Substrate inspecting apparatus, substrate inspecting system having the same apparatus and substrate inspecting method

• US 6,038,018 A
• Filed: 05/14/1999
• Issued: 03/14/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Toshiba Memory Corporation (Kioxia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Yamazaki, Yuichiro, Miyoshi, Motosuke
• Primary Examiner(s): Font, Frank G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ratliff, Reginald A.
• Application Number:
  US09/311,271
• Time in Patent Office: 305 Days
• Field of Search: 356/237.1, 356/376, 356/334, 356/394
• US Class Current: 356/237.1
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/2817 Pattern inspection
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/28 with scanning beams H01J37/268, H01J37/292, H01J37/2955 take precedence

Abstract

A substrate inspecting system 60 observes and inspect a semiconductor wafer pattern by irradiating the surface of the semiconductor wafer 11 with electron beams 31, and making a projection unit project in enlargement secondary electrons, reflected electrons and backward scattered electrons generated therefrom in the form of secondary electron beams 32 on an undersurface of an electron beam detecting unit 61, and form an image thereon. The substrate inspecting system 60 includes a parallel-plate type energy filter 33 in a projection system. The present invention discloses a substrate inspecting apparatus capable of detecting a voltage contrast defect on a sample with a high accuracy by separating the secondary electron beams and fetching a secondary electron beam having an energy over a predetermined value, and of quantitatively measuring this defect, a substrate inspecting system having this apparatus, and a substrate inspecting method.

Claims

1. A substrate inspecting apparatus comprising:

primary electron beam irradiating means for irradiating a substrate defined as a sample with electron beams as primary electron beams;

projection means for guiding secondary electrons and reflected electrons generated on said substrate upon the irradiation of the primary electron beams, converging those electrons into secondary electron beams, and forming an image of the converged secondary electron beams;

electron beam separating means for separating the secondary electron beams on the basis of energy components corresponding to electric states on the surface of said sample, and fetching the separated electron beams;

electron beam detecting means for detecting the secondary electron beam, separated by said electron beam separating means, of which the image is then formed by said projection means, and outputting the detected secondary electron beam as an image signal; and

image displaying means for, upon receiving the image signal from said secondary electron beam detecting means, displaying an image indicating a physical/electrical state on the surface of said substrate.

2. A substrate inspecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said electron beam separating means is an electrostatic parallel-plate type energy filer which transmits only the secondary electron beam having an energy larger than a predetermined value among the secondary electron beams.

3. A substrate inspecting apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said projection means includes collimating means for collimating the secondary electron beams so that the secondary electron beams travel in parallel to the beam axis thereof, and

said electron beam separating means is disposed in a region where the secondary electron beams are collimated by said collimating means so as to travel in parallel to the beam axis thereof.

4. A substrate inspecting apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of said electron beam detecting means,

wherein said electron beam separating means is a magnetic field type energy filter for forming a deflection magnetic field, separating the electron beams on the basis of each of a plurality of energy regions, and fetching the separated electron beam, and

said electron beam detecting means detects the secondary electron beam per energy region, and outputting the detected secondary electron beam as an images signal containing information indicating an electrical characteristic on the substrate surface which corresponds to the energy region.

5. A substrate inspecting apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said electron beam separating means is disposed in such a position that the secondary electron beams are converged on the beam axis by said projection means.

6. A substrate inspecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a section, perpendicular to the irradiating direction, of the primary electron beam emitting from said primary electron beam irradiating means, takes a thin and elongate configuration of which an aspect ration is over 1.

7. A substrate inspecting apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising electron beam deflecting means for changing an angle of incidence of the primary electron beam upon said sample, and a take-in angle of the secondary electrons and the reflected electrons to said projection means.

8. A substrate inspecting method comprising:

a first step of irradiating a substrate defined as a sample with electron beams as primary electron beams;

a second step of, guiding secondary electrons and reflected electrons generated on said substrate upon the irradiation of the primary electron beams, and making those electrons emerged as secondary electron beams;

a third step of separating the secondary electron beams on the basis of energy regions, and fetching the separated electron beams;

a fourth step of forming an image of the secondary electron be fetched based on said third step, and detecting and outputting mapping thereof as an image signal; and

a fifth step of examining a physical/electric characteristic on the surface of said substrate on the basis of the image signal.

9. A substrate inspecting method according to claim 8, wherein said third step is a step of separating the secondary electron beams in a region where the secondary electron beams travel in parallel to the beam axis, and

said fifth step includes a step of measuring a change in intensity of the secondary electron beams fetched in said third step, and thereby quantitatively measuring a relative change in electric potential on the surface of said substrate.

10. A substrate inspecting method according to claim 9, wherein said third step is a step of separating the secondary electron beams according to a plurality of energy regions in such a position that the secondary electron beams converge on the beam axis, and fetching the separated secondary electron beams, and

said fourth step is a step of detecting the mappings according to the energy regions, and outputting a plurality of image signals corresponding to the mappings.

11. A substrate inspecting system comprising:

(1) a substrate inspecting apparatus including;

(a) primary electron beam irradiating means for irradiating a substrate defined as a sample with electron beams as primary electron beams;

(b) projection means for guiding secondary electrons and reflected electrons generated on said substrate upon the irradiation of the primary electron beams, converging those electrons into secondary electron beams, and forming an image of the converged secondary electron beams;

(c) electron beam separating means for separating the secondary electron beams on the basis of energy components corresponding to electric states on the surface of said sample, and fetching the separated electron beams;

(d) electron beam detecting means for detecting the secondary electron beam, separated by said electron beam separating means, of which the image is then formed by said projection means, and outputting the detected secondary electron beam as an image signal; and

(e) image displaying means for, upon receiving the image signal from said secondary electron beam detecting means, displaying an image indicating a physical/electrical state on the surface of said substrate; and

(2) a CPU including;

(a) signal processing means for processing the image signals; and

(b) storage means for storing image data outputted by said signal processing means,

wherein said CPU controls said substrate, said signal processing means and said storage means in accordance with a first step of irradiating a substrate defined as a sample with electron beams as primary electron beams;

a second step of, guiding secondary electrons and reflected electrons generated on said substrate upon the irradiation of the primary electron beams, and making those electrons emerged as secondary electron beams;

a third step of separating the secondary electron beams on the basis of energy regions, and fetching the separated electron beams;

a fourth step of forming an image of the secondary electron beams fetched based on said third step, and detecting and outputting mapping thereof as an image signal; and

a fifth step of examining a physical/electric characteristic on the surface of said substrate on the basis of the image signal.

12. A substrate inspecting system according to claim 11, further comprising image comparison processing means for comparing image of a die to be inspected with reference images expressing substrate surface potential distribution.

13. A substrate inspecting system according to claim 12, wherein said reference images are images of neighboring dies to the die to be inspected.

14. A substrate inspecting system according to claim 13, further comprising detective portion specifying means for specifying defective portion in the die to be inspected from a comparison result from said image compatative processing means.

15. A substrate inspecting system according to claim 13, further comprising configuration judging means for judging pattern configuration to find defective pattern configuration from a comparison result from said image comparison processing means.

16. A substrate inspecting system according to claim 11, further comprising stage moving means for moving a substrate under test die by die.