Automated wafer defect inspection system and a process of performing such inspection
DC CAFCFirst Claim
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1. An automated system for inspecting a substrate, the system comprising:
- a wafer test plate;
a substrate provider for providing a substrate to the test plate, wherein the substrate is selected from a group consisting of a whole patterned wafer, a sawn patterned wafer, a broken patterned wafer, at least one portion of a patterned wafer, an individual die, at least one portion of an individual die, a plurality of individual die, at least one portion of a plurality of individual die, multiple die in a waffle pak, a multi-chip module (MCM), a JEDEC tray, and an Auer boat;
a visual inspection device for visual inputting of a plurality of known good quality substrates having a user defined level of quality during training and for visual inspection of other unknown quality substrates during inspection;
an illuminator for providing short pulses of light to each of the unknown quality substrates during movement between the substrate and the visual inspection device; and
a microprocessor having processing and memory capabilities for developing a model of good quality substrate and comparing unknown quality substrates to the model.
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Abstract
An automated defect inspection system has been invented and is used on patterned wafers, whole wafers, broken wafers, partial wafers, sawn wafers such as on film frames, JEDEC trays, Auer boats, die in gel or waffle packs, MCMs, etc. and is specifically intended and designed for second optical wafer inspection for such defects as metalization defects (such as scratches, voids, corrosion, and bridging), diffusion defects, passivation layer defects, scribing defects, glassivation defects, chips and cracks from sawing, solder bump defects, and bond pad area defects.
167 Citations
53 Claims
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1. An automated system for inspecting a substrate, the system comprising:
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a wafer test plate; a substrate provider for providing a substrate to the test plate, wherein the substrate is selected from a group consisting of a whole patterned wafer, a sawn patterned wafer, a broken patterned wafer, at least one portion of a patterned wafer, an individual die, at least one portion of an individual die, a plurality of individual die, at least one portion of a plurality of individual die, multiple die in a waffle pak, a multi-chip module (MCM), a JEDEC tray, and an Auer boat; a visual inspection device for visual inputting of a plurality of known good quality substrates having a user defined level of quality during training and for visual inspection of other unknown quality substrates during inspection; an illuminator for providing short pulses of light to each of the unknown quality substrates during movement between the substrate and the visual inspection device; and a microprocessor having processing and memory capabilities for developing a model of good quality substrate and comparing unknown quality substrates to the model. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. An automated method of inspecting a semiconductor substrate, the method comprising:
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training a model as to parameters of a good substrate via optical viewing of multiple known good substrates; illuminating unknown quality substrates with an illuminator, the illuminator configured to provide flashes of light to each of the unknown quality substrates during movement of the substrate, wherein the substrate is selected from a group consisting of a whole patterned wafer, a sawn patterned wafer, a broken patterned wafer, at least one portion of a patterned wafer, an individual die, at least one portion of an individual die, a plurality of individual die, at least one portion of a plurality of individual die, multiple die in a waffle pak, a multi-chip module (MCM), a JEDEC tray, and an Auer boat; inspecting the unknown quality substrates using the model, thereby identifying acceptable quality substrates; and performing at least one processing step on the acceptable quality substrates, therby transforming the acceptable quality substrates into further processed substrates. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. An automated system for inspecting a substrate, the system comprising:
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a wafer test plate; a substrate provider for providing a substrate to the test plate, wherein the substrate is selected from a group consisting of a whole patterned wafer, a sawn patterned wafer, a broken patterned wafer, at least one portion of a patterned wafer, an individual die, at least one portion of an individual die, plurality of individual die, at least one portion of a plurality of individual die, multiple die in a waffle pak, a multi-chip module (MCM), a JEDEC tray, and an Auer boat; a camera for capturing still images of a moving substrate; an illuminator for providing strobe illumination to the moving substrate; and a controller for comparing pixel data for unknown quality substrates to a model of a good quality substrate. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. An automated system for inspection of a substrate for defects, wherein the substrate comprises at least a portion of a wafer, the system comprising:
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a platform arranged for moving the substrate during inspection, wherein the substrate is selected from a group consisting of a whole patterned wafer, a sawn patterned wafer, a broken patterned wafer, at least one portion of a patterned wafer, an individual die, at least one portion of an individual die, plurality of individual die, at least one portion of a plurality of individual die, multiple die in a waffle pak, a multi-chip module (MCM), a JEDEC tray, and an Auer boat; a visual inspection device adapted to capture images associated with the substrate while the substrate is in motion relative to the visual inspection device; a strobing illuminator configured to automatically illuminate at least a portion of the substrate while the substrate is in motion to aid in capture of the images by the visual inspection device; and a processor configured to compare the captured images to a reference model during inspection to detect defects in the substrate. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
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25. An automated system for training a reference model for inspection of a substrate for defects, wherein the substrate comprises at least a portion of a wafer, the system comprising:
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a moveable stage configured to move the substrate, wherein the substrate is selected from a group consisting of a whole patterned wafer, a sawn patterned wafer, a broken patterned wafer, at least one portion of a patterned wafer, an individual die, at least one portion of an individual die, plurality of individual die, at least one portion of a plurality of individual die, multiple die in a waffle pak, a multi-chip module (MCM), a JEDEC tray, and an Auer boat; a visual inspection device adapted to capture images associated with the substrate while the substrate is in motion relative to the visual inspection device; a strobing illuminator operative to automatically illuminate at least a portion of the substrate while the substrate is in motion relative to the visual inspection device; and a processor configured to create a reference model based on the images associated with at least two known quality substrates. - View Dependent Claims (26)
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27. An automated system for inspection of a substrate for defects, wherein the substrate comprises at least a portion of a wafer, the system comprising:
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a moveable stage configured to move the substrate, wherein the substrate is selected from a group consisting of a whole patterned wafer, a sawn patterned wafer, a broken patterned wafer, at least one portion of a patterned wafer, an individual die, at least one portion of an individual die, plurality of individual die, at least one portion of a plurality of individual die, multiple die in a waffle pak, a multi-chip module (MCM), a JEDEC tray, and an Auer boat; a visual inspection device adapted to capture images associated with the substrate; a strobing illuminator operative to automatically illuminate at least a portion of the substrate while the substrate is in motion relative to the visual inspection device; and a processor configured to generate a reference model from the captured images acquired from at least two known quality substrates, and compare the captured images acquired from an unknown quality substrate to the reference model to detect defects in the unknown quality substrate. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29)
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30. An automated method of inspecting a substrate for defects, wherein the substrate comprises at least a portion of a wafer, the method comprising:
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moving a first reference known quality substrate relative to a visual inspection device; collecting a first image associated with the first known quality substrate while the first reference known quality substrate is in motion relative to the visual inspection device; moving a second reference known quality substrate relative to the visual inspection device; collecting a second image associated with the second reference known quality substrate while the second reference known quality substrate is in motion relative to the visual inspection device; creating a reference model based on the first image and the second image; moving an unknown quality substrate relative to the visual inspection device, wherein the unknown quality substrate is selected from a group consisting of a whole patterned wafer, a sawn patterned wafer, a broken patterned wafer, at least one portion of a patterned wafer, an individual die, at least one portion of an individual die, a plurality of individual die, at least one portion of a plurality of individual die, multiple die in a waffle pak, a multi-chip module (MCM), a JEDEC tray, and an Auer boat; automatically illuminating at least a portion of the unknown quality substrate while the unknown quality substrate is in motion relative to the visual inspection device; collecting a set of images associated with the unknown quality substrate while at least a portion of the unknown quality substrate is illuminated and the unknown quality substrate is in motion relative to the visual inspection device; and comparing the set of images to the reference model to detect defects in the unknown quality substrate. - View Dependent Claims (31)
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32. An automated system for inspection of a substrate for defects, wherein the substrate comprises at least a portion of a wafer, the system comprising:
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a means for moving the substrate, wherein the substrate is selected from a group consisting of a whole patterned wafer, a sawn patterned wafer, a broken patterned wafer, at least one portion of a patterned wafer, an individual die, at least one portion of an individual die, plurality of individual die, at least one portion of a plurality of individual die, multiple die in a waffle pak, a multi-chip module (MCM), a JEDEC tray, and an Auer boat; a means for capturing images associated with the substrate while the substrate is in motion; a means for automatically illuminating at least a portion of the substrate while the substrate is in motion; and a means for comparing the captured images to a reference model to detect defects in the substrate. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. An automated system for inspection of a substrate for defects, wherein the substrate comprises at least a portion of a wafer, the system comprising:
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a moveable platform adapted to move the substrate, wherein the substrate is selected from a group consisting of a whole patterned wafer, a sawn patterned wafer, a broken patterned wafer, at least one portion of a patterned wafer, an individual die, at least one portion of an individual die, plurality of individual die, at least one portion of a plurality of individual die, multiple die in a waffle pak, a multi-chip module (MCM), a JEDEC tray, and an Auer boat; a robotic arm configured to provide the substrate to the moveable platform; a brightileld illuminator configured to selectively strobe the substrate while the substrate is in motion; a darkileld illuminator configured to selectively strobe the substrate while the substrate is in motion; a focusing mechanism adapted to focus on a surface of the substrate; a grey-scale camera adapted to capture images of the substrate while the substrate is in motion; and a processor adapted to compare the images to a reference model to detect defects in the substrate. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. An automated system for inspection of a substrate on a film frame for defects, wherein the substrate comprises at least a portion of a wafer, the system comprising:
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a platform arranged for moving the substrate during inspection, wherein the substrate is selected from a group consisting of a whole patterned wafer, a sawn patterned wafer, a broken patterned wafer, at least one portion of a patterned wafer, an individual die, at least one portion of an individual die, plurality of individual die, at least one portion of a plurality of individual die, multiple die in a waffle pak, a multi-chip module (MCM), a JEDEC tray, and an Auer boat; a visual inspection device adapted to capture images associated with the substrate while the substrate is in motion relative to the visual inspection device; a strobing illuminator configured to automatically illuminate at least a portion of the substrate while the substrate is in motion to aid in capture of the images by the visual inspection device; and a processor configured to compare the captured images to a reference model during inspection to detect defects in the substrate.
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43. An automated method of inspecting an unknown quality substrate comprising:
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moving the unknown quality substrate, wherein the unknown quality substrate comprises at least a portion of a patterned wafer mounted on a film frame; automatically strobing the unknown quality substrate while the unknown quality substrate is in motion; capturing images of the unknown quality substrate while the unknown quality substrate is in motion; comparing the images to a reference model to detect defects in the unknown quality substrate and make the unknown quality substrate a known quality substrate; and performing at least one processing step on the known quality substrate, thereby transforming the known quality substrate into a further processed substrate. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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53. An automated method of inspecting an unknown quality substrate comprising:
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moving the unknown quality substrate, wherein the substrate is selected from a group consisting of a whole patterned wafer, a sawn patterned wafer, a broken patterned wafer, at least one portion of a patterned wafer, an individual die, at least one portion of an individual die, plurality of individual die, at least one portion of a plurality of individual die, multiple die in a waffle pak, a multi-chip module (MCM), a JEDEC tray, and an Auer boat; automatically strobing the unknown quality substrate while the unknown quality substrate is in motion varying a rate at which the unknown quality substrate is strobed during inspection, the rate at which the unknown quality substrate is strobed being at least partially correlated to both the rate at which the unknown quality substrate is moved and the relative positions of a plurality of regions of interest on the unknown quality substrate; capturing images of at least one of the regions of interest on the unknown quality substrate while the unknown quality substrate is in motion; comparing the images to a reference model to detect defects in the unknown quality substrate and make the unknown quality substrate a known quality substrate; and performing at least one processing step on the known quality substrate, thereby transforming the known quality substrate into a further processed substrate.
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Specification