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:
Sep. 11, 2007
Filed:
Feb. 05, 2002
Takashi Hiroi, Yokohama, JP;
Masahiro Watanabe, Yokohama, JP;
Maki Tanaka, Yokohama, JP;
Asahiro Kuni, Tokyo, JP;
Chie Shishido, Yokohama, JP;
Hiroshi Miyai, Hitachi, JP;
Yasuhiko Nara, Hitachinaka, JP;
Mitsunobu Isobe, Machida, JP;
Takashi Hiroi, Yokohama, JP;
Masahiro Watanabe, Yokohama, JP;
Maki Tanaka, Yokohama, JP;
Asahiro Kuni, Tokyo, JP;
Chie Shishido, Yokohama, JP;
Hiroshi Miyai, Hitachi, JP;
Yasuhiko Nara, Hitachinaka, JP;
Mitsunobu Isobe, Machida, JP;
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
In a pattern inspecting apparatus, images of places which can be expected to be the same pattern are compared with one another. However, a comparison of images obtained by different stage scans and the occurrence of a place capable of being inspected only once lead to a deterioration in the performance of detecting various error defects and an area incapable of being inspected, respectively. For solving this problem, defects detected in a high sensitivity condition are regarded as defect candidates and a critical threshold value, used as a boundary to detect a smaller value as a defect, of a defect candidate portion is obtained by an image processing circuit or an image of the defect candidate portion is obtained by processing with software. Further, the critical threshold value thus obtained is compared with plural threshold values, thereby permitting plural inspection results to be obtained in a single inspection.