:
- focusing and irradiating an annular-looped diffusion illumination light formed with a plurality of virtual spot light sources onto a pattern on the object to be inspected through a pupil of an objective lens;
receiving an image of the pattern of the inspected object by focusing a first or second order diffraction light including a 0th order diffraction light which is reflected from the pattern on the inspected object by the focused and irradiated annular-looped diffusion illumination light and entered into the pupil of the objective lens;
monitoring the image received into the pupil of the objective lens and controlling the annular-looped diffusion illumination light in response thereto; and
converting the received image of the pattern of the inspected object to image signals of the pattern for obtaining information relating to the pattern.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A pattern detection method and apparatus thereof for inspecting with high resolution a micro fine defect of a pattern on an inspected object and a semiconductor substrate manufacturing method and system for manufacturing semiconductor substrates such as semiconductor wafers with a high yield. A micro fine pattern on the inspected object is inspected by irradiating an annular-looped illumination through an objective lens onto a wafer mounted on a stage, the wafer having micro fine patterns thereon. The illumination light may be circularly or elliptically polarized and controlled according to an image detected on the pupil of the objective lens and image signals are obtained by detecting a reflected light from the wafer. The image signals are compared with reference image signals and a part of the pattern showing inconsistency is detected as a defect so that simultaneously, a micro fine defect or defects on the micro fine pattern are detected with high resolution. Further, process conditions of a manufacturing line are controlled by analyzing a cause of defect and a factor of defect which occurs on the pattern.
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Citations
38 Claims
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1. A method for detecting information relating to a pattern on an object to be inspected comprising the steps of:
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focusing and irradiating an annular-looped diffusion illumination light formed with a plurality of virtual spot light sources onto a pattern on the object to be inspected through a pupil of an objective lens; receiving an image of the pattern of the inspected object by focusing a first or second order diffraction light including a 0th order diffraction light which is reflected from the pattern on the inspected object by the focused and irradiated annular-looped diffusion illumination light and entered into the pupil of the objective lens; monitoring the image received into the pupil of the objective lens and controlling the annular-looped diffusion illumination light in response thereto; and converting the received image of the pattern of the inspected object to image signals of the pattern for obtaining information relating to the pattern. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A pattern detection apparatus for detecting a pattern on an object to be inspected, comprising:
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illumination means for emitting an annular-looped diffusion illumination light formed with a plurality of virtual spot light sources; an illumination optical system for focusing and irradiating the emitted annular-looped diffusion light onto a pattern on an inspected object through a pupil of an objective lens; a detection optical system for receiving with an image sensor, an image of the pattern on the inspected object obtained by focusing a first or second order diffraction light including a 0th order diffraction light which is reflected from the pattern on the inspected object by the focused and irradiated-annular-looped diffusion illumination light from the illumination optical system and entered into the pupil of the object lens, and for converting the received image of the pattern to image signals of the pattern for obtaining information relating to the pattern; a pupil detection optical system for receiving with another image sensor, the image on the pupil of the objective lens from the another image sensor and for converting a received image to image signals of the pupil; and control means for controlling the annular-looped diffusion illumination light emitted by the illumination means according to the image signals of the pupil obtained from the another image sensor of the pupil detection optical system. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A pattern detection apparatus for detecting a pattern on an object to be inspected comprising:
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illumination means for emitting an annular-looped diffusion illumination light formed with a plurality of virtual spot light sources; an illumination optical system for focusing and irradiating the emitted annular-looped diffusion light onto a pattern on an inspected object through a pupil of an objective lens; and a detection optical system for receiving with an image sensor, an image of the pattern on the inspected object obtained by focusing a first or second order diffraction light including a 0th order diffraction light which is reflected from the pattern on the inspected object by the focused and irradiated annular-looped diffusion illumination light from the illumination optical system and entered into the pupil of the object lens, and for converting the received image of the pattern to image signals of the pattern for obtaining information relating to the pattern, a pupil detection optical system for receiving with another image sensor a distribution of locality of diffraction light including the 0th order diffraction light and for converting the received image to image signals of the pupil; and control means for controlling the annular-looped diffusion illumination light emitted by the illumination means according to the image signals of the pupil obtained from the another image sensor of the pupil detection optical system. - View Dependent Claims (36)
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37. A pattern defect inspection apparatus for detecting a defect of a pattern on an object to be inspected comprising:
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illuminating means for irradiating a uniform illumination light in a detection field of an object to be inspected through an objective lens; image detection means for detecting and converting a reflected light from the inspected object to an image by photoelectric conversion; image comparison means for comparing the detection image with a reference image; a pupil detection optical system for receiving with an image sensor, the image on a pupil of the objective lens and for converting a received image to image signals of the pupil; and control means for controlling the uniform illumination light emitted by the illuminating means according to the image signals of the pupil obtained from the image sensor of the pupil detection optical system. - View Dependent Claims (38)
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Specification