Mask inspection of a semiconductor specimen

US11348224B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Applied Materials Israel Ltd. · IL

Inventors

• Ariel Shkalim · Gat, IL
• Vladimir OVECHKIN · Ashdod, IL
• Evgeny Bal · Netanya, IL
• Ronen Madmon · Mazkeret Batya, IL
• Ori Petel · Ramat Gan, IL
• Alexander Chereshnya · Kfar Sava, IL
• Oren Cohen · Boulder, US
• Boaz Cohen · al-Araqeeb, IL

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 27, 2020
• Grant date: May 31, 2022
• Expiry date: Aug 5, 2040

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06T2207/30148
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

There is provided a mask inspection system and a method of mask inspection. The method comprises: during a runtime scan of a mask of a semiconductor specimen, processing a plurality of aerial images of the mask acquired by the mask inspection system to calculate a statistic-based Edge Positioning Displacement (EPD) of a potential defect, wherein the statistic-based EPD is calculated using a Print Threshold (PT) characterizing the mask and is applied to each of the one or more acquired aerial images to calculate respective EPD of the potential defect therein; and filtering the potential defect as a “runtime true” defect when the calculated statistic-based EPD exceeds a predefined EPD threshold, and filtering out the potential defect as a “false” defect when the calculated statistic-based EPD is lower than the predefined EPD threshold. The method can further comprise after-runtime EPD-based filtering of the plurality of “runtime true” defects.