DEFECT INSPECTION METHOD AND DEVICE FOR SAME

摘要

In defect scanning carried out in a process of manufacturing a semiconductor or the like, a light detection optical system comprising a plurality of photosensors is used for detecting scattered light reflected from a sample. The photosensors used for detecting the quantity of weak background scattered light include a photon counting type photosensor having few pixels whereas the photosensors used for detecting the quantity of strong background scattered light include a photon counting type photosensor having many pixels or an analog photosensor. In addition, nonlinearity caused by the use of the photon counting type photosensor as nonlinearity of detection strength of defect scattered light is corrected in order to correct a detection signal of the defect scattered light.

主权项

1. A defect inspection device comprising:
table unit for moving a sample mounted thereon; laser light source for radiating laser light; detection optical system for converging light reflected by said sample, said sample being radiated with said laser light, said laser light being radiated by said laser light source; light detection unit for receiving said reflected light converged by said detection optical system and converting said light into an electrical signal; signal processing unit for detecting a defect on said sample by receiving and processing said signal output by said light detection unit, said light detection unit receiving said reflected light; size computation unit for computing the size of said defect detected by said signal processing unit; and output unit for outputting a result of processing carried out by said signal processing unit and said size computation unit to a display screen, wherein: said light detection unit has a plurality of photosensors including a photon counting detector configured to comprise a plurality of pixels; and said size computation unit has a conversion section for correcting nonlinearity of said output of said photon counting type photodetector employed in said light detection unit, said size computing unit computing the size of said defect by processing output signals of said plurality of photosensors employed in said light detection unit, said output signals including a signal which has been output from said photon counting type photosensor and has been corrected nonlinearity by said conversion section.