Ebara Corporation

Keiichi Tohyama

Nobuharu Noji

Kenji Watanabe

Masahiro Hatakeyama

Tohru Satake

Takeshi Murakami

Shoji Yoshikawa

Tsutomu Karimata

Toshifumi Kimba

Hirosi Sobukawa

Kenichi Suematsu

Ryo Tajima

Yutaka Tabe

Mamoru Nakasuji

Tsutomu Takahashi

Tamami Takahashi

A substrate is irradiated by primary electrons and secondary electrons generated from the substrate are detected by a detector. A reference die is placed on the stage to obtain a pattern matching template image including feature coordinates of the reference die. A pattern matching is performed with an arbitrary die in a row or column including the reference die using the template image to obtain feature coordinates of the arbitrary die. An angle of misalignment is calculated between the direction of the row or column including the reference die and one of the directions of movement of the substrate on the basis of the feature coordinates of the arbitrary die and those of the reference die. The stage is rotated to correct the angle of misalignment to conform the direction of the row or column including the reference die with the one of the directions of movement of the substrate.

Testing apparatus using charged particles and device manufacturing method using the testing apparatus

A system for further enhancing speed, i.e. improving throughput in a SEM-type inspection apparatus is provided. An inspection apparatus for inspecting a surface of a substrate produces a crossover from electrons emitted from an electron beam source, then forms an image under a desired magnification in the direction of a sample W to produce a crossover. When the crossover is passed, electrons as noises are removed from the crossover with an aperture, an adjustment is made so that the crossover becomes a parallel electron beam to irradiate the substrate in a desired sectional form. The electron beam is produced such that the unevenness of illuminance is 10% or less. Electrons emitted from the sample W are detected by a detector

In an examining apparatus, an electron gun irradiates an intended position of an information recording medium with an electron beam. A stage holds the information recording medium such that the information recording medium can be moved along a rotation direction and a radial direction. A detector detects electrons which have acquired information of a surface of the information recording medium by irradiating the information recording medium with the electron beam. An image producing unit acquires an image of the surface of the information recording medium based on the electrons detected by the detector. The examining apparatus can examine as to whether or not a defect of an information recording medium such as a CD and a DVD is present, but also can examine a shape of the defect thereof. The examining apparatus can also examine an information recording medium having a large storage capacity.

Information recording medium examining apparatus and method

An electron beam apparatus is provided for evaluating a sample at a high throughput and a high S/N ratio. As an electron beam emitted from an electron gun is irradiated to a sample placed on an X-Y-&#x3b8; stage through an electrostatic lens, an objective lens and the like, secondary electrons or reflected electrons are emitted from the sample. The primary electron beam is incident at an incident angle set at approximately 35&#xb0; or more by controlling a deflector. Electrons emitted from the sample is guided in the vertical direction, and focused on a detector. The detector is made up of an MCP, a fluorescent plate, a relay lens, and a TDI (or CCD). An electric signal from the TDI is supplied to a personal computer for image processing to generate a two-dimensional image of the sample.

Electron beam apparatus

A polishing apparatus has an automated endpoint detection device to determine if an endpoint of polishing has been reached without removing the wafer from a top ring of the polishing apparatus. When a pre-determined inspection time is reached in a process of polishing, the wafer is moved laterally along the turntable and the current surface condition of the wafer is determined by comparing the current surface condition with an initial surface condition, having an oxide film for example, determined from surface reflection measurement data carried out opto-electronically on the wafer before polishing. The endpoint detection device can be used to remove the surface oxide film so that the apex of the underlying device elements are just exposed. By eliminating the need for removing the wafer from the top ring for inspection, the cost of handling the wafer for polishing is reduced significantly, and enables reduction in the cost of manufactured devices. The endpoint determination device is applicable to any type of flat objects, such as LCD panels, requiring a high degree of polishing precision.

Polishing apparatus having endpoint detection device

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa-ken, Japan

Keiichi Tohyama