Mask inspection for semiconductor specimen fabrication

Abstract

There is provided a system and method of a method of mask inspection, comprising: obtaining a first image representative of at least part of the mask; applying a printing threshold on the first image to obtain a second image; estimating a contour for each structural element of interest (SEI) of a group of SEIs, and extracting a set of attributes characterizing the contour, giving rise to a group of contours corresponding to the group of SEIs and respective sets of attributes associated therewith; for each given contour, identifying, among the remaining contours in the group of contours, one or more reference contours similar to the given contour, by comparing between the respective sets of attributes associated therewith; and measuring a deviation between the given contour and each reference contour thereof, giving rise to one or more measured deviations indicative of whether a defect is present.