Imec Vzw

Imec

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Ku Leuven R&d

Siemens Industry Software Gmbh

Nanda Technologies Gmbh

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Sandip Halder

Eric Beyne

Paul Mertens

Philippe Leray

Bappaditya Dey

Gouri Sankar Kar

Lars Markwort

Frederic Lazzarino

Kiarash Ahi

Germain Louis Fenger

Julien Mailfert

Victor M Blanco

Waikin Li

Vincent Truffert

Pierre-Yves Guittet

Leonardus Leunissen

Danilo De Simone

Hsin-Wei Wu

Tom Janssens

Dieter Van Den Heuvel

Anne Jourdain

Bhamidipati Venkata Rama Samir

Mark Pereira

Senthil Srinivasan Shanmugam Vadakupudhu Palayam

Antoine Pacco

Viktor M Blanco

Phillippe Leray

This application discloses a computing system to obtain a wafer image of an electronic device having physical structures manufactured using one or more lithographic masks associated with a layout design describing the electronic design. The computing system can implement an unsupervised deep learning algorithm to process the wafer image to remove at least some noise from the wafer image, which generates a denoised wafer image. The computing system can extract contours corresponding to the physical structures of the electronic device from the denoised wafer image of the electronic device without use of the layout design or a mask design. The computing system can calibrate the layout design or the mask design describing the one or more lithographic masks based, at least in part, on the contours extracted from the denoised wafer image.

Wafer image denoising and contour extraction for manufacturing process calibration

The disclosure relates generally to image processing. For example, the invention relates to a method and a device for de-noising an electron microscope (EM) image. The method includes the act of selecting a patch of the EM image, wherein the patch comprises a plurality of pixels, wherein the following acts are performed on the patch: i) replacing the value of one pixel, for example of a center pixel, of the patch with the value of a different, for example randomly selected, pixel from the same EM image; ii) determining a de-noised value for the one pixel based on the values of the other pixels in the patch; and iii) replacing the value of the one pixel with the determined de-noised value.

Method for de-noising an electron microscope image

A method for producing a pattern of features on a substrate may involve performing two exposure steps on a resist layer applied to the substrate, followed by a single etching step. In the two exposures, the same pattern of mask features is used, but with possibly differing dimensions and with the pattern applied in the second exposure being shifted in position relative to the pattern in the first exposure. The shift, lithographic parameters, and/or possibly differing dimensions are configured such that a number of resist areas exposed in the second exposure overlap one or more resist areas exposed in the first exposure. When the pattern of mask features is a regular 2-dimensional array, the method produces of an array of holes or pillars that is denser than the original array. Varying the mask patterns can produce different etched structure shapes, such as a zig-zag pattern.

Method for producing a pattern of features by lithography and etching

Example embodiments relate to methods for detecting defects of a lithographic pattern. One example embodiment includes a method for detecting defects of a lithographic pattern on a semiconductor wafer that includes a plurality of die areas. Each of the die areas has a region of interest (ROI) that includes a plurality of features forming the lithographic pattern. The method includes acquiring an image of at least one of the ROIs. The method also includes removing features touching an edge of the image. Further, the method includes counting a number of remaining features in the image.

Methods for detecting defects of a lithographic pattern

The disclosure relates to a method for verifying a printed pattern. In an example embodiment, the method includes defining sectors of at least a portion of the features in the reference pattern, determining a contour of the printed pattern, and superimposing the contour of the printed pattern on the reference pattern. The method also includes determining surface areas of sectors of the printed pattern that correspond to the sectors of the reference pattern and calculating one or more parameters as a function of at least one of the surface areas, the parameters being related to a single sector or to multiple sectors. The method additionally includes evaluating the parameters with respect to a reference value.

Method for verifying a pattern of features printed by a lithography process

The present disclosure is related to a method for detection of defects in a printed pattern of geometrical features on a semiconductor die, the pattern comprising an array of features having a nominal pitch, the method comprising determining deviations from the nominal pitch in the printed pattern, and comparing the printed pattern with another version of the pattern, the other version having the same or similar pitch deviations as the printed pattern. According to various embodiments, the other version of the pattern may a printed pattern on a second die, or it may be a reference pattern, obtained by shifting features of the array in a version having no or minimal pitch deviations, so that the pitch deviations in the reference pattern are the same or similar to the pitch deviations in the printed pattern under inspection.

Method for inspecting a pattern of features on a semiconductor die

The present disclosure is related to a method for detecting and ranking hotspots in a lithographic mask used for printing a pattern on a substrate. According to example embodiments, the ranking is based on defect detection on a modulated focus wafer or a modulated dose wafer, where the actual de-focus or dose value at defect locations is taken into account, in addition to a de-focus or dose setting applied to a lithographic tool when a mask pattern is printed on the wafer. Additionally or alternatively, lithographic parameters other than the de-focus or dose can be used as a basis for the ranking method.

Method for hotspot detection and ranking of a lithographic mask

A method for detecting embedded voids present in a structure formed in or on a semiconductor substrate is described. The method includes performing a processing step Pfor forming the structure; measuring the mass Mof the substrate; performing thermal treatment; measuring the mass Mof the substrate; calculating the mass difference between the mass of the substrate measured before and after the performed thermal treatment; and deducing the presence of embedded voids in the structure by comparing the mass difference with a pre-determined value.

Method for detecting embedded voids in a semiconductor substrate

A method of inspecting a semiconductor substrate having a back surface and including at least one piece of metal embedded in the substrate comprises directing measuring light towards the back surface of the substrate and detecting a portion of the measuring light received back from the substrate. The method also includes determining a distance between the piece of metal and the back surface based upon the detected measuring light received back from the substrate.

Methods of processing and inspecting semiconductor substrates

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Sandip Halder