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:
Oct. 03, 2006
Filed:
Dec. 13, 2005
Hidetoshi Nishiyama, Tokyo, JP;
Minori Noguchi, Tokyo, JP;
Yoshimasa Ooshima, Tokyo, JP;
Akira Hamamatsu, Tokyo, JP;
Kenji Watanabe, Tokyo, JP;
Tetsuya Watanabe, Honzyo, JP;
Takahiro Jingu, Tokyo, JP;
Hidetoshi Nishiyama, Tokyo, JP;
Minori Noguchi, Tokyo, JP;
Yoshimasa Ooshima, Tokyo, JP;
Akira Hamamatsu, Tokyo, JP;
Kenji Watanabe, Tokyo, JP;
Tetsuya Watanabe, Honzyo, JP;
Takahiro Jingu, Tokyo, JP;
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Hitachi High Technologies Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
Conventionally, a particle/defect inspection apparatus outputs a total number of detected particles/defects as the result of detection. For taking countermeasures to failures in manufacturing processes, the particles/defects detected by the inspection apparatus are analyzed. Since the inspection apparatus outputs a large number of detected particles/defects, an immense time is required for analyzing the detected particles/defects, resulting in a delay in taking countermeasures to a failure in the manufacturing processes. In the present invention, an apparatus for optically inspecting particles or defects relates a particle or defect size to a cause of failure in an inspection result. A data processing circuit points out a cause of failure from the statistics on the inspection result, and displays information on the inspection result. A failure analysis is conducted by setting a threshold for identifying a failure in each of regions on a semiconductor device or the like to statistically evaluate detected particles.