METHOD FOR NUMERICALLY ANALYZING PARTICLE GROWTH DEGREE OF SURFACE OF SEMICONDUCTOR WAFER USING SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY IMAGE AND APPARATUS FABRICATED THEREBY

摘要

PURPOSE: A method for numerically analyzing a particle growth degree of the surface of a semiconductor wafer using a scanning electron microscopy(SEM) image is provided to more rapidly and precisely analyze the particle growth degree, by automatically calculating the particle growth degree of the surface of a sample like the semiconductor wafer without a determination based upon an operator's visual observation. CONSTITUTION: A SEM takes a picture of a predetermined portion of the surface of the semiconductor wafer to generate an image file, and a numerical target region for making the particle growth degree on the predetermined portion numerical is selected. Image data of each pixel in the selected numerical target region is standardized. The standardized image data of each pixel is compared with a predetermined threshold value to count the number of pixels having a value not smaller than the threshold value. A ratio of the counted number of pixels to the entire number of pixels in the numerical target region is calculated to make the particle growth degree of the surface in the numerical target region numerical.