Applied Materials South East Asia Pte. Ltd.

Tsafrir Avni

Shai Silberstein

An optical inspection tool can automatically perform analysis/operations after the tool has generated data identifying defects (e.g. a defect list) from an inspection run of an object such as a semiconductor wafer. The tool can decouple post-inspection tasks from performing inspection runs so that one or more post-inspection tasks are performed on defect data from a previous inspection run while another inspection run is in progress. This can significantly improve the throughput of the tool when multiple inspections are performed, since the inspection run time effectively is shortened to include only the time the tool is actually used to acquire defect data. One or more post-inspection tasks can be performed, including, but not limited to, merging inspection runs, removing duplicate defects, removing straight-line false alarms, and characterizing defects.

Optical inspection tools featuring parallel post-inspection analysis

An optical inspection system or tool can be configured to inspect objects using dynamic illumination where one or more characteristics of the illumination is/are adjusted to meet the inspection needs of different areas. For example, the illumination intensity may be increased or decreased as the tool inspects areas of memory and periphery features in a wafer die. In some embodiments, the adjustment can be based on data obtained during a pre-inspection setup sequence in which images taken based on illumination with varying characteristics are evaluated for suitability in the remainder of the inspection process.

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Shoam, Israel

Tsafrir Avni