Image analysis – Applications – Manufacturing or product inspection
Reexamination Certificate
1997-05-30
2001-09-18
Bella, Matthew C. (Department: 2621)
Image analysis
Applications
Manufacturing or product inspection
C382S145000, C382S155000, C382S159000, C348S126000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06292582
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to defect classification and diagnosis of manufacturing defects.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In most manufacturing processes, management of through-put and yield are of concern. The ability to locate potential problems, identify problems, and take corrective action to obviate the source of the defect, and if possible, to repair the defect, can make a significant difference in the performance of manufacturing process. Therefore, it is desirable to have the best systems possible for identifying possible problems or anomalies, identifying an anomaly as a particular type of defect, identifying the source of the defect, and repairing the manufactured object to correct the defect if possible. This is particularly true in the semiconductor industry.
In the semiconductor manufacturing industry, a challenge remains to improve yields as the designs get smaller and smaller. Particles and process defects can limit yields in manufacturing semiconductor devices. Therefore, systems that perform the general functions described above can become extremely important. Conventional techniques have shortcomings including less than desirable speed and accuracy. With respect to identifying defects in the manufacturing process, manual classification has been required of anomalies and manual diagnosing of the cause of defects. Such manual inputs may have resulted in inconsistent results and consumption of considerable operator time.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to an aspect of the present invention, a method for associating a descriptive label with an anomaly on a manufactured object includes placing the manufactured device on a moveable stage; capturing and preparing a digital-pixel-based representation of the image; symbolically decomposing the digital-pixel-based representation of the image to create a primitive-based representation of the image; analyzing the primitive-based representation of the image to detect and locate the anomaly; isolating primitives associated with the anomaly; comparing the isolated primitives associated with the anomaly with primitives in a knowledgebase to locate a set of primitives in the knowledgebase most like the isolated primitives associated with the anomaly; and assigning a label associated with the set of primitives in the knowledge base that was most similar to the isolated primitives associated with the anomaly.
According to another aspect of the present invention a method of labeling an anomaly includes comparing isolated primitives associated with the anomaly with primitives in a knowledgebase to locate a set of primitives in the knowledgebase most like the isolated primitives associated with the anomaly and further involves weighting highly-determinative primitives in the knowledge base more heavily than others to assist in arriving at a more accurate label for the anomaly. According to another aspect of the presentation, layers of a semiconductor wafer may be analyzed to determine the first layer on which a defect occurred and associating a label with the defect on that layer.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a system for associating a descriptive label with an anomaly on a semiconductor wafer includes a moveable stage for receiving and holding the semiconductor wafer; a camera for capturing images of the wafer, a digitizer coupled to the camera for producing a digital-pixel-based representation of the image as each layer of the semiconductor wafer is applied to produce a plurality of digital-pixel-based representations of the image corresponding to different layers, a computer having a processor and memory, the computer coupled to the digitizer for receiving the plurality of digital-pixel-based representations; and the computer operable to: symbolically decompose the plurality of digital-pixel-based representations of the image to create a plurality of primitive-based representation of the image, analyze the primitive-based representation of the image for a last layer applied to the semiconductor wafer to detect and locate the anomaly, isolate primitives associated with the anomaly; comparing the isolated primitives associated with the anomaly with primitives in a knowledgebase to locate a set of primitives in the knowledge base most like the isolated primitives associated with the anomaly, assign a first label associated with the set of primitives in the knowledge base that was most similar to the isolated primitives associated with the anomaly, compare primitives corresponding to a location of the anomaly from each of the plurality of primitive-based representations of the image to find a primitive-based representation of the image for a layer in which the anomaly first appears.
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Cleavelin C. Rinn
Hastings, II Howard V.
Hennessey A. Kathleen
Katragadda Ramachandra R.
Lin YouLing
Bella Matthew C.
Chawan Sheela
Telecky , Jr. Frederick J.
Troike Robert L.
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