PATTERNING DEVICE DEFECT DETECTION SYSTEMS AND METHODS

• Main Authors: WIELAND, Marco, Jan-Jaco, VAN LARE, Marie-Claire
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 15.03.2023
• Subjects: APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED THEREFOR; CALCULATING; CINEMATOGRAPHY; COMPUTING; COUNTING; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY; IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL; INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIRCHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; MATERIALS THEREFOR; MEASURING; ORIGINALS THEREFOR; PHOTOGRAPHY; PHOTOMECHANICAL PRODUCTION OF TEXTURED OR PATTERNED SURFACES,e.g. FOR PRINTING, FOR PROCESSING OF SEMICONDUCTORDEVICES; PHYSICS; TESTING

Since a mask check wafer can utilize a different process than a production wafer, a high-contrast illumination setting with lower pupil fill ratio (PFR) that leads to a reduction of the productivity of the scanner can be utilized. By selecting a high-contrast illumination setting, which is different than that used on a production wafer, an improved ratio of particle printability to stochastic defects can be achieved. In combination, or instead higher dose resist can be utilized. This allows longer exposure of the wafer, such that the impact of photon shot noise is reduced, also resulting in an improved ratio of particle printability to stochastic defects. As a result, the particle printability can be enhanced further without leading to an excessive amount of stochastic defects. Because of this, the number of sites, and therefore the throughput, of a charged particle inspection and analysis can be significantly improved.