Hermes Microvision Inc.

You-Jin Wang

Chung-Shih Pan

Chiyan Kuan

Hsuan-Bin Huang

Wei Fang

Chun-Liang Lu

Chin-Fa Tu

Wen-Sheng Lin

Jianxin Wu

A load lock system for charged particle beam imaging with a particle shielding plate, a bottom seal plate and a plurality of sensor units is provided. The sensor units are located above the wafer, the shield plate is designed to have a few number of screws, and the bottom seal plate contains no cable, no contact sensors and fewer screws used. In the invention, the system is designed to improve the contamination particles from components in the load lock system of charged particle beam inspection tool and also to simplify its assembly.

Load lock system for charged particle beam imaging

A structure for discharging an extreme ultraviolet mask (EUV mask) is provided to discharge the EUV mask during the inspection by an electron beam inspection tool. The structure for discharging an EUV mask includes at least one grounding pin to contact conductive areas on the EUV mask, wherein the EUV mask may have further conductive layer on sidewalls or/and bottom. The inspection quality of the EUV mask is enhanced by using the electron beam inspection system because the accumulated charging on the EUU mask is grounded.

Structure electron beam inspection system for inspecting extreme ultraviolet mask and structure for discharging extreme ultraviolet mask

A layer of conductive or semi-conductive material is formed on a surface of a sample and then the sample, when being charged particle beam imaged, is electrically coupled with an object having a large charge-receiving or charge-storage capacity (e.g., capacitance). Hence, the charging on the sample surface is removed and released quickly by the layer. The layer is then removed by reacting it with a predefined agent. The reaction forms a gaseous product which does not form a physical or chemical bond to the sample surface.

Discharging method for charged particle beam imaging

A method of inspecting an EUV reticle is proposed, which uses an original design layout information to align the plurality of patterns on an image, which is got by scanning the surface of an EUV reticle, such that the defect can be identified and classified according to the aligned patterns. In the scanning process, a step of conditioning surface charge is followed by a step of inspecting surface of the EUV reticle wherein the step of conditioning surface can neutralize the surface charge and the step of inspecting can obtain an image of the EUV reticle. The method of inspecting an EUV reticle also tuning a retarding electrode to attract more secondary electrons such that the greylevels of different patterns may be shown and the defect can be identified and classified.

Method for inspecting EUV reticle and apparatus thereof

A method of controlling particle absorption on a wafer sample and charged particle beam imaging system thereof prevents particle absorption by grounding the wafer sample and kept electrically neutral during the transfer-in and transfer-out process.

Method of controlling particle absorption on a wafer sample being inspected by a charged particle beam imaging system

Structure for discharging extreme ultraviolet mask

A method for venting a gas into a closed space is disclosed. At the beginning of the venting process the flow rate of the venting gas starts from zero and then increases at a substantially differential incremental rate for at least a certain period of time. When a predefined saturation pressure inside the closed space is reached, the flow rate of the venting gas is maintained or increased to speed up the venting process.

Method for venting gas into closed space and gas supply assembly thereof

A method of inspecting an EUV reticle is proposed, which uses an electron beam (EB) with low density and high energy to scan the surface of an EUV reticle for inspecting the EUV reticle. A step of conditioning surface charge is followed by a step of inspecting surface of the EUV reticle. The step of conditioning surface can neutralize the surface charge and the step of inspecting can obtain an image of the EUV reticle. The present invention uses a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to provide a primary electron beam for conditioning the surface charge and a focused primary electron beam for scanning the surface.

A method of controlling particle absorption on a wafer sample being inspected by a charged particle beam imaging system prevents particle absorption by grounding the wafer sample and kept electrically neutral during the transfer-in and transfer-out process.

An apparatus for effectively detecting and calibrating a sample of examination system. The apparatus has an optical-electronic assembly for detection of the sample initiated with a light projected to the sample and an elastic supporting assembly for providing motion freedoms to adjust the relative geometric conditions between the optical-electronic assembly and the sample. The elastic supporting assembly has a planer structure and a cubic structure, and provides both motion freedoms on a plane and motion freedoms vertical to the plane. The optics electricity optical-electronic assembly could analyze the received reflected light to get geometric information of the sample, and could adjust the light used to detect the sample.

Apparatus for detecting a sample

A stage configuration is provided, wherein a ceramic plate is used as the z-stage body to decrease the use of the metal plates in the conventional configuration, so that the compact structure of the z-stage may decrease the vibrational movements of the z-stage. Further, two Laser interferometer are used to detect a movement of different points along a vertical line of the z-stage sidewall to calculate a movement of the specimen surface, so that a horizontal movement of the specimen surface can be detected more accurately.

Z-stage configuration and application thereof

A patterning device handling apparatus for use in charged particle beam imaging is disclosed. The disclosed patterning device handling apparatus comprises a first gripping member and a second gripping member. The first gripping member is equipped with a plurality of first positioning projections, and the second gripping member is equipped with a plurality of second positioning projections. When the patterning device is held at one angle, the first positioning projections abut against one edge of the patterning device and the second positioning projections abut against the opposite edge of the patterning device. When the patterning device is held at another angle, the first positioning projections abut against two neighboring edges of the patterning device, and the second positioning projections abut against the other two neighboring edges of the patterning device. Therefore, the disclosed patterning device handling apparatus can hold the pattering device at different angles.

Method and handling apparatus for placing patterning device on support member for charged particle beam imaging

A patterning device holding apparatus includes a support platform unit with a plurality of first positioning projections and a gripper unit. The gripper unit includes a head portion and a plurality of second positioning projections disposed on the head portion, and a rolling member set at a base portion. The grapping and releasing of the patterning device is achieved by the rotation of the gripper unit about a pivot substantially parallel with the center axis of the rolling member. The first and second positioning projections corporately abut against the edges of a patterning device to fix the patterning device in place.

Growing community of inventors

Milpitas, CA, United States of America

You-Jin Wang