Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha

Kouetsu Sawai

Toshiharu Katayama

Masahiko Ikeno

Toshikazu Tsutsui

An apparatus for inspecting a semiconductor device comprises a wafer stage ( ), a stage driving unit ( ), a charged-particle beam irradiation unit ( ), an electronic optical system ( ), a charged-particle beam control unit (12), a secondary-electron detection unit ( ), an amplifier ( ), a secondary-electron intensity comparison unit ( ), a database ( ) connected to an output of the secondary-electron intensity comparison unit ( ), a PC ( ) connected to an output of the database ( ) and a main control unit ( ) connected to the output of the database ( ) and an output of the PC ( ), whose output is connected to the stage driving unit ( ), the charged-particle beam irradiation unit ( ) and the charged-particle beam control unit ( ). The database ( ) stores inspection results and inspection addresses on m inspection regions ( ) with strong possibility of having opening failures of contact holes ( ) in each of a plurality of semiconductor wafers ( ).

Method of and apparatus for inspecting semiconductor device

First interconnect lines each having an electric capacity given by C and second interconnect lines respectively adjacent thereto are formed on an upper surface of an insulating film. The first interconnect lines and the second interconnect lines are electrically isolated from a substrate and are electrically floating. The second interconnect lines are connected to a third interconnect line. As a result, the second interconnect lines and the third interconnect line which are electrically connected to each other as a whole have an electric capacity given by 12C. The first interconnect lines are irradiated with charged particles. The difference in the amount of secondary electrons emitted from the first interconnect lines depending on the magnitude of the electric capacity is detected as a potential contrast and used to evaluate whether or not there is contact between the first interconnect lines and the respectively associated second interconnect lines. A semiconductor device facilitates the evaluation of whether or not there is contact between adjacent conductor patterns.

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Tokyo, Japan

Kouetsu Sawai