Systems and methods for creating inspection recipes

• US 7,877,722 B2
• Filed: 12/19/2007
• Issued: 01/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: KLA-Tencor Corporation
• Original Assignee: KLA-Tencor Corporation
• Inventors: Kulkarni, Ashok, Duffy, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): Chiang; Jack
• Assistant Examiner(s): BOWERS, BRANDON
• Application Number:
  US11/960,157
• Publication Number:
  US 20080250384A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,133 Days
• Field of Search: 716/21
• US Class Current: 716/55
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70525 Controlling normal operating mode, e.g. matching different apparatus, remote control or prediction of failure
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/7065 Defects, e.g. optical inspection of patterned layer for defects

Abstract

Systems and methods for creating inspection recipes are provided. One computer-implemented method for creating an inspection recipe includes acquiring a first design and one or more characteristics of output of an inspection system for a wafer on which the first design is printed using a manufacturing process. The method also includes creating an inspection recipe for a second design using the first design and the one or more characteristics of the output acquired for the wafer on which the first design is printed. The first and second designs are different. The inspection recipe will be used for inspecting wafers after the second design is printed on the wafers using the manufacturing process.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for creating an inspection recipe, comprising:

acquiring a first design and one or more characteristics of output of an inspection system for a wafer on which the first design is printed using a manufacturing process; and

creating an inspection recipe for a second design using the first design and the one or more characteristics of the output acquired for the wafer on which the first design is printed, wherein the first and second designs are different, wherein the inspection recipe will be used for inspecting wafers after the second design is printed on the wafers using the manufacturing process, wherein said creating comprises creating a context map for the second design using the first design and the one or more characteristics of the output and creating the inspection recipe using the context map such that different sensitivity thresholds for de ect detection are applied to output acquired for at least two different contexts in the second design, and wherein said creating the inspection recipe is performed using a computer system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said creating the inspection recipe further comprises creating the inspection recipe using the first design, the one or more characteristics of the output acquired for the wafer on which the first design is printed, and one or more characteristics of output of the inspection system for a wafer on which the second design is printed.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said creating the inspection recipe further comprises creating a classifier that maps different portions of the first design and the one or more characteristics of the output acquired for the wafer on which the first design is printed, acquiring output of the inspection system for a wafer on which the second design is printed, determining one or more characteristics of the output acquired for the wafer on which the second design is printed, and assigning a context identity to different portions of the second design using the one or more characteristics of the output acquired for the wafer on which the second design is printed and the classifier constructed using the first design.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the results of classification of contexts on the second design are stored in a context map and used for subsequent inspections of that design without requiring use of the classifier on subsequent wafers inspected.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said creating the inspection recipe further comprises storing the context map in the inspection recipe such that inspection is performed using the context map.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the context map to create a defect review recipe for the second design.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said creating the context map comprises creating the context map by segmenting a die into different region types based on hierarchy of cells, structures, or some combination thereof in the second design.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more characteristics of the output comprise one or more characteristics of noise in the output.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining multi-die statistics for different context types in the first design using the one or more characteristics of the output and splitting at least one of the different context types into context sub-types based on appearance and noise levels of the output, wherein said creating the inspection recipe further comprises creating the inspection recipe using the first design, the one or more characteristics of the output, and the context sub-types.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the context map comprises different context types in the second design, and wherein creating the context map comprises merging different context types that have similar one or more characteristics of the output and similar noise characteristics of the output.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said creating the inspection recipe further comprises creating the inspection recipe using the context map such that defects detected by inspecting the wafers on which the second design is printed are classified based on the context map.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said creating the inspection recipe further comprises creating the inspection recipe using the context map such that defects detected by inspecting the wafers on which the second design is printed are grouped based on the context map.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said creating the inspection recipe further comprises creating the inspection recipe using the context map such that systematic defect mechanisms in the second design are detected using results of inspecting the wafers on which the second design is printed and the context map.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said creating the inspection recipe further comprises selecting an optics mode for the inspection recipe using a scoring function based on the first design, the one or more characteristics of the output, and defect detectability in different optics modes for different design contexts present in the first design.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said acquiring comprises acquiring the first design and the one or more characteristics of the output from a design context-based repository in which the first design and the one or more characteristics of the output are stored.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the inspection system is the inspection system for which an inspection recipe is being created.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the output of the inspection system for the wafer on which the first design is printed is acquired using an optics mode of the inspection system different than an optics mode of the inspection system for which the recipe is being created.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the inspection system, the output of which is acquired for the wafer on which the first design is printed, has a different platform than an inspection system for which the recipe is being created.

19. A carrier medium, comprising program instructions executable on a computer system for performing a computer-implemented method for creating an inspection recipe, wherein the carrier medium is a storage medium, and wherein the computer-implemented method comprises:

acquiring a first design and one or more characteristics of output of an inspection system for a wafer on which the first design is printed using a manufacturing process; and

creating an inspection recipe for a second design using the first design and the one or more characteristics of the output acquired for the wafer on which the first design is printed, wherein the first and second designs are different, wherein the inspection recipe will be used for inspecting wafers after the second design is printed on the wafers using the manufacturing process, and wherein said creating comprises creating a context map for the second design using the first design and the one or more characteristics of the output and creating the inspection recipe using the context map such that different sensitivity thresholds for defect detection are applied to output acquired for at least two different contexts in the second design.

20. A system configured to create an inspection recipe, comprising:

an inspection system configured to acquire output for a wafer on which a first design is printed using a manufacturing process; and

a computer system configured to create an inspection recipe for a second design using the first design and one or more characteristics of the output acquired for the wafer on which the first design is printed, wherein the first and second designs are different, wherein the inspection recipe will be used for inspecting wafers after the second design is printed on the wafers using the manufacturing process, the one or more characteristics of the output and creating the inspection recipe using the context map such that different sensitivity thresholds for defect detection are applied to output acquired for at least two different contexts in the second design.