Sub-pixel alignment of inspection to design

• US 9,996,942 B2
• Filed: 03/17/2016
• Issued: 06/12/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: KLA-Tencor Corporation (KLA Corporation)
• Original Assignee: KLA-Tencor Corporation (KLA Corporation)
• Inventors: Bhattacharyya, Santosh, Kumar, Pavan, Gao, Lisheng, Jayaraman, Thirupurasundari, Babulnath, Raghav, Kandukuri, Srikanth, Sivaraman, Gangadharan, Subramanian, Karthikeyan, Konuru, Raghavan, Lakhawat, Rahul
• Primary Examiner(s): Alavi, Amir
• Application Number:
  US15/073,617
• Publication Number:
  US 20160275672A1
• Time in Patent Office: 817 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10061 from scanning electron microscope
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30148 Semiconductor; IC; Wafer
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/33 using feature-based methods

Abstract

Methods and systems for determining a position of output generated by an inspection subsystem in design data space are provided. In general, some embodiments described herein are configured for substantially accurately aligning inspection subsystem output generated for a specimen to a design for the specimen despite deformation of the design in the inspection subsystem output. In addition, some embodiments are configured for generating and/or using alignment targets that can be shared across multiple specimens of the same layer and design rule for alignment of inspection subsystem output generated for a specimen to a design for the specimen.

Claims

1. A system configured to determine a position of output generated by an inspection subsystem in design data space, comprising:

an inspection subsystem comprising at least an energy source and a detector, wherein the energy source is configured to generate energy that is directed to a specimen, wherein the detector is configured to detect energy from the specimen and to generate output responsive to the detected energy, and wherein the output comprises frames of the output; and

one or more computer subsystems configured for;

selecting alignment targets for the specimen such that one or more of the alignment targets appear in each of the frames generated by the inspection subsystem for the specimen;

aligning one or more images for each of the alignment targets to its corresponding portion of a design for the specimen;

determining an offset between the output and the design for each zone of the output based on results of aligning the one or more images generated for one or more of the alignment targets located therein, wherein each zone comprises one or more of the frames;

aligning output generated by the inspection subsystem at each position of each of the alignment targets on the specimen to the one or more images for the alignment targets;

determining, for each alignment target, an additional offset between the output generated at its corresponding position on the specimen and its corresponding one or more images based on results of aligning the output; and

determining, for each of the frames, design data space positions of output generated by the inspection subsystem at other positions on the specimen located therein based on the offset determined for its corresponding zone, the additional offset determined for each of the alignment targets located therein, and specimen space positions of the output generated at the other positions located therein.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein each zone further comprises 10 or fewer of the frames.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the design data space positions of the output are determined with sub-pixel accuracy.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the alignment targets comprise one or more subpixel patterns.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein selecting the alignment targets comprises selecting the alignment targets at a spatial frequency across the specimen that is higher than or equal to a frequency that causes deformation of images generated from the output of the inspection subsystem.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more computer subsystems are further configured for generating the design used for aligning the one or more images by separately modifying different portions of the design corresponding to each of the frames based on deformation of images generated for the specimen from the output of the inspection subsystem.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more computer subsystems are further configured for generating one or more simulated images illustrating how different portions of the design will appear in images generated by the inspection subsystem, and wherein said aligning the one or more images comprises aligning the one or more images to the one or more simulated images.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein determining the design data space positions comprises:

determining, for each of the frames, one or more further offsets between the output generated by the inspection subsystem at the other positions on the specimen located therein and its corresponding portion of the design based on the offset determined for its corresponding zone and the additional offset determined for each of the alignment targets located therein; and

determining the design data space positions based on the one or more further offsets and the specimen space positions of the output generated at the other positions located therein.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more computer subsystems are further configured for detecting defects on the specimen based on the output generated at the other positions and determining one or more parameters used for said detecting based on the design data space positions of the output generated at the other positions.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more computer subsystems are further configured for detecting defects on the specimen based on the output generated at the other positions and determining design data space positions of the defects based on the design data space positions of the output generated at the other positions.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more computer subsystems are further configured for detecting defects on the specimen based on the output generated at the other positions, determining design data space positions of the defects based on the design data space positions of the output generated at the other positions, and binning the defects based on their design data space positions.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more computer subsystems are further configured for storing information for the selected alignment targets to a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing information for other alignment targets selected for other specimens.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more computer subsystems are further configured for generating a data structure containing information for the selected alignment targets and storing the data structure in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more computer subsystems are further configured for modifying a data structure comprising other information for other alignment targets such that the modified data structure comprises information for the selected alignment targets, and wherein the other alignment targets were selected for only other specimens of the same layer and design rule as the specimen.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein selecting the alignment targets comprises comparing different portions of the design for the specimen to other alignment targets that were selected for only other specimens of the same layer and design rule as the specimen and identifying one or more of the different portions that match one or more of the other alignment targets as at least one of the selected alignment targets.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein selecting the alignment targets comprises identifying other alignment targets that were selected for only other specimens of the same layer and design rule as the specimen, selecting one or more of the other alignment targets for use as the alignment targets, and adding the one or more of the other alignment targets to the design for the specimen.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more computer subsystems are further configured for generating a version of the design that comprises only portions of the design corresponding to each of the alignment targets and not other portions of the design that do not correspond to any of the alignment targets.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the specimen comprises a wafer.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the energy directed to the specimen comprises light, and wherein the energy detected from the specimen comprises light.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the energy directed to the specimen comprises electrons, and wherein the energy detected from the specimen comprises electrons.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, storing program instructions executable on a computer system for performing a computer-implemented method for determining a position of output generated by an inspection subsystem in design data space, wherein the computer-implemented method comprises:

selecting alignment targets for a specimen such that one or more of the alignment targets appear in each of frames of output generated by an inspection subsystem for the specimen, wherein the inspection subsystem comprises at least an energy source and a detector, wherein the energy source is configured to generate energy that is directed to the specimen, and wherein the detector is configured to detect energy from the specimen and to generate the output responsive to the detected energy;

aligning one or more images for each of the alignment targets to its corresponding portion of a design for the specimen;

determining an offset between the output and the design for each zone of the output based on results of aligning the one or more images generated for one or more of the alignment targets located therein, wherein each zone comprises one or more of the frames;

aligning output generated by the inspection subsystem at each position of each of the alignment targets on the specimen to the one or more images for the alignment targets;

determining, for each alignment target, an additional offset between the output generated at its corresponding position on the specimen and its corresponding one or more images based on results of aligning the output; and

determining, for each of the frames, design data space positions of output generated by the inspection subsystem at other positions on the specimen located therein based on the offset determined for its corresponding zone, the additional offset determined for each of the alignment targets located therein, and specimen space positions of the output generated at the other positions located therein, wherein selecting the alignment targets, aligning the one or more images, determining the offset, aligning the output, determining the additional offset, and determining the design data space positions are performed by one or more computer subsystems.

22. A computer-implemented method for determining a position of output generated by an inspection subsystem in design data space, comprising:

selecting alignment targets for a specimen such that one or more of the alignment targets appear in each of frames of output generated by an inspection subsystem for the specimen, wherein the inspection subsystem comprises at least an energy source and a detector, wherein the energy source is configured to generate energy that is directed to the specimen, and wherein the detector is configured to detect energy from the specimen and to generate the output responsive to the detected energy;

aligning one or more images for each of the alignment targets to its corresponding portion of a design for the specimen;

determining an offset between the output and the design for each zone of the output based on results of aligning the one or more images generated for one or more of the alignment targets located therein, wherein each zone comprises one or more of the frames;

aligning output generated by the inspection subsystem at each position of each of the alignment targets on the specimen to the one or more images for the alignment targets;

determining, for each alignment target, an additional offset between the output generated at its corresponding position on the specimen and its corresponding one or more images based on results of aligning the output; and

determining, for each of the frames, design data space positions of output generated by the inspection subsystem at other positions on the specimen located therein based on the offset determined for its corresponding zone, the additional offset determined for each of the alignment targets located therein, and specimen space positions of the output generated at the other positions located therein, wherein selecting the alignment targets, aligning the one or more images, determining the offset, aligning the output, determining the additional offset, and determining the design data space positions are performed by one or more computer subsystems.