Nikon Corporation

Koichiro Komatsu

Takeo Oomori

Kazuhiko Fukazawa

Nobutaka Magome

Kazuya Ota

Hideo Mizutani

Masashi Tanaka

Hiroshi Aoki

Tsuneyuki Hagiwara

Masahiro Nakagawa

Toshiaki Kitamura

Ayako Sugaya

Hideyuki Tashiro

Hiromasa Shibata

Takeo Omori

Yumi Nakagawa

A surface inspection apparatus and a surface inspection method aim to securely deal with finer repetition pitch without shortening the wavelength of illumination light. To this end, the apparatus includes a unit illuminating repetitive pattern(s) formed on the substrate surface to be inspected with linearly polarized light, a unit setting to an oblique angle an angle between the direction of an intersecting line of a vibration plane of the linearly polarized light on the substrate surface and the repetition direction of repetitive pattern(s), a unit extracting a polarized light component perpendicular to the vibration plane of the linearly polarized light, from light having been emitted from the repetitive pattern(s) in a specular direction, and a unit detecting a defect of the repetitive pattern(s) according to the light intensity of the polarized light component.

Surface inspection apparatus and surface inspection method

A measuring device includes a light-sending part sending light in a first direction which is a depth direction of a hollow shape, a conversion part converting a direction of the light into a circumference direction approximately orthogonal to the first direction, a detection part detecting light reflected inside a measuring object, the direction of which is converted by the conversion part, and a shape measurement part measuring an inside shape of the measuring object by obtaining a shift from a reference position according to a detection result of the detection part. Thereby, it is possible to obtain the hollow shape of an object at one time without a need of rotating the object or a light source, and to carry out a highly accurate measurement using a simple device.

Measuring device and measuring method

A microscope includes a microscope optical system that forms an enlarged image of an observation position by an immersion objective lens with an immersion liquid is filled between the observation position and the objective lens, a moving mechanism that moves a state that a first observation position among a plurality of observation positions on a substrate is positioned in a field of view of the microscope to another state that a second observation position is positioned in the field of view of the microscope, an immersion supplier that supplies the immersion liquid to fill between the objective lens and the observation position, an immersion remover that removes the immersion liquid filled between the objective lens and the observation position, and an immersion remove controller that makes the immersion remover remove the immersion liquid before operating the moving mechanism.

Microscope and immersion objective lens

A surface inspection method for inspecting a pattern formed at a surface of a test piece, includes: a first step in which a plurality of inspection conditions that are different from each other are set; a second step in which light from the surface of the test piece is detected by irradiating illumination light onto the surface of the test piece under each of the plurality of inspection conditions; a third step in which a plurality of sets of detection information corresponding to the plurality of inspection conditions are generated based upon the detected light; a fourth step in which a logical OR of the plurality of sets of detection information is obtained; and a fifth step in which a decision is made as to whether or not the pattern at the surface of the test piece is acceptable based upon results of the logical OR.

Surface inspection method, surface inspection apparatus, and recording medium and data signal for providing surface inspection program

The present invention aims of preventing a diffracted light, in testing to detect a foreign substance or a flaw on a tested substrate having a repeated pattern, from entering the eye of the observer or a light receiving optical system to be hindrance to the defect test, by providing a defect testing apparatus which comprising: a light source; an illumination optical system for applying a light flux from the light source onto a tested substrate having a repeated pattern at a predetermined angle of incidence; a light receiving optical system for receiving a scattered light from the tested substrate; an image pick-up device for picking up an image formed by the light receiving optical system; a display device for displaying the image obtained by the image pick-up device; and a test stage for mounting the tested substrate thereon at the time of testing, wherein the tested substrate and the illumination optical system are arranged to be rotatable relatively to each other.

Defect testing apparatus and defect testing method

A surface inspection apparatus of the present invention comprises: an illumination optical system which is fixed at a first predetermined angle with respect to a wafer and which irradiates a substantially parallel illuminating light toward the entire surface of the wafer an image pickup device which is fixed at a second predetermined angle with respect to the wafer and which receives diffracted light or scattered light from the wafer and projects an image of the wafer; and an image processing apparatus which performs a macro inspection by taking the image signal generated by the image pickup device and carrying out image processing, and is further provided with a plurality of interference filters F F to enable the variable setting of the wavelength of the illuminating light from the illumination optical system In this apparatus, macro inspections can be carried out efficiently on a variety of objects while apparatus such as the illumination apparatus and the image projection apparatus are maintained in fixed positions.

Method and apparatus for surface inspection

A surface inspection apparatus is provided which uses at least two sets of surface inspection systems each comprising with a paired surface illumination device (A,B,) and detection device (A,B,), with each set of illumination devices and detection devices creating their own irradiation regions (,A,,B) and detection regions (,A,,B), in which the irradiation and detection regions of one pair of illumination and detection devices does not over lap the illumination and detection regions of the adjacent pair of illumination and detection devices. The surface illumination devices preferably project light at an angle of 80&deg; or more with respect to a normal to the surface being inspected (,). The detection devices detect light scattered by dust or defects on the surface to be inspected. The surface to be inspected can be moved in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the illumination and detection regions on the surface being inspected. Thus, the entire surface can be inspected. The inspection device and method can also be adapted for use in a liquid crystal display manufacturing operation.

Surface inspection apparatus and method

An image detection apparatus (10) having an illumination system (IS) irradiates light onto the surface (30S) of an object 30 to be inspected for defects. A detection optical system (34) condenses the light from the surface and forms an image of the surface on an image detector (48). The detection optical system includes a receiving mirror (38) having an optical axis (A.sub.38) that intersects the reference optical axis (A.sub.34) of the detection optical system. A processing apparatus (60) includes a processing system (62) that performs image processing based on an output from the detector corresponding to the image. The processing system includes an image distortion correction unit (62a) for eliminating the effects of distortion in the image of the surface generated by the inclination of the surface with respect to the reference optical axis and the receiving mirror.

Image detection apparatus

An optical detection system capable of detecting even small particles or defects on a specimen such as a mask with high sensitivity and being unaffected by diffracted light from the edges of the pattern even when inspecting a thick specimen. The optical detection system includes a light emission means for illuminating a pattern surface on the specimen with light, a first light reception optical system placed on the pattern surface side of the specimen for receiving scattered light emanating from the pattern surface, a second light reception optical system placed on the glass side of the specimen in symmetry with the first light reception optical system relative to the pattern surface for receiving scattered light emanating from the pattern surface through the specimen and a corrective optical element for correcting for differences in the aberration states of the first and second light reception optical systems.

Optical detection system for detecting defects and/or particles on a

Position-detection apparatus (alignment sensors) are disclosed for determining the position of an object (e.g., wafer, bearing a position-detection mark) as required in microlithography processes for manufacturing semiconductor devices and displays. The apparatus comprises an irradiation optical system, a condenser optical system, a first photoelectric detector, a fiducial body bearing a fiducial mark, a combining optical system, a second photoelectric detector, and a processor. The position-detection and fiducial marks are illuminated with coherent illumination light from the irradiation optical system. Light diffracted from the marks is condensed by the condenser optical system. The first photoelectric detector receives the condensed diffracted light and produces first electrical signals. The combining optical system receives the diffracted light from the fiducial mark. The second photoelectric detector receives multiple diffracted light beams from the fiducial mark and produces second electrical signals. From the electrical signals, the processor determines the position of the position-detection mark relative to the fiducial mark.

Position detection apparatus and aligner comprising same

A position detection apparatus has a substrate on which a diffraction grating is formed and an alignment optical system for illuminating the diffraction grating with a pair of coherent light beams having different frequencies from each other from different directions. The intensity of interference fringes formed due to the interference of diffracted beams generated in the diffraction grating is detected photo-electrically. The alignment optical system forms the pair of coherent light by using an optical modulator, and two luminous fluxes from the optical modulator pass through independent optical paths positioned symmetrically with the optical axis of the alignment optical system therebetween and reach the diffraction grating from different directions. The alignment optical system has a stop having an opening having an inclined edge with respect to the direction of the grating components of the diffraction grating, the opening being in conjugation with the substrate.

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Tokyo, Japan

Koichiro Komatsu