Method and system for manufacturing semiconductor devices, and method and system for inspecting semiconductor devices

• US 6,546,308 B2
• Filed: 03/21/2001
• Issued: 04/08/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/1993
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Takagi, Yuji, Ono, Makoto, Doi, Hideaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Gordon, Paul P.
• Application Number:
  US09/812,822
• Publication Number:
  US 20010020194A1
• Time in Patent Office: 748 Days
• Field of Search: 700/121, 348/126, 382/149, 356/237.2, 356/237.3, 356/237.5
• US Class Current: 700/121
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/94 Investigating contamination, e.g. dust G01N21/85 takes precedence

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and system of inspecting a product, including extracting defects from the product, classifying the defects on the basis of information about the extracted defects representing the analogy of the defects, extracting the feature data of the defects on the basis of the result of defect classification, and feeding back the feature data of the extracted defects for inspection. The method and system is characterized in that the extracted feature data of the defects is fed back for inspecting the product. The present invention also relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor electric or electronic device, including extracting defects from the semiconductor electric or electronic device, classifying the defects on the basis of information about the extracted defects representing the analogy of the defects, extracting the feature data on the defects on the basis of the result of defect classification, and feeding back the feature data of the extracted defects to an apparatus for manufacturing the semiconductor electric or electronic device.

Claims

1. A method of inspecting a semiconductor device comprising the steps of:

acquiring an image of the semiconductor device;

detecting defects in the semiconductor device based upon the image acquired;

determining if any of information of the defects detected is false, and if so, removing such false information;

classifying the defects;

displaying the result of the classification on a display screen; and

determining if any defects were not classified during the step of classifying the defects and classifying those defects not previously classified.

2. A method of inspecting a semiconductor device according to claim 1, further comprising the step of sending the device to a repairing unit depending upon the result of defect classification.

3. A method of inspecting a semiconductor device according to claim 1, further comprising the step of repairing any device having a defect.

4. A method of inspecting a semiconductor device comprising the steps of:

acquiring an image of the semiconductor device;

detecting defects in the semiconductor device based upon the image acquired;

extracting feature data of the defects detected;

classifying the defects; and

determining cause of the defects.

5. A method of inspecting a semiconductor device according to claim 4, further comprising the step of displaying the result of the classification on a display screen.

6. A method of inspecting a semiconductor device according to claim 4, further comprising the step of sending the device to a repairing unit depending upon the result of defect classification.

7. A method of inspecting a semiconductor device according to claim 4, further comprising the step of repairing any device having a defect.