WO2012015973A2 - Dynamic care areas - Google Patents
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- WO2012015973A2 WO2012015973A2 PCT/US2011/045610 US2011045610W WO2012015973A2 WO 2012015973 A2 WO2012015973 A2 WO 2012015973A2 US 2011045610 W US2011045610 W US 2011045610W WO 2012015973 A2 WO2012015973 A2 WO 2012015973A2
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- G—PHYSICS
- G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
- G05B—CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS
- G05B23/00—Testing or monitoring of control systems or parts thereof
- G05B23/02—Electric testing or monitoring
- G05B23/0205—Electric testing or monitoring by means of a monitoring system capable of detecting and responding to faults
- G05B23/0259—Electric testing or monitoring by means of a monitoring system capable of detecting and responding to faults characterized by the response to fault detection
- G05B23/0297—Reconfiguration of monitoring system, e.g. use of virtual sensors; change monitoring method as a response to monitoring results
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H01L22/00—Testing or measuring during manufacture or treatment; Reliability measurements, i.e. testing of parts without further processing to modify the parts as such; Structural arrangements therefor
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- G—PHYSICS
- G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
- G05B—CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS
- G05B19/00—Programme-control systems
- G05B19/02—Programme-control systems electric
- G05B19/418—Total factory control, i.e. centrally controlling a plurality of machines, e.g. direct or distributed numerical control [DNC], flexible manufacturing systems [FMS], integrated manufacturing systems [IMS], computer integrated manufacturing [CIM]
- G05B19/41875—Total factory control, i.e. centrally controlling a plurality of machines, e.g. direct or distributed numerical control [DNC], flexible manufacturing systems [FMS], integrated manufacturing systems [IMS], computer integrated manufacturing [CIM] characterised by quality surveillance of production
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H01L22/00—Testing or measuring during manufacture or treatment; Reliability measurements, i.e. testing of parts without further processing to modify the parts as such; Structural arrangements therefor
- H01L22/20—Sequence of activities consisting of a plurality of measurements, corrections, marking or sorting steps
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- G—PHYSICS
- G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
- G05B—CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS
- G05B2219/00—Program-control systems
- G05B2219/30—Nc systems
- G05B2219/45—Nc applications
- G05B2219/45031—Manufacturing semiconductor wafers
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H01L22/00—Testing or measuring during manufacture or treatment; Reliability measurements, i.e. testing of parts without further processing to modify the parts as such; Structural arrangements therefor
- H01L22/10—Measuring as part of the manufacturing process
- H01L22/12—Measuring as part of the manufacturing process 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
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- Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
- Y02P—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS
- Y02P90/00—Enabling technologies with a potential contribution to greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions mitigation
- Y02P90/02—Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]
Definitions
- the present invention generally relates to determining dynamic care areas.
- DSA defect source analysis
- One disadvantage of the currently used method is that very often the thresholds set at each step are conservative (for stability purposes). Therefore, the signal of a defect detected at a later inspection step, though present in that location at an earlier step, may not be flagged as a defect at that earlier step, In this manner, inspection results for the location at the earlier inspection step may simply not exist. Secondly, no use is made of the data at one step to affect the recipe used on that wafer at a subsequent step. For example, if some systematic (i.e., repeater) signal is present at certain locations, this information is not used at the next inspection step to, for example, enhance the possibility of detecting a defect event at the next step.
- some systematic (i.e., repeater) signal is present at certain locations, this information is not used at the next inspection step to, for example, enhance the possibility of detecting a defect event at the next step.
- One embodiment relates to a computer-implemented method for determining care areas for inspection.
- the method includes acquiring inspection results for a wafer generated by a first inspection process.
- the first inspection process is performed on the wafer after a first fabrication step has been performed on the wafer and before a second fabrication step has been performed on the wafer.
- the method also includes determining care areas for a second inspection process based on the inspection results.
- the second inspection process will be performed on the wafer after the second fabrication step has been performed on the wafer.
- the acquiring and determining steps are performed using a computer system.
- Each of the steps of the method described above may be farther performed as described herein.
- the method described above may include any other step(s) of any other method( s) described herein.
- the method described above may be performed by any of the systems described herein,
- Another embodiment relates to a non-transitory computer-readable medium containing program instructions stored therein for causing a computer system to perform a computer-implemented method for determining care areas for inspection.
- the computer-implemented method includes the steps of the method described abo ve.
- the computer-readable medium may be further configured as described herein.
- the steps of the method may be performed as described further herein.
- the method may include any other step(s) of any other method(s) described herein.
- An additional embodiment relates to a system configured to determine care areas for inspection.
- the system includes an inspection subsystem configured to generate inspection results for a wafer by performing a first inspection process.
- the first inspection process is performed on the wafer after a first fabrication step has been performed on the wafer and before a second fabrication step has been performed on the wafer.
- the system also includes a computer subsystem configured to determine care areas for a second inspection process based on the inspection results.
- the second inspection process will be performed on the wafer after the second fabrication step has been performed on the wafer.
- the second inspection process may also be performed on the wafer after the first fabrication step on a more sensitive inspection system (such as an e-beam inspector or review station) based on results obtained from the first inspection process.
- the system may be further configured according to any embodiment s) described herein.
- Figs. 1-5 are flow charts of various method embodiments
- Fig. 6 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a non-transitory computer-readable medium.
- Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a side view of an embodiment of a system configured to determine care areas for inspection.
- MCAs dynamic micro care areas
- care areas can be generally defined as areas on the wafer that a user cares about for some reason and therefore should be inspected.
- care areas for one layer of a wafer may be defined such that the care areas include critical features that are formed on the layer and do not include non-critical features that are formed on the layer.
- a dynamic MCA is a care area generated based on results of an inspection or automated defect review step performed on a wafer for use by a subsequent inspection or review step performed on the same wafer.
- the method includes acquiring inspection results for a wafer generated by a first inspection process.
- Acquiring the inspection results may include actually performing the first inspection process on the wafer (e.g., by scanning the wafer using an inspection tool and detecting defects on the wafer using output generated by the scanning).
- acquiring the inspection results may not include performing the first inspection process.
- acquiring the inspection results may include acquiring the inspection results from a storage medium in which the inspection results have been stored by another method or system (e.g., another method or system that performed the first inspection process).
- the first inspection process may include any suitable inspection process including any of those described further herein.
- the first inspection process may include performing a hot recipe at the first inspection process (inspection step 1) that generates inspection results such as defect locations.
- the inspection results may include any and all inspection results that may be generated by an inspection process.
- the first inspection process is performed on the wafer after a first fabrication step has been performed on the wafer and before a second fabrication step has been performed on the wafer.
- a “fabrication step” as used herein generally refers to any semiconductor fabrication process that involves changing the wafer in some manner physically, chemically, mechanically, etc.
- a fabrication step may include a lithography process, an etch process, a chemical-mechanical polishing process, and the like.
- the first fabrication step may be a lithography process
- the second fabrication step may be an etch process.
- the first and second fabrication steps may be performed one after the other on the wafer (e.g., without performing any other fabrication steps on the wafer between the first and second fabrication steps).
- processes that may be performed on a wafer that do not include intentionally altering the wafer include inspection and review processes.
- the method also includes determining care areas for a second inspection process based on the inspection results.
- the second inspection process will be performed on the wafer after the second fabrication step has been performed on the wafer.
- Determining the care areas may include determining the locations or areas on the wafer that will be inspected and one or more inspection parameters that will be used to detect defects in each of the care area s.
- the one or more inspection parameters determined for some care areas may be different than the one or more inspection parameters determined for other care areas.
- the method allows the sensitivity for a given inspection step in selected regions of a specific wafer to be tailored to noise and signals detected on that specific wafer by an inspection at an earlier step, in other words, the method may utilize inspection results from one inspection step to enhance or detune sensitivity of the wafer at a subsequent inspection step or steps. In this manner, the method may correlate an inspection step performed after one iabrication process with an inspection step performed after the next or another fabrication process.
- a subtle signal not flagged as a defect at inspection step 1
- the dynamic cure sreas determined as described herein may be used to track signals for a given wafer from one fabrication step to the next in order to better flag defect generation sources at their origin (i.e., at the fabrication step at which they originated).
- subtle defects detected at a lithography step e.g., by after develop inspection (ADI)
- ADI after develop inspection
- step 2 In this manner, in order to correlate defects at a subsequent step (or step 2) with signals detected at the earlier step (or step I), special care areas are generated from the step 1 inspection results. These care areas are inspected at step 2 with enhanced sensitivity so as to maximize the chance of catching defects that perhaps originated at step 1.
- inspection recipes are run fairly cold to provide stability of results to small changes in processes that do not affect yield.
- By selectively enhancing sensitivity in the areas on a per wafer basis one can better detect defects in critical areas based on signals recorded from an earlier inspection of that wafer without giving up much on stability.
- the care areas should be substantially accurately aligned to design space so that their placement at step 2, based on their locations recorded in step 1 , is substantially accurate.
- dynamic MCAs are preferably used with methods that have substantially high accuracy in care area placement (e.g., or pixel-to-design alignment (PDA)) across inspection tools and/or optics modes of one or more inspection tools.
- the dynamic MCAs may be determined to have one or more characteristics that account for the uncertainty in care area placement between step 1 and step 2.
- the inspection results include noise events, marginal defects, and detected defects, and the care areas are determined such that the care areas include locations of at least some of the noise events, the marginal defects, and the detected defects.
- Noise events can be generally defined as signals that have values that are above the noise floor and are closer to the noise floor than to the defect detection threshold.
- Marginal defects can be generally defined as signals that have values that are below the defect detection threshold and are closer to the defect detection threshold than to the noise floor.
- wafer (at step 1) 10 may be inspected by inspection (at step 1) 12 using standard sensitivity care areas 14. This inspection generates three types of events: significant noise events 16, marginal defects 18, that are just below the detection thresholds at this step, and detected defects 20 that are above the detection thresholds.
- the locations of the noise events, marginal defects, and detected defects can be used to determine the locations of the care areas of the subsequent inspection step.
- the method may include utilizing inspection results from one inspection step to sensitize or desensitize inspection of the wafer at a subsequent inspection step by utilizing the spatial location of a defect or signal at the first step.
- the method includes performing repeater analysis using the inspec tion results, and determining the care areas is performed based on results of the repeater analysis.
- the embodiments described herein may utilize inspection results from one inspection step to sensitize or desensitize inspection of the wafer at a subsequent inspection step by utilizing the repeating nature of the defects or signals at the first step.
- generation of the dynamic care areas can be enhanced by performing repeater analysis of the signals from step 1.
- noise events 16, marginal defects 18, and detected defects 20 generated by inspection (at step 1 ) 12 may be used as input to repeater analysis 22.
- Repeater analysis can use die-repeater information (e.g., by overlaying events on a die- relative coordinate space) or care area group ID (C.AGID) information based on, for example, data from a run-time context map (RTCM), generated for a design context- based inspection (CBI) recipe at step 1, or design-based classification (DBC), a postprocessing step using design clips around defect/event locations.
- RTCM run-time context map
- CBI design context- based inspection
- DBC design-based classification
- a RTCM can be generated and CBI can be performed as described
- DBC can be performed as described in commonly owned U.S. Patent No. 7,570,796 to Zafar et al. issued on August 4, 2009, which is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
- the output of this process is a set of tagged defects, marginal defects, and noise based on their repeater priority (e.g., how often the event
- the inspection results include noise events, marginal defects, and detected defects
- the method includes determining design-based information for at least some of the noise events, marginal defects, and detected defects, and determining the care areas is performed based on the design-based information.
- the method may include utilizing inspection results from one inspection step to sensitize or desensitize inspection of the wafer at a subsequent inspection step by utilizing the design context of the defect or signal at the first step. In this manner, the method may generate MCAs for use at inspection step 2 from inspection step 1 lot results and a context map.
- the defect locations in the inspection results may be mapped to design context to determine the design context for individual defects.
- design context and/or other wafer image properties can be used to generate the dynamic MCAs.
- the generation of the dynamic care areas can be enhanced by performing analysis of the signals from step 1 utilizing design-based binning (DBB).
- DBB design-based binning
- noise events 16, marginal defects 18, and detected defects 20 generated by inspection (at step 1) 12 may be used as input to DBB 22.
- DBB can be performed as described in the above-referenced patent to Zafar et al.
- standard MCAs 44 may be used for inspection (at step 1) 46 of wafer (step 1) 48. Inspection 46 may generate inspection results such as defect locations 50, which may be used with context map database for all layers 52 to generate dynamic MCAs 54.
- an inspection recipe for the second inspection process includes first care areas, and determining the care areas includes altering a sensitivity with which defects are detected in at least some of the first care areas.
- a "recipe" may be generally defined as a set of instructions for earning out a process such as inspection,
- the sensiti vity may be defined by one or more parameters (e.g., a threshold) of a defect detection algorithm and/or method. For example, certain portions of traditional care areas at step 2 may be detuned or enhanced in sensitivity using the dynamically generated areas.
- an inspection recipe for the second inspection process includes first care areas, and determining the care areas includes altering a sensitivity with which defects are detected in at least some of the first care areas based on the inspection results and critiealities of the first care areas.
- critical contexts can be used to generate dynamic MCAs for the second inspection process.
- knowledge of critical versus non-critical regions at step 2 can be utilized to enhance or detune sensitivity in selected regions at that step.
- the tagged defect/event data may be used as input to dynamic care area generation process 24. Also input to this process may be the design data (from step 1) 26, the critical areas (at step 2) 28, and the non-critical areas (at step 2) 30.
- the dynamic care area generation process generates areas for sensitizing inspection (at step 2) 32 or desensitizing inspection (at step 2) 34. For example, if certain geometries show relatively noisy behavior at step 1 and lie in a non-critical region at step 2, these regions can be desensitized to reduce nuisance at step 2, Table 1 below gives some possible actions that can be taken by this process based on the type of event detected at step 1.
- an inspection recipe for the second inspection process includes first care areas, and determining the care areas includes generating second care areas for the second inspection process that are different than the first care areas.
- the second care areas may be determined independently of the first care areas.
- the second care areas may be mutually exclusive of the first care areas, In particular, at least some of the second care areas may not overlap with any of the first care areas.
- the second care areas may have one or more
- the first and second care areas may have different locations on the wafer, different dimensions on the wafer, and the like.
- the second care areas may be standard care areas described further herein and may be generated in any manner using any suitable process or system.
- an inspection recipe for the second inspection process includes first care areas, and the second inspection process is performed using the first care areas and the determined care areas.
- the traditional care areas at step 1 and step 2 may still be used during inspection.
- standard care areas 36 may be used in addition to the reduced sensitivity areas and the enhanced sensitivity areas for inspection (at step 2) 38 of wafer (step 2) 40 after wafer processing 42 has been performed on wafer (step 1) 10.
- wafer processing 42 has been performed on wafer (step 1) 10.
- standard MCAs 56 may be used in addition to dynamic MCAs 54 for inspection (at step 2) 58 of wafer (step 2) 60 after wafer processing 62 has been performed on wafer (step 1) 48, In this manner, dynamic MCAs can coexist with static MCAs in inspection recipes. In addition, dynamic MCAs with hotter thresholds can be used along with standard (static) MCAs at the second inspection process.
- the method includes, after the second fabrication step has been performed on the wafer, performing the second inspection process on the wafer using the determined care areas and determining if a noise event, a marginal defect, or a detected defect included in the inspection results generated by the first inspection process correlates to a defect detected in the determined care areas by the second inspection process.
- the method may include determining the fabrication step at which defects originate in the wafer fabrication process.
- the method may utilize inspection results from one inspection step to sensitize inspection of the wafer at a subsequent mspection step in order to identify the source of a defect mechanism.
- the dynamic MCAs described herein can help in defect source identification (identification of the fabrication step at which the defect originated).
- dynamic MCAs with hotter thresholds may be used along with standard (static) MCAs at the second inspection process.
- critical defects that started after the first fabrication step are more likely to be caught at the second inspection process.
- dynamic MCAs may cover a smaller area than typical care areas, there is a lower risk of nuisance at the second inspection process.
- the defects that can be tracked in this manner include systematic defect mechanisms, i.e., defects that occur in similar design geometry context. For example, by utilizing repeater analysis and/or CAGID or DBC of noise and marginal defects at step I and then tracking them in step 2, one increases the possibility of catching systematic defect mechanisms that might have originated at step 1.
- the concept of dynamic care areas provides a method of tracking and feeding forward defect signal information from one wafer fabrication step to the next so that defect sources (the step at which they originated) can be determined in a timely manner and systematic defect mechanisms can be flagged early on in the process.
- DSA defect source analysis
- FOR plan of record
- the first and second inspection processes are performed on the same inspection tool.
- the first and second inspection processes are performed on different inspection tools.
- the wafer may be inspected on the same or different tools at the two inspection steps.
- the embodiments may utilize inspection results from one inspection step to sensitize or desensitize inspection of the wafer at a subsequent inspection step where the two inspection steps use the same inspection tool or different inspection tools.
- the two inspection tools may include any commercially available inspection tools such as those from KLA-Tencor, Milpitas, California.
- the same inspection tool may be a single inspection tool or different inspection tools of the same make and model.
- Different inspection tools may include different inspection tools of the same make and model or completely different inspection tools having different makes and models and/or different output acquisition configurations (e.g., different optical setups, platforms, etc.). Regardless of whether one or more tool s are used across a fab at different inspection points, such a feed-forward mechanism provides added value to the user.
- the methods involve inspector-to-inspector coupling (after different process steps), which can be used for defect source identification as described further herein. In some embodiments, the method is performed on a per wafer basis.
- the method may generate per wafer MCAs based on lot results for that wafer, which may include information such as marginal defects, and those MCAs may be used at a subsequent inspection step for that same wafer.
- the dynamic MCAs vary from wafer to wafer.
- this process of propagating care areas can be carried over more than two consecutive fabrication steps though the likelihood of preserving and detecting a defect past a couple of fabrication processing steps is low in most cases. It is also possible that certain defects, for example, fall-on particles or marginal defects detected at one step may be "cleaned up" in an intermediate fabrication step before the next inspection step.
- the embodiments described herein have a number of advantages over other currently used methods. For example, the embodiments described herein automate the generation of dynamic care areas to optimize defect of interest (DOI) capture across fabrication process steps on a per wafer basis. In contrast, during product demos, application engineers often use manually drawn MCAs to find defects that the normal inspection recipe does not catch. In addition, engineers may use stored images of a wafer at each fabrication process step to manually drive back to certain locations once defects have been caught at a later fabrication step. The embodiments described herein, however, may incorporate algorithms and system connectivity that could automate these manual methods so that they can be deployed on a wider scale. In addition, the embodiments described herein are advantageous in that manual methods are ad hoc and difficult to reproduce across users.
- DOI defect of interest
- the method includes determining care areas for an additional inspection process based on the inspection results.
- the additional inspection process is performed on the wafer before the second fabrication step and a t a higher resolution than the first inspection process, In this manner, the method may correlate one inspection step to another inspection step, both of which are performed at the same process level. In other words, the method may include inspector to inspector coupling (after the same fabrication step).
- the method may include performing inspection step 64 on wafer 66 using standard MCAs 68. Inspection step 64 may be performed using bright field (BF) inspection, dark field (DF) inspection, or BF/DF inspection.
- the inspection results generated by inspection step 64 may include defect loca tions 70.
- the defect locations may be generated using a hot recipe at inspection step 64.
- the defect locations may be used with context map database for all layers 72 to generate dynamic MCAs 74.
- the defect locations may be mapped to design context using the context map database.
- the additional inspection process may be an electron beam inspection (EBI), which is performed at a higher resolution than a BF, DF, or BF/DF inspection process.
- EBI electron beam inspection
- the method may include generating MCAs from BF or DF inspection step lot results and context map for use at EBI (or other sampled high resolution inspection).
- Most defect die and critical contexts are used to generate the sample plan and dynamic MCAs for EBI.
- Wafer 66 may be included in lot sent to EBI tool 76 such that wafer 66 may be inspected by EBI 78 using dynamic MCAs 74.
- the dynamic MCAs and a smaller sample plan may be used for inspecting on EBI. As a result, the most critical areas are inspected at substantially high resolution on EBI providing better defect capture. The smaller sample plan and limited dynamic MCA ensure that EBI scan time is reasonable.
- the method includes classifying defects detected on the wafer by the first and additional inspection processes based on the inspection results and results of th e additional inspection process.
- the method may include combining the results of high speed, medium resolution inspection tools (such as BF tools) and sampled inspection on slower but higher resolution tools such as EB I tools to generate a better quality defect Pareto than can be done using one tool alone.
- a higher quality Pareto can be generated by combining high resolution sampling with high speed, medium resolution inspection.
- the above sample generation may be performed automatically.
- the method includes reviewing defects on the wafer based on the inspection results using a first review process and determining a sampling plan for a second review process based on results of the first review process. Therefore, this embodiment may include performing a dynamic review sampling strategy.
- the methods may include generating a second pass review sample using lot results.
- the adaptive review sample plan may use classified results from a first pass review to improve the probability of finding systematic defects. In this manner, dynamic MCAs for review can help in systematic defect discovery (discovering defects occurring at similar design locations),
- the adaptive defect review sample e.g., a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) sample
- SEM scanning electron microscopy
- the method may include using SEM/ automatic defect classification (ADC) classified results of review and context map and hot lot results to generate a dynamic SEM sample of defects to be visited.
- ADC SEM/ automatic defect classification
- the method may include inspection step 80 that is performed on wafer 82 using standard MCAs 84.
- Results of the inspection step include lot results 86.
- the inspection step may include using a hot recipe at the inspection step to generate defect locations.
- SEM review/ADC 88 may be performed using lot results 86 and standard SEM sample 90 on wafer 82 included in lot sent for SEM review 92.
- Classified defects 94 may be produced by SEM review/ ADC 88.
- the standard SEM sample from the lot results are SEMed and auto-classified on the review tool.
- the classified defects can be used to generate dynamic SEM sample 96. In this manner, a dynamic SEM sample can be generated from the classified defects for SEM review/classification.
- the classified defects can be input to context map database for all layers 98.
- the classified results are mapped to design context.
- the mapped classified results are used to perform lookup 100 in lot results 86.
- found DOi are used to locate defects found in similar contexts in the lot results.
- the results of the lookup step performed using lot results 86 may be used to generate dynamic SEM sample 96, which can be used to perform another SEM
- Fig. 4 provides review to review coupling for dynamic sampling that can be used for systematic defect discover ⁇ '.
- the dynamic sample is more likely to catch a systematic defect mechanism that would tend to occur in the same design context.
- the method includes reviewing defects on the wafer based on the inspection results using a first review process and determining a sampling plan for a second review process based on results of the first review process and stored output of the first inspection process.
- the output of the first inspection process may be stored in a virtual inspector (VI), which may be configured as described in commonly owned U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0080759 by Bhaskar et al.
- the method may include generating a second pass review sample from playback of a hotter recipe. Therefore, this embodiment may include performing a dynamic review sampling strategy.
- the method may include using first pass SEM/ADC classified results and context map to generate MCAs for a hot or hotter recipe for VI image playback in selected areas of the stored image (selected areas of the wafer or a die on the wafer), the results of which will be sampled for defect review such as SEM (a dynamic second pass defect review sample).
- the adaptive review sample plan may use classified results and selective playback of stored image data to improve the probability of finding systematic defects.
- the method may tie together a review tool, an inspection tool, VI storage, and an adaptive sampling algorithm to find systematic defects with a higher degree of confidence than with static review sampling schemes used today.
- the method may involve review to review coupling for re-scan sampling that can be used for systematic defect discovery.
- inspection step 102 may he performed on wafer 104 using standard MCAs 106.
- Wafer image recorded during inspection 108 which may be FOR inspection, may be stored in VI 110.
- Standard SEM sample 1 12 may be used to perform SEM review/ADC 114 on wafer 104 included in lot sent for SEM review 116. Results of SEM review/ ADC include classified defects 118.
- the standard SEM sample from lot results may be SEMed and a u to-classified on a review tool.
- Classified defects 1 18 may be input to context map database for all layers 120 to produce dynamic MCAs 122.
- the classified results may be mapped to design context and dynamic MCAs are generated for critical defects and corresponding design contexts.
- Dynamic MCAs 122 may be input to VI 110 to produce new SEM sample from image playback 124.
- the wafer image may be played back with a hotter recipe (than original) using the dynamic MCAs.
- the new SEM sample from image playback may then be sent for SEM review, which may be used to perform an additional SEM review/ ADC of wafer 104 (the wafer may still be at the review tool).
- the hotter playback recipe is more likely to catch systematic defects in similar contexts that were not caught by the colder FOR recipe.
- All of the methods described herein may include storing results of one or more steps of the method embodiments in a non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium.
- the results may include any of the results described herein and may be stored in any manner known in the art.
- the storage medium may include any storage medium described herein or any other suitable storage medium known in the art.
- the results can be accessed in the storage medium and used by any of the method or system embodiments described herein, formatted for display to a user, used by another software module, method, or system, etc.
- the method may include storing the care areas in an inspection recipe in a storage medium.
- results or output of the embodiments described herein may be stored and accessed by a wafer inspection system such as those described further herein such that the wafer inspection system can use the care areas for inspection.
- a wafer inspection system such as those described further herein such that the wafer inspection system can use the care areas for inspection.
- Each of the embodiments of the method described above may include any other step(s) of any other method(s) described herein.
- each of the embodiments of the method described above may be performed by any of the systems described herein.
- FIG. 6 Another embodiment relates to a non-transitory computer-readable medium containing program instructions stored therein for causing a computer system to perform a computer-implemented method for determining care areas for inspection.
- a computer-readable medium is shown in Fig. 6,
- computer-readable medium 126 contains program instructions 128 stored therein for causing computer system 130 to perform a computer-implemented method for determining care areas for inspection.
- the computer-implemented method includes acquiring inspection results for a wafer generated by a first inspection process, which may be performed as described herein.
- the first inspection process is performed on the wafer after a first fabrication step has been performed on the wafer and before a second fabrication step has been performed on the wafer.
- the computer- implemented method also includes determining care areas for a second inspection process based on the inspection results, which may be performed as described herein.
- the second inspection process will be performed on the wafer after the second fabrication step has been performed on the wafer.
- the computer-implemented method may include any other step(s) of any other method(s) described herein.
- the computer-readable medium may be further configured as described herein.
- Program instructions 128 implementing methods such as those described herein may be stored on computer-readable medium 126.
- the computer-readable medium may be a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium such as a read-only memory, a random access memory, a magnetic or optical disk, a magnetic tape, or any other suitable non-transitory computer-readable medium known in the art.
- the program instructions may be implemented in any of various ways, including procedure-based techniques, component-based techniques, and/or object-oriented techniques, among others.
- the program instractions may be implemented using ActiveX controls, C++ objects, JavaBeans, Microsoft Foundation Classes ("MFC"), or other technologies or methodologies, as desired.
- MFC Microsoft Foundation Classes
- Computer system 130 may take various forms, including a personal computer system, mainframe computer system, workstation, image computer, parallel processor, or any other device known in the art.
- computer system may be broadly defined to encompass any device having one or more processors, which executes instructions from a memory medium.
- Fig. 7 illustrates one embodiment of a system configured to determine care areas for inspection.
- the system includes inspection subsystem 132 configured to generate inspection results for a wafer by performing a first inspection process.
- the first inspection process is performed on the wafer after a first fabrication step has been performed on the wafer and before a second fabrication process has been performed on the wafer.
- the inspection subsystem may include an illumination subsystem.
- the illumination subsystem includes light source 134.
- Light source 134 may include any suitable light source known in the art such as a laser.
- Light source 134 is configured to direct light to wafer 136 at an oblique angle of incidence, which may include any suitable oblique angle of incidence.
- the illumination subsystem may also include one or more optical components (not shown) that are configured to direct light from light source 134 to wafer 136.
- the optical components may include any suitable optical components known in the art.
- the light source and/or the one or more optical components may be configured to direct the light to the wafer at one or more angles of incidence (e.g., an oblique angle of incidence and/or a substantially normal angle of incidence).
- Light scattered from wafer 136 may be collected and detected by multiple detec tion subsystems or multiple channels of the inspection subsystem , For example, light scattered from wafer 136 at angles relatively close to normal may be collected by lens 138 of one detection subsystem.
- Lens 138 may include a refractive optical element as shown in Fig. 7.
- lens 138 may include one or more refractive optical elements and/or one or more reflective optical elements.
- Light collected by lens 138 may be directed to detector 140 of that detection subsystem.
- Detector 140 may include any suitable detector known in the art such as a charge coupled device (CCD). Detector 140 is configured to generate output that is responsive to the light scattered from the wafer. Therefore, lens 138 and detector 140 form one channel of the inspection subsystem.
- CCD charge coupled device
- This channel of the inspection subsystem may include any other suitable optical components (not shown) known in the art such as a polarizing component and/or a Fourier filtering component.
- the inspection subsystem is configured to detect defects on the wafer using the output generated by detector 140.
- a computer subsystem e.g., computer subsystem 142 of the inspection subsystem may be configured to detect defects on the wafer using the output generated by the detector.
- Lens 144 may be configured as described above. Light col lected by lens 144 may be directed to detector 146 of this detection subsystem, which may be configured as described above. Detector 146 is also configured to generate output that is responsive to the light scattered from the wafer. Therefore, lens 144 and detector 146 may form another channel of the inspection subsystem. This channel may also include any other optical components described above. In some embodiments, lens 144 may be configured to collect light scattered from the wafer at polar angles from about 20 degrees to over 70 degrees, In addition, lens 144 may be configured as a reflective optical element (not shown) that is configured to collect light scattered from the wafer at azimuthal angles of about 360 degrees. The inspection subsystem is configured to detect defects on the wafer using the output generated by detector 146, which may be performed as described above.
- the inspection subsystem shown in Fig. 7 may also include one or more other channels.
- the inspection subsystem may include an additional channel (not shown), which may include any of the optical components described herein, configured as a side channel, in one such example, the side channel may be configured to collect and detect light that is scattered out of the plane of incidence (e.g., the side channel may include a lens that is centered in a plane that is substantially perpendicular to the plane of incidence and a detector configured to detect light collected by the lens).
- the inspection subsystem may be configured to detect defects on the wafer using the output generated by a detector of the side channel,
- the inspection subsystem also includes computer subsystem 142.
- output generated by the detectors may be provided to computer subsystem 142, which may be coupled to each of the detectors (e.g., by one or more transmission media shown by the dashed lines in Fig. 7, which may include any suitable transmission media known in the art) such that the computer subsystem may receive the output generated by the detectors.
- the computer subsystem may generate the inspection results for the first inspection process using the output of one or more of the detectors in any suitable manner.
- the computer subsystem may be configured to generate the inspection results by detecting noise events, marginal defects, and detected defects on a wafer using output generated for the wafer by the detector(s).
- the system also includes computer subsystem 148 configured to determine care areas for a second inspection process based on the inspection results.
- the second inspection process will be performed on the wafer after the second fabrication step has been performed on the wafer.
- the computer subsystem may be coupled to the inspection subsystem in any suitable manner such that the computer subsystem can receive the inspection results from the inspection subsystem.
- the computer subsystem may be configured to determine the care areas according to any of the embodiments described herein.
- the computer subsystem may be further configured as described herein and may be configured to perform any other step(s) described herein.
- Computer subsystem 148 may be configured as a stand-alone system that does not form part of a process, inspection, metrology, review, or other tool.
- the system may include one or more components that are specifically designed (and optionally dedicated) to performing one or more of the computer-implemented methods described herein.
- computer subsystem 148 may be configured to receive and/or acquire data or information from other systems (e.g., inspection results from an inspection system) by a transmission medium that may include "wired' ' ' and/or "wireless" portions.
- the transmission medium may serve as a data link between the computer subsystem and the other system
- computer subsystem 148 may send data to another system via the transmission medium, Such data may include, for example, information about the care areas determined by the computer subsystem.
- computer subsystem 148 may form part of an inspection system, metrology system, defect review system, analysis system, or another tool.
- Fig. 7 is provided herein to generally illustrate a configuration of an inspection subsystem that may be included in the system embodiments described herein.
- the inspection subsystem configuration described herein may be altered to optimize the performance of the system as is normally performed when designing a commercial inspection system.
- the systems described herein may be implemented using an existing inspection subsystem (e.g., by adding
- the methods described herein may be provided as optional functionality of the system (e.g., in addition to other functionality of the system).
- the system described herein may be designed "from scratch" to provide a completely new system
Abstract
Description
Claims
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KR1020137003544A KR101863976B1 (en) | 2010-07-30 | 2011-07-27 | Dynamic care areas |
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US20120029858A1 (en) | 2012-02-02 |
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WO2012015973A3 (en) | 2012-04-26 |
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