Local shape deviation in a semiconductor specimen

• Main Authors: BISTRITZER, RAFAEL, LEVIN, SAHAR, VERESCHAGIN, VADIM, THAMARASSERY, ARUNDEEPTH, GEVA, JANNELLE ANNA, BEN-HARUSH, ILAN, GUTTERMAN, GAL DANIEL, SOMMER, ELAD, KRIS, ROMAN, FRISHMAN, EINAT, KLEBANOV, GRIGORY
• Format: Patent
• Language: Chinese; English
• Published: 16.03.2023
• Subjects: APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED THEREFOR; BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS; CALCULATING; CINEMATOGRAPHY; COMPUTING; COUNTING; ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING; ELECTRIC SOLID STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; ELECTRICITY; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY; MATERIALS THEREFOR; ORIGINALS THEREFOR; PHOTOGRAPHY; PHOTOMECHANICAL PRODUCTION OF TEXTURED OR PATTERNED SURFACES,e.g. FOR PRINTING, FOR PROCESSING OF SEMICONDUCTORDEVICES; PHYSICS; SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES

There is provided a system and method of a method of detecting a local shape deviation of a structural element in a semiconductor specimen, comprising: obtaining an image comprising an image representation of the structural element; extracting, from the image, an actual contour of the image representation; estimating a reference contour of the image representation indicative of a standard shape of the structural element, wherein the reference contour is estimated based on a Fourier descriptor representative of the reference contour, the Fourier descriptor being estimated using an optimization method based on a loss function specifically selected to be insensitive to local shape deviation of the actual contour; and performing one or more measurements representative of one or more differences between the actual contour and the reference contour, the measurements indicative of whether a local shape deviation is present in the structural element.