Local shape deviation in a semiconductor specimen

Abstract

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.