Tuning wafer inspection recipes using precise defect locations

• US 9,224,660 B2
• Filed: 08/27/2014
• Issued: 12/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: KLA-Tencor Corporation (KLA Corporation)
• Original Assignee: KLA-Tencor Corporation (KLA Corporation)
• Inventors: Kulkarni, Ashok V., Gao, Lisheng, Huang, Junqing
• Primary Examiner(s): STAFIRA, MICHAEL PATRICK
• Application Number:
  US14/470,916
• Publication Number:
  US 20150062571A1
• Time in Patent Office: 489 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/9501 Semiconductor wafers manufacturing processes per se of semiconductor devices implementing a measuring step H01L22/10
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 22/12 for structural parameters, e.g. thickness, line width, refractive index, temperature, warp, bond strength, defects, optical inspection, electrical measurement of structural dimensions, metallurgic measurement of diffusions electrical measurement of diffusions H01L22/14
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 22/20 Sequence of activities consisting of a plurality of measurements, corrections, marking or sorting steps

Abstract

Systems and methods for determining one or more parameters of a wafer inspection process are provided. One method includes aligning optical image(s) of an alignment target to their corresponding electron beam images generated by an electron beam defect review system. The method also includes determining different local coordinate transformations for different subsets of alignment targets based on results of the aligning. In addition, the method includes determining positions of defects in wafer inspection system coordinates based on coordinates of the defects determined by the electron beam defect review system and the different local coordinate transformations corresponding to different groups of the defects into which the defects have been separated. The method further includes determining one or more parameters for an inspection process for the wafer based on defect images acquired at the determined positions by a wafer inspection system.

Claims

1. A method for determining one or more parameters of a wafer inspection process, comprising:

acquiring one or more optical images of an alignment target on a wafer generated by a wafer inspection system;

separating defects detected on the wafer into different groups, wherein the different groups are located proximate to different subsets of alignment targets on the wafer;

aligning the one or more optical images of the alignment target to their corresponding electron beam images generated by an electron beam defect review system;

determining different local coordinate transformations for the different subsets of the alignment targets based on results of the aligning step, wherein the local coordinate transformations define relationships between coordinates determined by the electron beam defect review system and coordinates determined by the wafer inspection system;

determining positions of the defects on the wafer in wafer inspection system coordinates based on coordinates of the defects determined by the electron beam defect review system and the different local coordinate transformations for the different groups into which the defects have been separated; and

determining one or more parameters for an inspection process for the wafer based on defect images acquired at the determined positions by the wafer inspection system, wherein acquiring the one or more optical images, separating the defects, aligning the one or more optical images, determining the different local coordinate transformations, determining the positions of the defects, and determining the one or more parameters are performed with one or more computer systems.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the defects that are separated into the different groups are detected on the wafer by the wafer inspection system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the defects that are separated into the different groups are detected on the wafer by one or more other wafer inspection systems.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the alignment target from design layout data for the wafer.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the alignment target comprises one or more boundaries of repeating memory blocks.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the alignment target comprises one or more features in a design layout for the wafer having one or more unique characteristics.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring the one or more optical images of the alignment target comprises acquiring the one or more optical images from a storage medium in which all image data generated for the wafer by the wafer inspection system during a scan has been stored.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more computer systems comprise a virtual wafer inspection system configured to acquire the one or more optical images of the alignment target by extracting the one or more optical images from image data generated for the wafer by the wafer inspection system during a scan.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more computer systems comprise a computer subsystem of the electron beam defect review system configured to perform at least the separating the defects step.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the defects that are separated into the different groups are detected on the wafer by the wafer inspection system, and wherein the method further comprises acquiring electron beam images of the defects with the electron beam defect review system.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the defects that are separated into the different groups are detected on the wafer by the wafer inspection system, and wherein the method further comprises acquiring electron beam images of the defects with the electron beam defect review system by moving from the alignment target in one of the different subsets to only the defects in one of the different groups corresponding to the one of the different subsets.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the defects that are separated into the different groups are not detected on the wafer by the wafer inspection system, and wherein the method further comprises acquiring electron beam images of the defects by searching for the defects on the wafer with the electron beam defect review system.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more computer systems comprise a virtual wafer inspection system configured to perform at least the determining the positions of the defects step.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the positions of the defects in the wafer inspection system coordinates are determined on an optical pixel grid.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the defects that are separated into the different groups are not detected on the wafer by the wafer inspection system, and wherein the method further comprises acquiring electron beam images of the defects on the wafer with the electron beam defect review system and acquiring the defect images with the wafer inspection system based on the positions of the defects in the wafer inspection system coordinates.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the defect images are acquired after the positions of the defects on the wafer in the wafer inspection system coordinates have been determined.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the defect images are acquired before the positions of the defects on the wafer in the wafer inspection system coordinates have been determined.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more parameters comprise one or more parameters of a defect detection algorithm applied to output generated for the wafer during the inspection process.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more parameters comprise one or more parameters of an optical subsystem of the wafer inspection system with which output is generated for the wafer during the inspection process.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, storing program instructions executable on a computer system for performing a computer-implemented method for determining one or more parameters of a wafer inspection process, wherein the computer-implemented method comprises:

acquiring one or more optical images of an alignment target on a wafer generated by a wafer inspection system;

separating defects detected on the water into different groups, wherein the different groups are located proximate to different subsets of alignment targets on the wafer;

aligning the one or more optical images of the alignment target to their corresponding electron beam images generated by an electron beam defect review system;

determining different local coordinate transformations for the different subsets of the alignment targets based on results of the aligning step, wherein the local coordinate transformations define relationships between coordinates determined by the electron beam defect review system and coordinates determined by the wafer inspection system;

determining positions of the defects on the wafer in wafer inspection system coordinates based on coordinates of the defects determined by the electron beam defect review system and the different local coordinate transformations for the different groups into which the defects have been separated; and

determining one or more parameters for an inspection process for the wafer based on defect images acquired at the determined positions by the wafer inspection system.

21. A system configured to determine one or more parameters of a wafer inspection process, comprising:

an optical wafer inspection system configured to acquire one or more optical images of an alignment target on a wafer and defect images for the wafer;

an electron beam defect review system configured to acquire electron beam images of the alignment target; and

one or more computer subsystems configured for;

separating defects detected on the wafer into different groups, wherein the different groups are located proximate to different subsets of alignment targets on the wafer;

aligning the one or more optical images of the alignment target to their corresponding electron beam images;

determining different local coordinate transformations for the different subsets of the alignment targets based on results of the aligning step, wherein the local coordinate transformations define relationships between coordinates determined by the electron beam defect review system and coordinates determined by the optical wafer inspection system;

determining positions of the defects on the wafer in wafer inspection system coordinates based on coordinates of the defects determined by the electron beam defect review system and the different local coordinate transformations for the different groups into which the defects have been separated; and

determining one or more parameters for an inspection process for the wafer based on the defect images acquired at the determined positions by the wafer inspection system.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the defects that are separated into the different groups are detected on the wafer by the optical wafer inspection system.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the defects that are separated into the different groups are detected on the wafer by one or more other wafer inspection systems.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the one or more computer subsystems are further configured for selecting the alignment target from design layout data for the wafer.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the alignment target comprises one or more boundaries of repeating memory blocks.

26. The system of claim 21, wherein the alignment target comprises one or more features in a design layout for the wafer having one or more unique characteristics.

27. The system of claim 21, wherein the one or more computer subsystems are further configured for acquiring the one or more optical images from a storage medium in which all image data generated for the wafer by the optical wafer inspection system during a scan has been stored.

28. The system of claim 21, wherein the one or more computer subsystems comprise a virtual wafer inspection system configured to acquire the one or more optical images of the alignment target by extracting the one or more optical images from image data generated for the wafer by the optical wafer inspection system during a scan.

29. The system of claim 21, wherein the one or more computer subsystems comprise a computer subsystem of the electron beam defect review system.

30. The system of claim 21, wherein the defects that are separated into the different groups are detected on the wafer by the optical wafer inspection system, and wherein the electron beam defect review system is further configured to acquire electron beam images of the defects.

31. The system of claim 21;

wherein the defects that are separated into the different groups are detected on the wafer by the optical wafer inspection system, and wherein the electron beam defect review system is further configured to acquire electron beam images of the defects by moving from the alignment target in one of the different subsets to only the defects in one of the different groups corresponding to the one of the different subsets.

32. The system of claim 21, wherein the defects that are separated into the different groups are not detected on the wafer by the optical wafer inspection system, and wherein the electron beam defect review system is further configured to acquire electron beam images of the defects by searching for the defects on the wafer.

33. The system of claim 21, wherein the one or more computer subsystems comprise a virtual water inspection system.

34. The system of claim 21, wherein the positions of the defects in the wafer inspection system coordinates are determined on an optical pixel grid.

35. The system of claim 21, wherein the defects that are separated into the different groups are not detected on the wafer by the optical wafer inspection system, wherein the electron beam defect review system is further configured to acquire electron beam images of the defects, and wherein the optical wafer inspection system is further configured to acquire the defect images with the optical wafer inspection system based on the positions of the defects in the wafer inspection system coordinates.

36. The system of claim 21, wherein the defect images are acquired after the positions of the defects on the wafer in the wafer inspection system coordinates have been determined.

37. The system of claim 21, wherein the defect images are acquired before the positions of the defects on the wafer in the wafer inspection system coordinates have been determined.

38. The system of claim 21, wherein the one or more parameters comprise one or more parameters of a defect detection algorithm applied to output generated for the wafer during the inspection process.

39. The system of claim 21, wherein the one or more parameters comprise one or more parameters with which output is generated for the wafer during the inspection process.