Method and system for identifying defects in a semiconductor

US6292582A · kind A · utility

Inventors

• Youling Lin · Lubbock, US
• A. Kathleen Hennessey · Lubbock, US
• Ramachandra R. Katragadda · Lubbock, US
• Ramakrishna Pattikonda · Lubbock, US
• Rajasekar Reddy · Dallas, US
• C. Rinn Cleavelin · Lubbock, US
• Howard V. Hastings, II · Lubbock, US
• Wan S. Wong · Dallas, US

Key dates

• Filing date: May 30, 1997
• Grant date: Sep 18, 2001
• Expiry date: May 30, 2017

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H01L2924/0002
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A system and method allow for associating a descriptive label with an anomaly on a manufactured object, such as a semiconductor wafer. The method includes placing the manufactured device on a moveable stage; capturing and preparing a digital-pixel-based representation of the image; symbolically decomposing the digital-pixel-based representation of the image to create a primitive-based representation of the image; analyzing the primitive-based representation of the image to detect and locate the anomaly; isolating primitives associated with the anomaly; comparing the isolated primitives associated with the anomaly with primitives in a knowledge base to locate a set of primitives in the knowledge base most like the isolated primitives associated with the anomaly; and assigning a label associated with the set of primitives in the knowledge base that was most similar to the isolated primitives associated with the anomaly. Different layers of semiconductor wafer may be analyzed to determine an appropriate label for a defect.