Creating defect samples for array regions

US10620134B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• KLA-TENCOR CORPORATION · US

Inventors

• Vidyasagar Anantha · Hyderabad, IN
• Manikandan Mariyappan · Chennai, IN
• Raghav Babulnath · San Jose, US
• Gangadharan Sivaraman · Chennai, IN
• Satya Kurada · Fremont, US
• Thirupurasundari Jayaraman · Chennai, IN
• Prasanti Uppaluri · Saratoga, US
• Srikanth Kandukuri · Chennai, IN

Key dates

• Filing date: Jul 26, 2018
• Grant date: Apr 14, 2020
• Expiry date: Oct 22, 2038

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H01L22/12
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

Methods and systems for creating a sample of defects for a specimen are provided. One method includes detecting defects on a specimen based on output generated by a detector of an output acquisition subsystem. For the defects detected in an array region on the specimen, where the array region includes multiple array cell types, the method includes stacking information for the defects based on the multiple array cell types. The stacking includes overlaying design information for only a first of the multiple array cell types with the information for only the defects detected in the first of the multiple array cell types. In addition, the method includes selecting a portion of the detected defects based on results of the stacking thereby creating a sample of the detected defects.