Apparatus of inspecting defect in semiconductor and method of the same

• US 7,751,036 B2
• Filed: 01/06/2009
• Issued: 07/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Inventors: Hamamatsu, Akira, Shibuya, Hisae, Maeda, Shunji
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, SANG H
• Application Number:
  US12/349,373
• Publication Number:
  US 20090153848A1
• Time in Patent Office: 546 Days
• Field of Search: 3562371-2376, 356392-394, 250/559.41, 250/559.29, 382/141, 382/149, 382/154
• US Class Current: 356/237.2
• 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

Abstract

When size of a defect on an increasingly miniaturized pattern is obtained by defect inspection apparatus in the related art, a value is inconveniently given, which is different from a measured value of the same defect by SEM. Thus, a dimension value of a defect detected by defect inspection apparatus needs to be accurately calculated to be approximated to a value measured by SEM. To this end, size of the defect detected by the defect inspection apparatus is corrected depending on feature quantity or type of the defect, thereby defect size can be accurately calculated.

Claims

1. Defect inspection apparatus comprising:

an illumination unit for illuminating light to an object to be inspected,

a detection unit for detecting light scattered from the object to be inspected by the illumination of light from the illumination unit

a signal processing unit for detecting a defect by processing a detection signal of the scattered light from the object detected by the detection unit, and calculating size of the detected defect, and

a display unit for displaying information of a result processed by the signal processing unit,

wherein a size calculation accuracy of defects is improved based on an inspection condition that includes an illumination condition, a detection condition, and a size calculation formula that is changed according to a position of the defect on the sample.

2. The defect inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said signal processing unit calculates the size of the defect by using different inspection conditions in calculating a size of a defect detected at a peripheral position on the object and in calculating a size of a defect detected at a central position on the object.

3. The defect inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said signal processing unit calculates the size of the defect by using different inspection conditions for a thickness of a film formed on the sample.

4. The defect inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said signal processing unit calculates the size of the defect by using different inspection conditions in calculating a size of a defect detected at a thick pattern density position in a chip formed on the object and in calculating a size of a defect detected at a thin pattern density position in the chip.

5. The defect inspection according to claim 1, wherein the inspection condition is changed according to a distance from a central portion of the object.

6. The defect inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said signal processing unit further calibrates the size of the defect calculated by using a relationship between a size of a defect which is known and a size of the defect detected by the detecting unit and calculated by the signal processing unit.

7. Defect inspection method, comprising the steps of:

illuminating light to an object to be inspected,

detecting light scattered from the object to be inspected by the illumination of the light,

processing a detection signal of the scattered light detected by the detecting to detect a defect, and calculating size of the detected defect, and

displaying information on a result of the processing and calculating,

wherein a size calculation accuracy of defects is improved based on an inspection condition that includes an illumination condition, a detection condition, and a size calculation formula that is changed according to a position of the defect on the sample.

8. The defect inspection method according to claim 7, wherein in the step of processing, said size of the defect is calculated by using different inspection conditions in calculating a size of a defect detected at a peripheral position on the object and in calculating a size of a defect detected at a central position on the object.

9. The defect inspection method according to claim 7, wherein in the step of processing, said size of the defect is calculated by using different inspection conditions for a thickness of a film formed on the sample.

10. The defect inspection method according to claim 7, wherein in the step of processing, said size of the defect is calculated by using different inspection conditions in calculating a size of a defect detected at a thick pattern density position in a chip formed on the object and in calculating a size of a defect detected at a thin pattern density position in the chip.