Paper
23 October 2015 Accurate defect die placement and nuisance defect reduction for reticle die-to-die inspections
Vincent Wen, L. R. Huang, C. J. Lin, Y. N. Tseng, W. H. Huang, Laurent C. Tuo, Mark Wylie, Ellison Chen, Elvik Wang, Joshua Glasser, Amrish Kelkar, David Wu
Author Affiliations +
Abstract
Die-to-die reticle inspections are among the simplest and most sensitive reticle inspections because of the use of an identical-design neighboring-die for the reference image. However, this inspection mode can have two key disadvantages: (1) The location of the defect is indeterminate because it is unclear to the inspector whether the test or reference image is defective; and (2) nuisance and false defects from mask manufacturing noise and tool optical variation can limit the usable sensitivity. The use of a new sequencing approach for a die-to-die inspection can resolve these issues without any additional scan time, without sacrifice in sensitivity requirement, and with a manageable increase in computation load.

In this paper we explore another approach for die-to-die inspections using a new method of defect processing and sequencing. Utilizing die-to-die double arbitration during defect detection has been proven through extensive testing to generate accurate placement of the defect in the correct die to ensure efficient defect disposition at the AIMS step. The use of this method maintained the required inspection sensitivity for mask quality as verified with programmed-defectmask qualification and then further validated with production masks comparing the current inspection approach to the new method. Furthermore, this approach can significantly reduce the total number of defects that need to be reviewed by essentially eliminating the nuisance and false defects that can result from a die-to-die inspection. This "double-win" will significantly reduce the effort in classifying a die-to-die inspection result and will lead to improved cycle times.
© (2015) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Vincent Wen, L. R. Huang, C. J. Lin, Y. N. Tseng, W. H. Huang, Laurent C. Tuo, Mark Wylie, Ellison Chen, Elvik Wang, Joshua Glasser, Amrish Kelkar, and David Wu "Accurate defect die placement and nuisance defect reduction for reticle die-to-die inspections", Proc. SPIE 9635, Photomask Technology 2015, 96351Q (23 October 2015); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2196931
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KEYWORDS
Inspection

Reticles

Dysprosium

Defect detection

Optics manufacturing

Algorithm development

Defect inspection

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