Pattern inspection apparatus, pattern inspection method, and inspection sample

• US 20070064998A1
• Filed: 01/25/2006
• Published: 03/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Advanced Mask Inspection Technology, Inc. (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Advanced Mask Inspection Technology, Inc. (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Matsumura, Kenichi, Umeda, Takuo
• Application Number:
  US11/338,708
• Publication Number:
  US 20070064998A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/149
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 1/84 Inspecting
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70616 Monitoring the printed patterns
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30148 Semiconductor; IC; Wafer
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/001 using an image reference approach

Abstract

A pattern inspection apparatus for inspecting a pattern of a plurality of dies formed on an inspection sample, includes: a stream image memory device, which stores a stream image of the inspection sample; and a DD comparison unit which performs DD comparison, mutually comparing the pattern of each of the dies in the stream image.

Claims

1. A pattern inspection apparatus for inspecting a pattern of a plurality of dies formed in an inspection sample, comprising:

a stream image memory device which stores a stream image of the inspection sample; and

a DD comparison unit which performs DD comparison, mutually comparing the pattern of each of the dies in the stream image.

2. The pattern inspection apparatus according to claim 1, comprising:

a plurality of the stream image memory devices capable of storing a plurality of the stream images.

3. The pattern inspection apparatus according to claim 1, comprising:

a plurality of the stream image memory devices capable of storing a plurality of the stream images; and

a plurality of the DD comparison units which parallelly process the plurality of the stream images.

4. The pattern inspection apparatus according to claim 1, comprising:

a DB comparison unit which performs DB comparison, comparing a die at a specific position of the stream image; and

a DD comparison unit which performs DD comparison, with which the die at the specific position performed by the DB comparison, defined as a reference die, is compared with other die.

5. The pattern inspection apparatus according to claim 1, comprising:

a DB comparison unit which performs DB comparison, comparing a die at a specific position, which is each stream image of the plurality of stream images; and

a DD comparison unit which performs DD comparison, with which the die at the specific position, which is the each stream image, performed by the DB comparison, defined as a reference die, is compared with other die.

6. The pattern inspection apparatus according to claim 1, comprising:

a memory device for DB comparison which stores a reference die.

7. The pattern inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the inspection sample includes N dies in the X direction and M dies in the Y direction, the pattern inspection apparatus comprising:

a DB comparison unit which performs DB comparison, comparing a die at any position; and

a DD comparison unit which performs DD comparison, with which the die performed by the DB comparison, defined as a reference die, is compared with other die.

8. The pattern inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the inspection sample includes N dies in the X direction and M dies in the Y direction, the pattern inspection apparatus comprising:

a DB comparison unit which performs DB comparison, comparing M dies at a certain position from an end; and

a DD comparison unit which performs DD comparison, with which the M dies performed by the DB comparison, defined as reference dies, are compared with N-1 dies in the X direction of the stream image to which the reference dies belong.

9. The pattern inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the inspection sample includes N dies in the X direction and M dies in the Y direction, the pattern inspection apparatus comprising:

a DB comparison unit which performs DB comparison, comparing M dies at a predetermined position from an end; and

a DD comparison unit which performs DD comparison, with which the M dies performed by the DB comparison, defined as reference dies, are compared between adjacent dies of the stream image to which the reference dies belong.

10. The pattern inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the inspection sample includes N dies in the X direction and M dies in the Y direction, the pattern inspection apparatus comprising:

a plurality of stream image memory devices capable of storing a plurality of stream images;

a DB comparison unit which performs DB comparison, comparing a specific die of the each stream image; and

a plurality of DD comparison units which parallelly perform DD comparison, with which the specific die performed by the DB comparison, defined as a reference die, is compared with respect to N-1 dies in the X direction of the stream image to which the reference die belong.

11. A pattern inspection method for inspecting a pattern of a plurality of dies formed in an inspection sample, comprising:

storing a stream image of the inspection sample in a memory device; and

performing DD comparison processing which performs DD comparison, mutually comparing each of the dies.

12. The pattern inspection method according to claim 11, comprising:

storing a plurality of the stream images in the memory device.

13. The pattern inspection method according to claim 11, wherein the inspection sample includes N dies in the X direction and M dies in the Y direction, the pattern inspection method comprising:

performing DB comparison processing which performs DB comparison, comparing a die at any position; and

performing DD comparison processing which performs DD comparison, comparing the die performed by the DB comparison, defined as a reference die, with other die.

14. The pattern inspection method according to claim 11, wherein

the inspection sample includes N dies in the X direction and M dies in the Y direction, the pattern inspection method comprising:

storing a plurality of the stream images and performing a DB comparison, comparing a specific die of the each stream image; and

performing DD comparison processing which parallelly performs DD comparison, comparing the specific die performed by the DB comparison, defined as a reference die, with respect to N-1 dies in the X direction of the each stream image to which the reference die belongs.

15. An inspection sample having patterns of a plurality of dies, wherein

a stream image of the inspection sample is stored and DD comparison is performed, mutually comparing each of the dies.