Defect inspection system

• US 6,973,209 B2
• Filed: 07/25/2001
• Issued: 12/06/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Olympus Optical Corporation Limited (Olympus Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Olympus Optical Corporation Limited (Olympus Corporation)
• Inventors: Tanaka, Toshihiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Mehta, Bhavesh M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): STREGE, JOHN B
• Application Number:
  US09/917,845
• Publication Number:
  US 20020009220A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,595 Days
• Field of Search: 382/141, 382/145, 382/147, 382/149, 382/144, 348/86, 348/87, 348/125, 702/35, 702/81, 702/82, 250/559.01, 356/237.1, 356/237.2, 356/237.3, 356/237.4, 356/237.5, 700/121
• US Class Current: 382/149
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/94 Investigating contamination, e.g. dust G01N21/85 takes precedence
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2200/24 involving graphical user interfaces [GUIs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30148 Semiconductor; IC; Wafer
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0002 Inspection of images, e.g. flaw detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0004 Industrial image inspection

Abstract

A defect inspection system is provided which comprises an image acquiring section for acquiring a two-dimensional image of a subject which is a processing target in a manufacturing process, a defect extracting section for extracting a defect by a defect extraction algorithm using a predetermined parameter for an image acquired by the image acquiring section, a displaying section for displaying an image of a defect of the subject extracted by the defect extracting section, a parameter adjusting section for adjusting the parameter in accordance with a defect extraction degree for the subject, and a quality judging section for judging the quality of the subject based on a defect information extracted by the defect extracting section.

Claims

1. A defect inspection system comprising:

an image acquiring section for acquiring a two-dimensional image of an entire surface of each of a plurality of subjects;

an image storing section for storing, as image data, the two-dimensional image of the entire surface of said each subject acquired by said image acquiring section;

a defect extracting section for extracting defect data of the surface of said each subject based on a defect extraction algorithm using a predetermined parameter for the two-dimensional image read out from said image storing section, so as to extract a defect if the defect is determined to be present based on the defect extraction algorithm;

a displaying section for displaying an image of each defect extracted by said defect extracting section, by superimposing the image of the defect on the two-dimensional image of a subject which is determined to have the defect;

a parameter adjusting section for adjusting the parameter to set a new parameter to change a defect extraction degree for said each subject; and

a quality judging section for judging whether said each subject is acceptable, by checking the defect data extracted by said defect extracting section with reference to defect data registered in advance in a defect dictionary,

wherein when the parameter is adjusted by the parameter adjusting section;

said displaying section displays two kinds of two-dimensional images including at least one said two-dimensional image acquired by the image acquiring section when inspection is performed and a two-dimensional image of a subject which has been registered in advance as defective;

said defect extracting section extracts updated defect data based on the defect extraction algorithm using the new parameter adjusted by the parameter adjusting section for the two kinds of two-dimensional images; and

said display section displays each updated defect which is determined to exist based on the updated defect data extracted by said defect extracting section, by superimposing an image of the updated defect on corresponding images of the two kinds of two-dimensional images displayed by said displaying section.

2. The defect inspection system according to claim 1, wherein said displaying section has a function of reducing sizes of two-dimensional images of the plurality of subjects subjected to defect extracting processing by said defect extracting section, and of displaying the two-dimensional images, and a function of displaying results of judgment by said quality judging section using at least one of color and characters, with respect to the two-dimensional images of the plurality of subjects.

3. The defect inspection system according to claim 1, wherein said displaying section has a function of displaying thumbnail images obtained by reducing sizes of two-dimensional images of the plurality of subjects subjected to defect extraction processing by said defect extracting section, a function of enlarging and displaying a specified one of the thumbnail images, and a function of specifying a defect portion on said specified one of the thumbnail images to thereby display a kind of a defect which corresponds to the defect portion.

4. The defect inspection system according to claim 1, wherein said displaying section has a function of reducing sizes of two-dimensional images of the plurality of subjects subjected to defect extraction processing by said defect extracting section, and of displaying the two-dimensional images of the plurality of subjects such that the two-dimensional images of the plurality of subjects are discriminated from each other with respect to whether said quality judging section has judged a subject corresponding to the two-dimensional image to be acceptable.

5. The defect inspection system according to claim 1, wherein said displaying section displays the image of the updated defect extracted in accordance with the new parameter with a color of the image of the updated defect changed in accordance with an extraction degree corresponding to the new parameter.

6. The defect inspection system according to claim 1, wherein said displaying section changes a color of the image of the updated defect, in accordance with a change history of the parameter adjusted by said parameter adjusting section.

7. The defect inspection system according to claim 1, wherein said displaying section has a function of displaying a re-displaying button for changing the new parameter adjusted by said parameter adjusting section back to a former parameter, and a function of re-displaying the two-dimensional image of said each subject based on the former parameter, when the re-displaying button is clicked.

9. The defect inspection system according to claim 1, wherein said quality judging section has a function of determining a kind of the defect by checking the defect data extracted by said defect extracting section with reference to the defect data registered in advance in the defect dictionary, and a function of registering new defect data in the defect dictionary.

10. The defect inspection system according to claim 1, wherein said defect extracting section produces a recipe for determining the defect extraction degree, which serves as a reference for judging whether the subject is acceptable.

11. The defect inspection system according to claim 1, wherein a parameter for selecting a subject recognized in advance to be good is automatically set in said defect extracting section.

12. The defect inspection system according to claim 1, wherein said parameter adjusting section is adapted to set upper and lower limit values of the parameter as threshold values for defect extraction.

13. The defect inspection system according to claim 12, wherein said displaying section displays two-dimensional images of the plurality of subjects as thumbnail images.

14. The defect image inspection system according to claim 12, wherein said defect extracting section extracts, from data exceeding the lower limit value, data exceeding the upper limit value as the defect data.

16. The defect image inspection system according to claim 1, wherein said defect extracting section prepares a plurality of respective groups of parameters for kinds of defects, kinds of inspection conditions, kinds of inspection methods and kinds of extraction methods, and said parameter adjusting section adjusts the parameters of each of the groups.

8. A defect inspection system comprising:

an image acquiring section for acquiring a two-dimensional image of an entire surface of a subject which is a processing target in a manufacturing process;

an image storing section for storing, as image data, the two-dimensional image of the entire surface of the subject acquired by said image acquiring section;

a defect extracting section for extracting, as defect data, a defect of the surface of the subject based on a defect extraction algorithm using a predetermined parameter for the two-dimensional image read out from said image storing section;

a displaying section for displaying an image of the defect of the subject extracted by said defect extracting section, as a defect image of the subject;

a parameter adjusting section for adjusting the parameter to change a defect extraction degree for the defect image of the subject displayed by said displaying section; and

a quality judging section for judging whether the subject is good or bad, by checking defect data extracted by said defect extracting section with reference to defect data registered in advance in a defect dictionary;

wherein said defect extracting section extracts, as defect data, a defect of the subject based on a defect extraction algorithm using a new parameter adjusted by said parameter adjusting section, and updates the defect image displayed by said displaying section;

wherein said displaying section has a function of displaying a re-displaying button for changing the parameter adjusted by said parameter adjusting section back to a former parameter, and a function of re-displaying the defect image extracted based on the former parameter, when the re-displaying button is clicked; and

wherein said displaying section has a function of comparing images respectively obtained based on the parameter adjusted by said parameter adjusting section and the former parameter, and of displaying a determination button for determining one of the parameters as an optimal parameter.

15. A defect image inspection system comprising:

an image acquiring section for acquiring a two-dimensional image of an entire surface of a subject which is a processing target in a manufacturing process;

an image storing section for storing, as image data, the two-dimensional image of the entire surface of the subject acquired by said image acquiring section;

a defect extracting section for extracting, as defect data, a defect of the surface of the subject based on a defect extraction algorithm using a predetermined parameter for the two-dimensional image read out from said image storing section;

a displaying section for displaying an image of the defect of the subject extracted by said defect extracting section, as a defect image of the subject;

a parameter adjusting section for adjusting the parameter to chance a defect extraction degree for the defect image of the subject displayed by said displaying section; and

a quality judging section for judging whether the subject is acceptable, by checking defect data extracted by said defect extracting section with reference to defect data registered in advance in a defect dictionary;

wherein said defect extracting section extracts, as defect data, a defect of the subject based on a defect extraction algorithm using a new parameter adjusted by said parameter adjusting section, and updates the defect image displayed by said displaying section;

wherein said parameter adjusting section is adapted to set upper and lower limit values of the predetermined parameter as threshold values for defect extraction, said defect extracting section extracts, as the defect data, the defect of the subject based on the defect extraction algorithm using the new parameter adjusted by said parameter adjusting section, and said displaying section displays the defect image extracted by said defect extracting section, after updating the defect image; and

wherein said displaying section displays a slide switch for setting the upper and lower limit values in an area other than a defect image displaying area on a screen.