Applied Materials, Inc.

Bernhard Schüler

Bernhard Gunter Mueller

Kulpreet Singh Virdi

Robert Trauner

Nikolai Knaub

Ludwig Ledl

Volker Daiker

Peter C Staffansson

According to an embodiment, a method for automated critical dimension measurement on a substrate for display manufacturing is provided. The method includes scanning a first field of view having a first size with a charged particle beam to obtain a first image having a first resolution of a first portion of the substrate for display manufacturing; determining a pattern within the first image, the pattern having a first position; scanning a second field of view with the charged particle beam to obtain a second image of a second portion of the substrate, the second field of view has a second size smaller than the first size and has a second position provided relative to the first position, the second image has a second resolution higher than the first resolution; and determining a critical dimension of a structure provided on the substrate from the second image.

Method for automated critical dimension measurement on a substrate for display manufacturing, method of inspecting a large area substrate for display manufacturing, apparatus for inspecting a large area substrate for display manufacturing and method of operating thereof

A method of automatically focusing a charged particle beam on a surface region of a sample is provided. The method includes acquiring a plurality of images for a corresponding plurality of focusing strength values; calculating a plurality of sharpness values based on the plurality of images, the plurality of sharpness values are calculated with a sharpness function provided as a sum in a frequency space based on the plurality of images; and determining subsequent focusing strength values of the plurality of focusing strength values with a golden ratio search algorithm based one the calculated sharpness values.

Method of automatically focusing a charged particle beam on a surface region of a sample, method of calculating a converging set of sharpness values of images of a charged particle beam device and charged particle beam device for imaging a sample

A method of automatically focusing a charted particle beam on a surface region of a sample is provided. The method includes acquiring a plurality of images for a corresponding plurality of focusing strength values; calculating a plurality of sharpness values based on the plurality of images, the plurality of sharpness values are calculated with a sharpness function provided as a sum in a frequency space based on the plurality of images; and determining subsequent focusing strength values of the plurality of focusing strength values with a golden ratio search algorithm based one the calculated sharpness values.

A method of inspecting a sample with a charged particle beam device is described. The method comprises arranging the sample on a stage, determining a first focusing strength of an objective lens adapted to focus a charged particle beam on a first surface region of the sample that is arranged at a first distance from the objective lens in a direction of an optical axis, calculating a difference between the first distance and a predetermined working distance based on the determined first focusing strength, adjusting a distance between the first surface region and the objective lens by the calculated difference, and inspecting the first surface region. According to a further aspect, a charged particle beam device configured to be operated according to the above method is described.

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Munich, Germany

Bernhard Schüler