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:
Jul. 11, 2006
Filed:
Dec. 27, 2004
Hirohito Okuda, Yokohama, JP;
Toshifumi Honda, Yokohama, JP;
Kazuo Aoki, Hitachinaka, JP;
Kohei Yamaguchi, Hitachinaka, JP;
Masashi Sakamoto, Hitachinaka, JP;
Hirohito Okuda, Yokohama, JP;
Toshifumi Honda, Yokohama, JP;
Kazuo Aoki, Hitachinaka, JP;
Kohei Yamaguchi, Hitachinaka, JP;
Masashi Sakamoto, Hitachinaka, JP;
Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A method of observing a specimen using a scanning electron microscope, makes it possible to shorten the time required to perform automatic focusing at the time of semiconductor defect automatic review and improves the throughput in the processing in which the specimen is observed. In the above method, the specimen is imaged at a low resolution by the scanning electron microscope to obtain an image, an area for imaging the specimen at a high resolution is specified from the image acquired at the low resolution, the specimen is imaged at a high resolution by the scanning electron microscope to determine a focus position, a focal point of the scanning electron microscope is set to the determined focus position, and a high resolution image in the specified area is acquired in a state in which the focus position has been set to the determined focus position.