Method for inspecting defect and apparatus for inspecting defect

• US 7,248,352 B2
• Filed: 12/02/2003
• Issued: 07/24/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Inventors: Hamamatsu, Akira, Uto, Sachio, Nishiyama, Hidetoshi, Jingu, Takahiro, Ohshima, Yoshimasa, Noguchi, Minori
• Primary Examiner(s): STAFIRA, MICHAEL PATRICK
• Application Number:
  US10/724,750
• Publication Number:
  US 20040160599A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,330 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 356/237.2
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/8806 Specially adapted optical and illumination features
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/94 Investigating contamination, e.g. dust G01N21/85 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/9501 Semiconductor wafers manufacturing processes per se of semiconductor devices implementing a measuring step H01L22/10
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/95623 using a spatial filtering method per se G02B

Abstract

The present invention is an apparatus for inspecting foreign particles/defects, comprises an illumination optical system, a detection optical system, a shielding unit which is provided in said detection optical system to selectively shield diffracted light pattern coming from circuit pattern existing on an inspection object and an arithmetic processing system, wherein said shielding unit comprises a micro-mirror array device or a reflected type liquid crystal, or a transmission type liquid crystal, or an object which is transferred a shielding pattern to an optical transparent substrate, or a substrate or a film which is etched so as to leave shielding patterns, or an optical transparent substrate which can be changed in transmission by heating, sudden cold, or light illumination, or change of electric field or magnetic field, or a shielding plate of cylindrical shape or plate shape.

Claims

1. A method for inspecting defects comprising the steps of:

illuminating light to an inspection object containing repetitive circuit patterns formed on a surface thereof;

detecting an image signal corresponding to transmission light by selectively shielding a diffraction light pattern generated from said repetitive circuit patterns when the illuminating light is reflected from the surface of said inspection object; and

detecting the defects existing on the surface of the inspection object by processing the detected image signal,

wherein;

said selective shielding of said diffraction light pattern in said detecting step is performed by using a micro-mirror array device,

each micro-mirror operation of the micro-mirror array device selectively shields the diffraction light patterns by reflecting the diffract light in a direction where a sensor for detecting the image signal corresponding to the transmission light reflected by each micro-mirror operation cannot receive the selective shielding diffracted light patterns, and

said selective shielding of said diffraction light pattern in said detecting step includes observing a Fourier transform image as the selective shielding diffracted light patterns in a Fourier transform plane and controlling each micro-mirror operation of the micro-mirror array device in accordance with the Fourier transform image as the selective shielding diffracted light patterns.

2. A method for inspecting defects comprising the steps of:

illuminating light to an inspection object containing repetitive circuit patterns formed on a surface thereof;

detecting an image signal corresponding to transmission light by selectively shielding a diffraction light pattern generated from said repetitive circuit patterns when the illuminating light is reflected from the surface of said inspection object; and

detecting the defects existing on the surface of the inspection object by processing the detected image signal,

wherein;

said selective shielding of said diffraction light pattern in said detecting step is performed by using a micro-mirror array device,

each micro-mirror operation of the micro-mirror array device selectively shields the diffraction light patterns by reflecting the diffract light in a direction where a sensor for detecting the image signal corresponding to the transmission light reflected by each micro-mirror operation cannot receive the selective shielding diffracted light patterns, and

each micro-mirror operation of the micro-mirror array device is performed so that the each micro-mirror operation is supported by a support provided on a base and is driven by electrostatic attraction and repulsion with an electrode provided on the base.

3. An apparatus for inspecting defects comprising:

an illumination optical system which illuminates light to an inspection object containing repetitive circuit patterns formed on a surface thereof;

an optical detection system which detects light reflected from said inspection object and transmitted through a shield unit, and converts the detected light into an image signal; and

a processing system which detects the defects by processing the image signal detected by said optical detection system;

wherein;

said shield unit is provided in said optical detection system to selectively shield diffracted light patterns coming from the repetitive circuit patterns existing on the inspection object, and said shielding unit comprises a micro-mirror array device,

said shielding unit further comprises an optical system wherein each micro-mirror operation of the micro-mirror array device selectively shields the diffraction light patterns by reflecting the diffracted light in a direction where a sensor for the detected light reflected by each micro-mirror operation of the micro-mirror array device into the image signal cannot receive the selective shielding diffracted light patterns, and

said shielding unit further provides an optical observation unit which observes a Fourier transform image as the selective shielding diffracted light patterns in a Fourier transform plane and a control unit which controls each micro-mirror operation of the micro-mirror array device in accordance with the Fourier transform image as the selective shielding diffracted light patterns.

4. An apparatus for inspecting defects comprising:

an illumination optical system which illuminates light to an inspection object containing repetitive circuit patterns formed on a surface thereof;

an optical detection system which detects light reflected from said inspection object and transmitted through a shield unit, and converts the detected light into an image signal; and

a processing system which detects the defects by processing the image signal detected by said optical detection system;

wherein;

said shield unit is provided in said optical detection system to selectively shield diffracted light patterns coming from the repetitive circuit patterns existing on the inspection object, and said shielding unit comprises a micro-mirror array device,

said shielding unit further comprises an optical system wherein each micro-mirror operation of the micro-mirror array device selectively shields the diffraction light patterns by reflecting the diffracted light in a direction where a sensor for the detected light reflected by each micro-mirror operation of the micro-mirror array device into the image signal cannot receive the selective shielding diffracted light patterns, and

each micro-mirror operation of the micro-mirror array device is constructed so that the each micro-mirror is supported by a support being provided on a base and is driven by electrostatic attraction and repulsion with an electrode provided on the base.