The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 24, 1999
Filed:
Oct. 07, 1996
Shingo Sumie, Kobe, JP;
Tsutomu Morimoto, Kobe, JP;
Yuichiro Gotoh, Kobe, JP;
Eiji Takahashi, Kobe, JP;
Shouji Kanbe, Hiranocho, JP;
Akira Okamoto, Hiranocho, JP;
Kabushiki Kaisha Kobe Seiko Sho, Kobe, JP;
Texas Instruments Japan Limited, Tokyo, JP;
KTI Semiconductor Ltd., Hyogo-ken, JP;
Abstract
A surface image of a semiconductor wafer having a defect is picked up as a inspection image while a surface image of a semiconductor wafer having no defect is stored in an image memory as a reference image. A density difference image between the inspection image and the reference image. By extracting the defect in wiring and non-wiring regions from the density difference image, extract images are obtained. Two luminance information for wiring and non-wiring regions are obtained from extract images. Based on the luminance information, the type of the defect is determined and a production process where the defect has occurred is detect.