Method and apparatus for processing inspection data

• US 6,456,951 B1
• Filed: 04/21/2000
• Issued: 09/24/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Shimoda, Atsushi, Yoshitake, Yasuhiro, Maeda, Shunji, Oka, Kenji, Shiba, Masataka
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoff, Marc S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Raymond, Edward
• Application Number:
  US09/553,944
• Time in Patent Office: 886 Days
• Field of Search: 702/81-84, 702/183-185, 702/33-36, 702/40, 702/108, 702/117-118, 702/119-121, 702/170, 702/172, 702/182, 324/500, 324/537, 324/750, 324/751, 324/753, 340/500, 340/635, 716/5, 706/48
• US Class Current: 702/81
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 22/20 Sequence of activities consisting of a plurality of measurements, corrections, marking or sorting steps
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/00 Indexing scheme for arrangements or methods for connecting or disconnecting semiconductor or solid-state bodies as covered by H01L24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/0002 Not covered by any one of groups H01L24/00, H01L24/00 and H01L2224/00

Abstract

The present invention is related to an inspection data processing method for processing inspection data composed of coordinates data and characteristic quantity data about a defect generated on a subject of inspection detected with a visual inspection apparatus. The inspection data processing method comprises the following steps: a preparation step of storing a first fatality judgment data group corresponding to the kinds of areas on the subject of inspection and a second fatality judgment data group corresponding to categories of defects beforehand; a first fatality judgment step of judging a first fatality level of a defect corresponding to the kind of an area where the defect exists; a category giving step of giving category to the defect in the inspection data; and a second fatality judgment step of judging a second fatality of the defect based on second fatality judgment data selected according to the category which are given based on the first fatality level of defects judged in the first fatality judgment step.

Claims

1. An inspection data processing method for processing inspection data composed of coordinates data and characteristic quantity data concerning a defect detected with a visual inspection apparatus, said defect being generated on a subject of inspection, comprising:

a preparation step of storing a fatality judgment data group corresponding to respective kinds of a plurality of areas formed on said subject of inspection beforehand;

an area judgment step of finding the kind of an area in which a defect exists based on coordinates data concerning the defect in said inspection data; and

a fatality judgment step of selecting the fatality judgment data corresponding to the kind of the area obtained in said area judgment step out of the fatality judgment data group stored in said preparation step, and judging the fatality of a defect based on the selected fatality judgment data based on the characteristic quantity data of the defect in said inspection data.

2. An inspection data processing method for processing inspection data composed of coordinates data and characteristic quantity data concerning a defect detected with a visual inspection apparatus, said defect being generated on a subject of inspection, comprising:

a preparation step of storing beforehand a first fatality judgment data group corresponding to respective kinds of a plurality of areas formed on said subject of inspection and a second fatality judgment data group corresponding to categories of defects;

an area judgment step of finding the kind of an area in which a defect exists based on coordinates data concerning the defect in said inspection data;

a first fatality judgment step of selecting first fatality judgment data corresponding to the kind of the area obtained in said area judgment step out of the first fatality judgment data group stored in said preparation step, and judging a first fatality level of the defect based on said selected fatality judgment data based on the characteristic quantity data of the defect in said inspection data;

a category giving step of giving a category to the defect in said inspection data; and

a second fatality judgment step of selecting a second fatality judgment data corresponding to the category given in said category giving step out of the second fatality judgment data group stored in said preparation step, and judging a second fatality of the defect based on the selected second fatality judgment data based on the first fatality level of the defect judged in said first fatality judgment.

3. An inspection data processing method as defined in claim 2, further comprising a trace step of obtaining the inspection data about a defect, provided by tracing a manufacturing process in which the defect has been generated by comparing inspection data of a subject of inspection manufactured in a previous manufacturing process and inspection data of a subject of inspection manufactured in a manufacturing process after that.

4. An inspection data processing method as defined in claim 2, further comprising an output step of outputting information concerning the second fatality of a defect to be judged in said second fatality judgment step.

5. An inspection data processing method as defined in claim 2, further comprising an output step of outputting information concerning the first fatality of a defect to be judged in said first fatality judgment step.

6. An inspection data processing method as defined in claim 2, further comprising a selection step of selecting a subject of analysis according to the second fatality level of a defect to be judged in said second fatality judgment step.

7. An inspection data processing method as defined in claim 6, further comprising an analysis step of analyzing a defect utilizing an analysis apparatus concerning the defect selected in said selection step.

8. An inspection data processing method as defined in claim 2, wherein the second fatality judgment data group stored in said preparation step are a group of weighting functions.

9. An inspection data processing method as defined in claim 2, wherein said category giving step is performed using a review apparatus.

10. An inspection data processing method as defined in claim 2, wherein said category giving step includes a step of giving a category to the defect selected according to the first fatality level of the defect judged in said first fatality judgment step.

11. An inspection data processing method as defined in claim 6, further comprising an output step of outputting information concerning a defect being a subject of analysis selected in said selection step.

12. An inspection data processing method as defined in claim 2, further including a step of correcting the first or the second fatality judgment data group based on results of a final prove test in said preparation step.

13. An inspection data processing method for processing inspection data composed of coordinates data and characteristic quantity data concerning a defect detected with a visual inspection apparatus, said defect being generated on a subject of inspection, comprising:

a preparation step of storing a fatality judgment data group corresponding to a category of a defect beforehand;

a category giving step of giving the category to a defect in said inspection data; and

a fatality judgment step of selecting fatality judgment data corresponding to the category given in said category giving step out of the fatality judgment data group stored in said preparation step, and judging the fatality of the defect based on said selected fatality judgment data.

14. An inspection data processing method for processing inspection data composed of coordinates data and characteristic quantity data concerning a defect detected with a visual inspection apparatus, said defect being generated on a subject of inspection, comprising:

a trace step of obtaining the inspection data about a defect, provided by tracing a manufacturing process in which the defect has been generated by comparing inspection data for a subject of inspection manufactured in a previous manufacturing process and inspection data for a subject of inspection manufactured in a manufacturing process after that;

an area judgment step of finding the kind of an area in which the defect exists based on coordinates data concerning the defect in the inspection data obtained in said trace step;

a category giving step of giving a category to the defect obtained in said trace step;

a calculation step of calculating the number of defects for the category given in said category giving step corresponding to a characteristic quantity of the defect in the inspection data obtained in said trace step for every area judged in said area judgment step; and

an output step of outputting the number of defects for the category corresponding to the characteristic quantity of the defect for every area calculated in said calculation step.

15. An inspection data processing apparatus for processing inspection data composed of coordinates data and characteristic quantity data concerning a defect detected with a visual inspection apparatus, said defect being generated on a subject of inspection, comprising:

a storage unit for storing a first fatality judgment data group corresponding to respective kinds of a plurality of areas formed on the subject of inspection beforehand;

an area judgment unit for finding the kind of an area in which a defect exists based on coordinates data concerning the defect in said inspection data; and

a fatality judgment unit for selecting fatality judgment data corresponding to the kind of the area obtained in said area judgment unit out of the first fatality judgment data group stored in said storage unit, and judging the fatality of the defect based on said selected fatality judgment data based on the characteristic quantity data of the defect in said inspection data.

16. An inspection data processing apparatus for processing inspection data composed of coordinates data and characteristic quantity data concerning a defect detected with a visual inspection apparatus, said defect being generated on a subject of inspection, comprising:

a storage unit for storing beforehand a first fatality judgment data group corresponding to the kinds of a plurality of areas formed on said subject of inspection and a second fatality judgment data group corresponding to a category of a defect;

an area judgment unit for finding the kind of an area in which a defect exists based on coordinates data about the defect in said inspection data;

a first fatality judgment unit for selecting first fatality judgment data corresponding to the kind of the area obtained in said area judgment unit out of the first fatality judgment data group stored in said storage unit, and judging a first fatality level of the defect based on said selected fatality judgment data based on the characteristic quantity data of the defect in said inspection data;

a category giving apparatus for giving a category to the defect in said inspection data; and

a second fatality judgment unit for selecting second fatality judgment data corresponding to the category given by said category giving apparatus out of the second fatality judgment data group stored in said storage unit, and judging a second fatality of the defect based on the selected second fatality judgment data based on the first fatality level of the defect judged in said first fatality judgment unit.

17. An inspection data processing apparatus as defined in claim 16, further comprising a trace unit for obtaining the inspection data about a defect, provided by tracing a manufacturing process in which the defect has been generated by comparing inspection data for a subject of inspection manufactured in a previous manufacturing process and inspection data for a subject of inspection manufactured in a manufacturing process after that.

18. An inspection data processing apparatus as defined in claim 16, further comprising an output unit for outputting information concerning the second fatality of a defect to be judged in said second fatality judgment unit.

19. An inspection data processing apparatus as defined in claim 16, further comprising an output unit for outputting information concerning the first fatality of a defect to be judged in said first fatality judgment unit.

20. An inspection data processing apparatus as defined in claim 16, wherein said second fatality judgment unit comprises a selection unit for selecting a subject of analysis according to the second fatality level of a defect to be judged.

21. An inspection data processing apparatus as defined in claim 20, further comprising an analysis apparatus for analyzing the defect selected in said selection unit.

22. An inspection data processing apparatus as defined in claim 16, wherein the second fatality judgment data group stored in said storage unit are a group of weighting functions.

23. An inspection data processing apparatus as defined in claim 16, wherein said category giving unit is constituted with a review apparatus.

24. An inspection data processing apparatus as defined in claim 16, wherein said category giving unit gives a category to a defect selected according to the first fatality level of the defect judged in said first fatality judgment unit.

25. An inspection data processing apparatus as defined in claim 20, further comprising an output unit for outputting information about a defect being a subject of analysis selected in said selection unit.

26. An inspection data processing apparatus for processing inspection data composed of coordinates data and characteristic quantity data concerning a defect detected with a visual inspection apparatus, said defect being generated on a subject of inspection, comprising:

a storage unit for storing a fatality judgment data group corresponding to a category of a defect beforehand;

a category giving unit for giving the category to a defect in said inspection data; and

a fatality judgment unit for selecting fatality judgment data corresponding to the category given in said category giving step out of the fatality judgment data group stored in said storage unit and, judging the fatality of the defect based on the selected fatality judgment data.

27. An inspection data processing apparatus for processing inspection data composed of coordinates data and characteristic quantity data concerning a defect detected with a visual inspection apparatus, said defect being generated on a subject of inspection, comprising:

a trace unit for obtaining the inspection data about a defect, provided by tracing a manufacturing process in which the defect has been generated by comparing inspection data for a subject of inspection manufactured in a previous manufacturing process and inspection data for a subject of inspection manufactured in a manufacturing process after that;

an area judgment unit for finding the kind of an area in which the defect exists based on coordinates data about the defect in the inspection data obtained by said trace unit;

a category giving unit for giving a category to the defect obtained in said trace unit;

a calculation unit for calculating the number of defects for the category given in said category giving unit corresponding to the characteristic quantity of the defect in the inspection data obtained by said trace unit for every area judged in said area judgment unit; and

an output unit for outputting the number of defects for the category corresponding to the characteristic quantity of the defect for every area calculated in said calculation unit.