Defect inspection method, and device thereof

摘要

A conventional pattern inspection, which compares an image to be inspected with a reference image and subjects the resulting difference value to the defect detection using the threshold of defect determination, has difficulty in highly-sensitive inspection. Because defects occur only in specific circuit pattern sections, false reports occur in the conventional pattern inspections which are not based on the position. Disclosed are a defect inspection method and a device thereof which perform a pattern inspection by acquiring a GP image in advance, designating a place to be inspected and a threshold map to the GP image on the GUI, setting the identification reference of the defects, next acquiring the image to be inspected, applying the identification reference to the image to be inspected, and identifying the defects with the identification reference, thereby enabling the highly-sensitive inspection.

主权项

1. A method for inspecting defects on a sample surface using an image acquired with a scanning electron microscope (SEM), the method comprising the steps of:
creating a teaching image from the SEM-acquired image; setting defect discrimination criteria on a screen; acquiring an inspection image using the SEM, wherein the inspection image acquired using the SEM relates to at least one of: a region specified on the screen, based on the teaching image, and a region having formed therein a pattern of the same shape as that of the region specified on the screen; conducting a comparative inspection between the obtained teaching image and inspection image using the screen-set defect discrimination criteria; and displaying results of the comparative inspection.