Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

Ebara Corporation

Ichirota Nagahama

Yuichiro Yamazaki

Tohru Satake

Nobuharu Noji

Takeshi Murakami

Masahiro Hatakeyama

Takamitsu Nagai

Tsutomu Karimata

Mamoru Nakasuji

Shoji Yoshikawa

Hirosi Sobukawa

Kenji Watanabe

Toshifumi Kimba

Mutsumi Saito

Shin Oowada

Atsushi Onishi

Motosuke Miyoshi

Kazuyoshi Sugihara

Satoshi Mori

Hiroshi Sobukawa

Yoshinao Hirabayashi

Matsutaro Miyamoto

Yuuichiro Yamazaki

Nobuhara Noji

Tsutomi Karimata

An inspection apparatus by an electron beam comprises: an electron-optical devicehaving an electron-optical system for irradiating the object with a primary electron beam from an electron beam source, and a detector for detecting the secondary electron image projected by the electron-optical systems; a stage systemfor holding and moving the object relative to the electron-optical system; a mini-environment chamberfor supplying a clean gas to the object to prevent dust from contacting the object; a working chamberfor accommodating the stage device, the working chamber being controllable so as to have a vacuum atmosphere; at least two loading chambersdisposed between the mini-environment chamber and the working chamber, adapted to be independently controllable so as to have a vacuum atmosphere; and a loaderfor transferring the object to the stage system through the loading chambers.

Inspection system by charged particle beam and method of manufacturing devices using the system

An inspection apparatus by an electron beam comprises: an electron-optical devicehaving an electron-optical system for irradiating the object with a primary electron beam from an electron beam source, and a detector for detecting the secondary electron image projected by the electron-optical system; a stage systemfor holding and moving the object relative to the electron-optical system; a mini-environment chamberfor supplying a clean gas to the object to prevent dust from contacting to the object; a working chamberfor accommodating the stage device, the working chamber being controllable so as to have a vacuum atmosphere; at least two loading chambersdisposed between the mini-environment chamber and the working chamber, adapted to be independently controllable so as to have a vacuum atmosphere; and a loaderfor transferring the object to the stage system through the loading chambers.

According to an embodiment, a pattern inspection apparatus includes an imaging unit, a defect detection unit, and an inspection control unit. The imaging unit is configured to image a pattern on a substrate to acquire a pattern image. The defect detection unit is configured to detect a defect of the pattern by a first outer shape comparison in associate with the pattern image and design information for the pattern or by a comparison in pixel values between images of patterns designed to be formed into the same shape in the substrate. The inspection control unit is configured to select an inspection based on the amount of the defect detected by the first outer shape comparison or based on a value of a gradient of an edge profile of the pattern image and to control the imaging unit and the defect detection unit in accordance with the selected inspection.

Pattern inspection method and pattern inspection apparatus

An apparatus capable of detecting defects of a pattern on a sample with high accuracy and reliability and at a high throughput, and a semiconductor manufacturing method using the same are provided. The electron beam apparatus is a mapping-projection-type electron beam apparatus for observing or evaluating a surface of the sample by irradiating the sample with a primary electron beam and forming on a detector an image of reflected electrons emitted from the sample. An electron impact-type detector such as an electron impact-type CCD or an electron impact-type TDI is used as the detector for detecting the reflected electrons. The reflected electrons are selectively detected from an energy difference between the reflected electrons and secondary electrons emitted from the sample. To eliminate charge-up caused on the sample surface by irradiation with the primary electron beam, the surface of the sample is covered with a cover placed above the sample and a gas is supplied to the space above the sample covered with the cover. The gas is brought into contact with the sample surface to reduce charge-up on the sample surface.

Mapping-projection-type electron beam apparatus for inspecting sample by using electrons emitted from the sample

An electron beam emitted from an electron gun (G) forms a reduced image on a sample (S) through a non-dispersion Wien-filter (-), an electromagnetic deflector (-), a beam separator (-), and a tablet lens (-) as an objective lens. The beam separator (-) is configured such that a distance by which a secondary electron beam passes through the beam separator is approximately three times longer than a distance by which a primary electron beam passes through the beam separator. Therefore, even if a magnetic field in the beam separator is set to deflect the primary electron beam by a small angle equal to or less than approximately 10 degrees, the secondary electron beam can be deflected by approximately 30 degrees, so that the primary and secondary electron beams are sufficiently separated. Also, since the primary electron beam is deflected by a small angle, less aberration occurs in the primary electron beam. Accordingly, since a light path length of a primary electro-optical system, it is possible to reduce the influence of space charge and the occurrence of deflection aberration.

Electron beam apparatus

A sample is evaluated at a high throughput by reducing axial chromatic aberration and increasing the transmittance of secondary electrons. Electron beams emitted from an electron gunare irradiated onto a samplethrough a primary electro-optical system, and electrons consequently emitted from the sample are detected by a detectorthrough a secondary electro-optical system. A Wien filtercomprising a multi-pole lens for correcting axial chromatic aberration is disposed between a magnification lensin the secondary electro-optical system and a beam separatorfor separating a primary electron beam and a secondary electron beam, for correcting axial chromatic aberration caused by an objective lenswhich comprises an electromagnetic lens having a magnetic gap defined on a sample side.

Projection electron beam apparatus and defect inspection system using the apparatus

An electron beam apparatus for providing an evaluation of a sample, such as a semiconductor wafer, that includes a micro-pattern with a minimum line width not greater than 0.1 &#x3bc;m with high throughput. A primary electron beam generated by an electron gun is irradiated onto a sample and secondary electrons emanating from the sample are formed into an image on a detector by an image projection optical system. An electron gunhas a cathodeand a drawing electrode, and an electron emission surfaceof the cathode defines a concave surface. The drawing electrodehas a convex surfacecomposed of a partial outer surface of a second sphere facing the electron emission surfaceof the cathode and an apertureformed through the convex surface for passage of the electrons. An aberration correction optical apparatus comprises two identically sized multi-polar Wien filters arranged such that their centers are in alignment with a &#xbc; plane position and a &#xbe; plane position, respectively, along an object plane-image plane segment in the aberration correction optical apparatus, and optical elements having bidirectional focus disposed in an object plane position, an intermediate image-formation plane position and an image plane position, respectively, in the aberration correction optical apparatus.

Electron beam apparatus and an aberration correction optical apparatus

A substrate inspection apparatus includes: an electron beam irradiation device which emits an electron beam and causes the electron beam to irradiate a substrate to be inspected as a primary beam; an electron beam detector which detects at least one of a secondary electron, a reflected electron and a backscattered electron that are generated from the substrate that has been irradiated by the electron beam, and which outputs a signal that forms a one-dimensional or two-dimensional image of a surface of the substrate; a mapping projection optical system which causes imaging of at least one of the secondary electron, the reflected electron and the backscattered electron on the electron beam detector as a secondary beam; and an electromagnetic wave irradiation device which generates an electromagnetic wave and causes the electromagnetic wave to irradiate a location on the surface of the substrate at which the secondary beam is generated.

Substrate inspection apparatus, substrate inspection method and method of manufacturing semiconductor device

A substrate inspection method includes forming a conductive thin film on a surface of an inspection target substrate with a pattern formed thereon, generating an electron beam and irradiating the substrate having the thin film formed thereon with the electron beam, detecting at least any of secondary electrons, reflected electrons and backscattered electrons released from the surface of the substrate and outputting signals constituting an inspection image, and selecting at least any of a material, a film thickness and a configuration for the thin film, or at least any of a material, a film thickness and a configuration for the thin film and an irradiation condition with the electron beam according to an arbitrary inspection image characteristic so that an inspection image according to an inspection purpose can be obtained.

Substrate inspection apparatus, substrate inspection method and semiconductor device manufacturing method

A mask pattern inspection method includes: transferring a mask pattern onto a conductor substrate or a semiconductor substrate; preparing a sample including a substrate surface pattern in an electrically conductive state to the substrate, the substrate surface pattern being constituted of a convex pattern or a concave pattern each having a shape in accordance with the transferred mask pattern, or a surface layer obtained by filling the concave pattern with a material; irradiating the sample with an electron beam to detect at least one of a secondary electron, a reflected electron and a backscattered electron generated from the surface of the sample, thereby acquiring an image of the sample surface; and inspecting the mask pattern on the basis of the image.

Mask pattern inspection method, exposure condition verification method, and manufacturing method of semiconductor device

Substrate inspection method, method of manufacturing semiconductor device, and substrate inspection apparatus

A substrate inspection apparatus includes: an electron gun which generates an electron beam to irradiate the electron beam to a substrate; an electron detection unit which detects at least one of a secondary electron, a reflection electron and a back scattering electron generated from a surface of the substrate by the irradiation of the electron beam to output signals constituting an image showing a state of the substrate surface; and a surface potential uniformizing unit which generates ions, and irradiates the ions to the substrate before the irradiation of the electron beam to uniformize a surface potential of the substrate.

Growing community of inventors

Ibaraki, Japan

Ichirota Nagahama