Data processing: measuring – calibrating – or testing – Measurement system in a specific environment – Quality evaluation
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-19
2002-10-15
Hilten, John S. (Department: 2863)
Data processing: measuring, calibrating, or testing
Measurement system in a specific environment
Quality evaluation
C324S537000, C438S014000, C438S015000, C438S016000, C438S017000, C438S018000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06466882
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an integrated system for detecting and repairing defects and a controlling method thereof. More specifically, the present invention relates to an integrated system for detecting and repairing defects and its controlling method employed for manufacturing micro electronic devices such as semiconductors or thin film transistor liquid crystal displays (TFT-LCD).
(b) Description of the Related Art
A process for manufacturing a TFT-LCD will be first described.
Referring to
FIG. 1
(
a
), when a transparent non-conductive substrate is metallized and patterned, a gate pattern comprising a gate electrode
110
and gate line (not illustrated) is formed. Referring to
FIG. 1
(
b
), a gate insulation film
120
comprised of SiN
x
is coated on the gate pattern
110
, and an amorphous silicon film
130
and a doped amorphous silicon film
140
are layered and patterned on the gate insulation film
120
, and active amorphous silicon layer patterns
130
and
140
are then formed. Referring to
FIG. 1
(
c
), a source electrode
151
and a drain electrode
152
are formed on the patterned film of the doped amorphous silicon layer
140
, and a data line (not illustrated) is formed on the gate insulation film
120
. Referring to
FIG. 1
(
d
), the doped amorphous silicon layer
140
is etched using the source electrode
151
and a drain electrode
152
as masks. Referring to
FIGS. 1
(
e
) and (
f
), the protective film
160
comprised of SiN
x
is formed on the source electrode
151
and a drain electrode
152
, and a contact hole C
1
of the drain electrode
152
is formed through the protective film
160
. A transparent conducting material such as an indium tin oxide (ITO) is then coated around the hole C
1
and patterned, and thereby, forming a pixel electrode
170
.
FIGS. 2
(
a
) and (
b
) are flow charts of a conventional manufacturing process as shown in
FIGS. 1
(
a
) through (
f
).
In the conventional manufacturing process as shown in
FIG. 2
(
a
), a gate pattern comprising a gate electrode and gate line is formed in Step S
2
. An automatic optical inspection (AOI) or an open/short test (OST) is performed by an automatic optical inspector or an open/short tester in order to inspect the gate pattern in Step S
4
.
The automatic optical inspector without directly touching the product irradiates light and transmits the reflected light to a sensor through a lens, and examines the product for defects by detecting differences of the light intensity. In this way, visual defects that cannot be detected by electrical inspections can be detected, solving the process reliability and contamination problems. The automatic optical inspector can detect all visual defects, including minute defects or those that cannot be seen with naked eyes on the glass surface. Examples of such defects include film residues, film strips, particles, glass chips, corrosion, spots, photoresist defects, and mask defects.
Following the formation of the gate pattern, the results of the AOI (or OST), i.e., whether or not the above mentioned defects are present, are stored in an electronic file. (Step S
6
) The stored data comprises coordinate values of the defect locations, as well as the type of defects detected.
This inspected panel together with the file are then transferred to a repairing process. The file is input to a repairer to be used as repair job data on the defective panel. (Step S
7
)
If no defect is found on the panel on which the gate pattern has been formed or if a defective panel is completely repaired, the panel is transferred to the next process.
The subsequent process is an active pattern forming process that coats an amorphous silicon layer on the gate electrode. (Step S
8
) Since this active pattern forming process coats nonmetals, an electrical test is not used and only the AOI can be performed. Therefore, the automatic optical inspector performs a visual inspection (Step S
10
), and if defects are detected, the panel and an associated data file are transferred to the repairer so that the defects can be repaired (Step S
13
). If no defects are found or the repair process is completed, the panel and data file are transferred to the next data pattern forming process.
After data pattern forming process that fabricates the source electrode, drain electrode and data line, defects are repeatedly examined by AOI. (Steps S
15
, S
16
and S
17
). After AOI inspection, if no defect is found or if defects are completely repaired, the panel is transferred to the open/short tester to execute the OST. (Step S
8
)
When data lines are patterned on a TFT-LCD panel, the open/short tester provides electrical signals to each data line to detect the open or short states of each line. The open or short states of the data lines are determined from the OST results. (Step S
20
) If open/short states are detected, the open data line number is stored in a file, and the defective panel are transferred to the repair process along with the file.
The repairer then repairs the panel referring to the file containing the open data line number (Step S
21
). The repaired panel is then transferred to a pixel electrode forming process. However, if no defect is found after an OST, the panel is immediately transferred to the pixel electrode forming process.
After forming a pixel electrode (Step S
24
), the panel is transferred to the automatic optical inspector and is inspected or repaired in the same manner as described previously. (Steps S
24
-S
27
) However, after forming a pixel electrode, an array test is also performed, in addition to AOI.
In an array test, each TFT pixel is tested to determine that there are any electrical defects. The array test is performed in the final TFT fabrication process, where a transparent conducting material layer (such as ITO) is formed. An in process tester (IPT), one of the array testers, optically inspects for electrical defects of pixels. The IPT can assess the electrical characteristics of each TFT pixel before completing the TFT assembly. Therefore, pixel defects and line defects, can be detected at an early stage, enhancing the productivity and reducing the costs. The array tester may detect, for example, pixel defects and open or shorted lines.
After testing arrays (Step S
28
), when the defects are detected, this information is stored in a file and transferred together with the panel to the repair process.
Once repaired referring to the file in the repairing process (Step S
31
), all the manufacturing, inspection and repair processes on the TFT panel are completed.
FIG. 3
is a process line flow diagram of a TFT panel handled in the manufacturing process of FIG.
2
.
FIG. 3
indicates the course through which the TFT panel is transferred when all detectable defects are generated.
As shown in
FIG. 3
, according to the conventional TFT-LCD repairing system, if the inspection and repairing steps are performed for each process, this inspection and repair process has the drawback of taking an inordinate amount of time.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide an integrated system for repair and its controlling method that merges files thathave information on defects and to repair the defects as a batch at one time referring to the merged files at a final manufacturing step after all inspections have been finished.
In one aspect of the present invention, an integrated repair system of micro electronic devices comprises a plurality of inspectors for optically or electrically inspecting panels that have predetermined patterns after finishing each process, and storing the inspected results in files with a predetermined format and a repairer, coupled to a plurality of the inspectors, retrieving the files stored by the inspectors and merging the files and executing repair processes as a batch at one time with reference to the merged files.
The integrated repair system further comprises a file server, coupled to a plurality of the inspectors through a network, for storing th
Choi Jin-Ho
Kang Sin-Seob
Hilten John S.
McGuireWoods LLP
Park Hae-Chan
Samsung Electronics Co,. Ltd.
Vo Hien
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