Applied Materials Israel Limited

Rafael Bistritzer

Ilan Ben-Harush

Yehuda Cohen

Roman Kris

Einat Frishman

Grigory Klebanov

Konstantin Chirko

Vadim Vereschagin

Elad Sommer

Michael Chemama

Anna Levant

Moshe Eliasof

Guy Eytan

Elad Cohen

Sharon Duvdevani-Bar

Lior Yaron

Sahar Levin

Gal Daniel Gutterman

Jannelle Anna Geva

Meir Vengrover

Noa Marom

Arundeepth Thamarassery

Omer Kerem

Asaf Golov

Victor Egorov

Ron Meiry

Tal Orenstein

There is provided a method and a system configured to compensate for image distortions. An example method includes first receiving a warped image of an array of cells of a specimen. Each cell of the array comprises one or more structural elements of a substrate. A reference image of a region associated with a cell of the array of cells is generated and a first cell of the array of cells is identified using the reference image and at least part of the warped image. One or more locations comprising cells that differ from the first cell are identified and, based at least on the one or more locations, a warped compensation transform is determined. The warped compensation transform is applied on the warped image to generate an undistorted image.

Reconstruction of a distorted image of an array of structural elements of a specimen

A system of examination of a semiconductor specimen, comprising a processor and memory circuitry (PMC) configured to:

Examination of a hole formed in a semiconductor specimen

There is provided a system and a method comprising obtaining data Dinformative of a contour of an element of a semiconductor specimen acquired by an examination tool, using the data Dto generate a signal informative of a curvature of the contour of the element, determining at least one of data Dinformative of a periodicity of the signal, or data Dinformative of a number of discontinuities in the signal, wherein each discontinuity is informative of a transition between a convex portion of the contour and a concave portion of the contour, and using at least one of the data Dor the data Dto determine data informative of correct manufacturing of the element.

Control of a manufacturing process using contour curvature analysis of specimens

There is provided a method and a system configured obtain an image of a semiconductor specimen including one or more arrays, each including repetitive structural elements, and one or more regions, each region at least partially surrounding a corresponding array and including features different from the repetitive structural elements, wherein the PMC is configured to, during run-time scanning of the semiconductor specimen, perform a correlation analysis between pixel intensity of the image and pixel intensity of a reference image informative of at least one of the repetitive structural elements, to obtain a correlation matrix, use the correlation matrix to distinguish between one or more first areas of the image corresponding to the one or more arrays and one or more second areas of the image corresponding the one or more regions, and output data informative of the one or more first areas of the image.

Identification of an array in a semiconductor specimen

There is provided a system of examination of a semiconductor specimen, comprising a processor and memory circuitry configured to obtain, for each given candidate defect of a plurality of candidate defects in an image of the specimen, a given area of the given candidate defect in the image, obtain a reference image, perform a segmentation of at least part of the reference image, to determine, for each given candidate defect, first reference areas in the reference image matching a given reference area corresponding to the given area, select among the first reference areas, a plurality of second reference areas, obtain a plurality of corresponding second areas in the image, and use data informative of a pixel intensity of the second areas and data informative of a pixel intensity of the given area to determine whether the given candidate defect corresponds to a defect.

Detection of defects using a computationally efficient segmentation approach

There is provided a system and a method comprising obtaining a first (respectively second) image of an area of the semiconductor specimen acquired by an electron beam examination tool at a first (respectively second) illumination angle, determining a plurality of height values informative of a height profile of the specimen in the area, the determination comprising solving an optimization problem which comprises a plurality of functions, each function being representative of a difference between data informative of a grey level intensity at a first location in the first image and data informative of a grey level intensity at a second location in the second image, wherein, for each function, the second location is determined with respect to the first location, or conversely, when solving the optimization problem, wherein a distance between the first and the second locations depends on the height profile, and the first and second illumination angles.

Geometry based three dimensional reconstruction of a semiconductor specimen by solving an optimization problem, using at least two SEM images acquired at different illumination angles

There is provided a system and method of measuring a lateral recess in a semiconductor specimen, comprising: obtaining a first image acquired by collecting SEs emitted from the surface of the specimen, and a second image acquired by collecting BSEs scattered from an interior region of the specimen between the surface and a target second layer, the specimen scanned using an electron beam with a landing energy selected to penetrate to a depth corresponding to the target second layer; generating a first GL waveform based on the first image, and a second GL waveform based on the second image; estimating a first width of the first layers based on the first GL waveform, and a second width with respect to at least the target second layer based on the second GL; and measuring a lateral recess based on the first width and the second width.

Lateral recess measurement in a semiconductor specimen

There is provided a method and a system configured to compensate for image distortions.

There is provided a system and method of a method of detecting a local shape deviation of a structural element in a semiconductor specimen, comprising: obtaining an image comprising an image representation of the structural element; extracting, from the image, an actual contour of the image representation; estimating a reference contour of the image representation indicative of a standard shape of the structural element, wherein the reference contour is estimated based on a Fourier descriptor representative of the reference contour, the Fourier descriptor being estimated using an optimization method based on a loss function specifically selected to be insensitive to local shape deviation of the actual contour; and performing one or more measurements representative of one or more differences between the actual contour and the reference contour, the measurements indicative of whether a local shape deviation is present in the structural element.

Local shape deviation in a semiconductor specimen

There is provided a system and method of generating a metrology recipe usable for examining a semiconductor specimen, comprising: obtaining a first image set comprising a plurality of first images captured by an examination tool, obtaining a second image set comprising a plurality of second images, wherein each second image is simulated based on at least one first image, wherein each second image is associated with ground truth data; performing a first test on the first image set and a second test on the second image set in accordance with a metrology recipe configured with a first parameter set, and determining, in response to a predetermined criterion not being met, to select a second parameter set, configure the metrology recipe with the second parameter set, and repeat the first test and the second test in accordance with the metrology recipe configured with the second parameter set.

Generating a metrology recipe usable for examination of a semiconductor specimen

A method, a non-transitory computer readable medium and a system for determining three dimensional (3D) information of structural elements of a substrate.

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Petach Tikva, Israel

Rafael Bistritzer