Wafer inspection

US9915622B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• KLA-TENCOR CORPORATION · US

Inventors

• Anatoly Romanovsky · Palo Alto, US
• Ivan Maleev · Pleasanton, US
• Daniel Kavaldjiev · Santa Clara, US
• Yury Yuditsky · Mountain View, US
• Dirk Woll · San Jose, US
• Stephen Biellak · Sunnyvale, US
• Mehdi Vaez-Iravani · Los Gatos, US
• Guoheng Zhao · Sunnyvale, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Aug 27, 2015
• Grant date: Mar 13, 2018
• Expiry date: Feb 29, 2036

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01N21/956
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

Systems configured to inspect a wafer are provided. One system includes an illumination subsystem configured to direct pulses of light to an area on a wafer; a scanning subsystem configured to scan the pulses of light across the wafer; a collection subsystem configured to image pulses of light scattered from the area on the wafer to a sensor, wherein the sensor is configured to integrate a number of the pulses of scattered light that is fewer than a number of the pulses of scattered light that can be imaged on the entire area of the sensor, and wherein the sensor is configured to generate output responsive to the integrated pulses of scattered light; and a computer subsystem configured to detect defects on the wafer using the output generated by the sensor.