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.

Date of Patent:
Mar. 11, 2014

Filed:

Mar. 02, 2012
Applicants:

Chien-huei Chen, San Jose, CA (US);

Peter White, San Francisco, CA (US);

Michael J. Van Riet, Sunnyvale, CA (US);

Sankar Venkataraman, San Jose, CA (US);

Hai Jiang, Panorama City, CA (US);

Hedong Yang, Santa Clara, CA (US);

Ajay Gupta, San Jose, CA (US);

Inventors:

Chien-Huei Chen, San Jose, CA (US);

Peter White, San Francisco, CA (US);

Michael J. Van Riet, Sunnyvale, CA (US);

Sankar Venkataraman, San Jose, CA (US);

Hai Jiang, Panorama City, CA (US);

Hedong Yang, Santa Clara, CA (US);

Ajay Gupta, San Jose, CA (US);

Assignee:

KLA-Tencor Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H01J 37/28 (2006.01); G01N 23/04 (2006.01); G06T 5/50 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
H01J 37/28 (2013.01); G06T 5/50 (2013.01); G01N 23/04 (2013.01);
Abstract

One embodiment relates to a method of inspecting a site location on a target substrate. Contours are obtained, the contours having been generated from a reference image using a design clip. A target image of the site location is acquired. The contours are aligned to the target image, and contrast values are computed for pixels on the contours. A threshold is applied to the contrast values to determine contour-based defect blobs. Another embodiment relates to a method of generating contours for use in inspecting a site location for defects. Other embodiments, aspects and features are also disclosed.


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