Apparatus and method to inspect defect of semiconductor device

Abstract

An apparatus and method to inspect a defect of a semiconductor device. The amount of secondary electrons generated due to a scanning electron microscope (SEM) may depend on the topology of a pattern of a semiconductor substrate. The amount of secondary electrons emitted from a recess of an under layer is far smaller than that of secondary electrons emitted from a projection of a top layer. Since the recess is darker than the projection, a ratio of a value of a secondary electron signal of the under layer to a value of a secondary electron signal of the top layer may be increased in order to improve a pattern image used to inspect a defect in the under layer. To do this, a plurality of conditions under which electron beams (e-beams) are irradiated may be set, at least two may be selected out of the set conditions, and the pattern may be scanned under the selected conditions. Thus, secondary electron signals may be generated according to the respective conditions and converted into image data so that various pattern images may be displayed on a monitor. Scan information on the pattern images may be automatically stored in a computer storage along with positional information on a predetermined portion of the semiconductor substrate. When calculation conditions are input to a computer, each of scan information on the pattern images may be calculated to generate a new integrated pattern image.