Improvement in defect classification efficiency by grouping disposition for reticle inspection

Rick Lai; Luke T. H. Hsu; Peter Chang; C.H. Ho; Frankie Tsai; Garrett Long; Paul Yu; John Miller; Vincent Hsu; Ellison Chen

doi:10.1117/12.632095

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4 November 2005 Improvement in defect classification efficiency by grouping disposition for reticle inspection

Rick Lai, Luke T. H. Hsu, Peter Chang, C.H. Ho, Frankie Tsai, Garrett Long, Paul Yu, John Miller, Vincent Hsu, Ellison Chen

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Proceedings Volume 5992, 25th Annual BACUS Symposium on Photomask Technology; 59920B (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.632095
Event: SPIE Photomask Technology, 2005, Monterey, California, United States

Abstract

As the lithography design rule of IC manufacturing continues to migrate toward more advanced technology nodes, the mask error enhancement factor (MEEF) increases and necessitates the use of aggressive OPC features. These aggressive OPC features pose challenges to reticle inspection due to high false detection, which is time-consuming for defect classification and impacts the throughput of mask manufacturing. Moreover, higher MEEF leads to stricter mask defect capture criteria so that new generation reticle inspection tool is equipped with better detection capability. Hence, mask process induced defects, which were once undetectable, are now detected and results in the increase of total defect count. Therefore, how to review and characterize reticle defects efficiently is becoming more significant. A new defect review system called ReviewSmart has been developed based on the concept of defect grouping disposition. The review system intelligently bins repeating or similar defects into defect groups and thus allows operators to review massive defects more efficiently. Compared to the conventional defect review method, ReviewSmart not only reduces defect classification time and human judgment error, but also eliminates desensitization that is formerly inevitable. In this study, we attempt to explore the most efficient use of ReviewSmart by evaluating various defect binning conditions. The optimal binning conditions are obtained and have been verified for fidelity qualification through inspection reports (IRs) of production masks. The experiment results help to achieve the best defect classification efficiency when using ReviewSmart in the mask manufacturing and development.

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Rick Lai, Luke T. H. Hsu, Peter Chang, C.H. Ho, Frankie Tsai, Garrett Long, Paul Yu, John Miller, Vincent Hsu, and Ellison Chen "Improvement in defect classification efficiency by grouping disposition for reticle inspection", Proc. SPIE 5992, 25th Annual BACUS Symposium on Photomask Technology, 59920B (4 November 2005); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.632095

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