Abstract: Methods and systems for determining if a defect detected on a specimen is a DOI (Defect of Interest) or a nuisance are provided. One system includes computer subsystem(s) configured for aligning output of an inspection subsystem for an area on a specimen to simulated output of the inspection subsystem for the area on the specimen and detecting a defect in the output for the area on the specimen. The computer subsystem(s) are also configured for determining a location of the defect in the output with respect to patterned features in the simulated output based on results of the detecting and aligning, determining a distance between the determined location of the defect and a known location of interest on the specimen, and determining if the defect is a DOI or a nuisance based on the determined distance.

Abstract: Methods and systems for dynamic design attributes for wafer inspection are provided. One method includes, at run time of a wafer inspection recipe, prompting a user of a wafer inspection tool on which the wafer inspection recipe is performed for information for a design based binning (DBB) process. The information includes one or more formulae for calculating design attributes from a design for a wafer. The design attributes are used to bin the defects in the DBB process. The method also includes performing inspection of a wafer according to an updated wafer inspection recipe. Performing the inspection includes binning defects detected on the wafer according to the DBB process in the updated wafer inspection recipe.

Abstract: Methods and systems for detecting defects on a wafer using defect-specific and multi-channel information are provided. One method includes acquiring information for a target on a wafer. The target includes a pattern of interest (POI) formed on the wafer and a known defect of interest (DOI) occurring proximate to or in the POI. The method also includes detecting the known DOI in target candidates by identifying potential DOI locations based on images of the target candidates acquired by a first channel of an inspection system and applying one or more detection parameters to images of the potential DOI locations acquired by a second channel of the inspection system. Therefore, the image(s) used for locating potential DOI locations and the image(s) used for detecting defects can be different.

Abstract: Methods and systems for generating inspection results for a specimen with an adaptive nuisance filter are provided. One method includes selecting a portion of events detected during inspection of a specimen having values for at least one feature of the events that are closer to at least one value of at least one parameter of the nuisance filter than the values for at least one feature of another portion of the events. The method also includes acquiring output of an output acquisition subsystem for the sample of events, classifying the events in the sample based on the acquired output, and determining if one or more parameters of the nuisance filter should be modified based on results of the classifying. The nuisance filter or the modified nuisance filter can then be applied to results of the inspection of the specimen to generate final inspection results for the specimen.

Abstract: Methods and systems for determining a position of output generated by an inspection subsystem in design data space are provided. One method includes selecting one or more alignment targets from a design for a specimen. At least a portion of the one or more alignment targets include built in targets included in the design for a purpose other than alignment of inspection results to design data space. At least the portion of the one or more alignment targets does not include one or more individual device features. One or more images for the alignment target(s) and output generated by the inspection subsystem at the position(s) of the alignment target(s) may then be used to determine design data space positions of other output generated by the inspection subsystem in a variety of ways described herein.

Abstract: Methods and systems for determining one or more characteristics for defects detected on a specimen are provided. One system includes one or more computer subsystems configured for identifying a first defect that was detected on a specimen by an inspection system with a first mode but was not detected with one or more other modes. The computer subsystem(s) are also configured for acquiring, from the storage medium, one or more images generated with the one or more other modes at a location on the specimen corresponding to the first defect. In addition, the computer subsystem(s) are configured for determining one or more characteristics of the acquired one or more images and determining one or more characteristics of the first defect based on the one or more characteristics of the acquired one or more images.

Abstract: Methods and systems for integrated multi-pass reticle inspection are provided. One method for inspecting a reticle includes acquiring at least first, second, and third images for the reticle. The first image is a substantially high resolution image of light transmitted by the reticle. The second image is a substantially high resolution image of light reflected from the reticle. The third image is an image of light transmitted by the reticle that is acquired with a substantially low numerical aperture. The method also includes detecting defects on the reticle using at least the first, second, and third images for the reticle in combination.

Abstract: Methods and systems for identifying outliers in multiple instances of a pattern of interest (POI) are provided. One system includes one or more computer subsystems configured for acquiring images generated by an imaging subsystem at multiple instances of a POI within a die formed on the specimen. The multiple instances include two or more instances that are located at aperiodic locations within the die. The computer subsystem(s) are also configured for determining a feature of each of the images generated at the multiple instances of the POI. In addition, the computer subsystem(s) are configured for identifying one or more outliers in the multiple instances of the POI based on the determined features.

Abstract: Systems and methods for detecting defects on a wafer are provided. One method includes generating test image(s) for at least a portion of an array region in die(s) on a wafer from frame image(s) generated by scanning the wafer with an inspection system. The method also includes generating a reference image for cell(s) in the array region from frame images generated by the scanning of the wafer. In addition, the method includes determining difference image(s) for at least one cell in the at least the portion of the array region in the die(s) by subtracting the reference image from portion(s) of the test image(s) corresponding to the at least one cell. The method further includes detecting defects on the wafer in the at least one cell based on the difference image(s).

Abstract: Systems and methods for detecting defects on a wafer are provided. One method includes generating test image(s) for at least a portion of an array region in die(s) on a wafer from frame image(s) generated by scanning the wafer with an inspection system. The method also includes generating a reference image for cell(s) in the array region from frame images generated by the scanning of the wafer. In addition, the method includes determining difference image(s) for at least one cell in the at least the portion of the array region in the die(s) by subtracting the reference image from portion(s) of the test image(s) corresponding to the at least one cell. The method further includes detecting defects on the wafer in the at least one cell based on the difference image(s).

Abstract: Systems and methods for detecting defects on a specimen based on structural information are provided. One system includes one or more computer subsystems configured for separating the output generated by a detector of an inspection subsystem in an array area on a specimen into at least first and second segments of the output based on characteristic(s) of structure(s) in the array area such that the output in different segments has been generated in different locations in the array area in which the structure(s) having different values of the characteristic(s) are formed. The computer subsystem(s) are also configured for detecting defects on the specimen by applying one or more defect detection methods to the output based on whether the output is in the first segment or the second segment.

Abstract: Methods and systems for detecting defects on a wafer using defect-specific information are provided. One method includes acquiring information for a target on a wafer. The target includes a pattern of interest formed on the wafer and a known DOI occurring proximate to or in the pattern of interest. The information includes an image of the target on the wafer. The method also includes searching for target candidates on the wafer or another wafer. The target candidates include the pattern of interest. The target and target candidate locations are provided to defect detection. In addition, the method includes detecting the known DOI in the target candidates by identifying potential DOI locations in images of the target candidates and applying one or more detection parameters to images of the potential DOI locations.

Abstract: Methods and systems for setting up a wafer inspection recipe are provided. Inspection results produced by complete wafer inspection recipe candidates, each of which includes one or more optical mode candidates with at least one set of defect detection parameters, are compared to determine which of the complete wafer inspection recipe candidates is the best for use as the wafer inspection recipe. The method does not involve making any decisions regarding performance of the complete wafer inspection recipe candidates until after the inspection results have been compared. In other words, the method does not involve selecting optical mode(s) that will be used in the wafer inspection recipe followed by selecting the defect detection parameters for the selected optical mode(s). In this manner, a greater number of optical mode and defect detection parameters can be considered in an efficient manner to determine the best wafer inspection recipe for any given wafer.

Abstract: Methods and systems for detecting defects on a wafer are provided. One method includes altering one or more design clips based on how the one or more design clips will appear in output generated by a wafer inspection process for a wafer. The method also includes aligning the one or more altered design clips to the output generated for the wafer during the wafer inspection process. In addition, the method includes detecting defects on the wafer based on the output aligned to the one or more altered design clips.

Abstract: Methods and systems for determining a configuration for an optical element positioned in a collection aperture during wafer inspection are provided. One system includes a detector configured to detect light from a wafer that passes through an optical element, which includes a set of collection apertures, when the optical element has different configurations thereby generating different images for the different configurations. The system also includes a computer subsystem configured for constructing additional image(s) from two or more of the different images, and the two or more different images used to generate any one of the additional image(s) do not include only different images generated for single collection apertures in the set. The computer subsystem is further configured for selecting one of the different or additional configurations for the optical element based on the different images and the additional image(s).

Abstract: Various systems and methods for detecting design and process defects on a wafer, reviewing defects on a wafer, selecting one or more features within a design for use as process monitoring features, or some combination thereof are provided. One system is configured to detect design defects and process defects at locations on a wafer at which images are acquired by an electron beam review subsystem based on defects in a design, additional defects in the design, which are detected by comparing an image of a die in the design printed on the wafer acquired by the electron beam review subsystem to an image of the die stored in a database, and defects detected on the wafer by a wafer inspection system.

Abstract: Methods and systems for detecting defects on a wafer using adaptive local thresholding and color filtering are provided. One method includes determining local statistics of pixels in output for a wafer generated using an inspection system, determining which of the pixels are outliers based on the local statistics, and comparing the outliers to the pixels surrounding the outliers to identify the outliers that do not belong to a cluster of outliers as defect candidates. The method also includes determining a value for a difference in color between the pixels of the defect candidates and the pixels surrounding the defect candidates. The method further includes identifying the defect candidates that have a value for the difference in color greater than or equal to a predetermined value as nuisance defects and the defect candidates that have a value for the difference in color less than the predetermined value as real defects.

Abstract: Methods and systems for selecting one or more modes of an inspection subsystem or system for inspection of a specimen are provided. The systems described herein are configured to acquire output for all of the modes to be considered at a location of a known defect on the specimen by aligning output, which is generated at the location with a mode known to generate output in which patterned features on the specimen are resolved to a degree that allows the output to be aligned to design data, with the design data for the specimen to identify the location with substantially high accuracy and then without moving the field of view of the inspection subsystem or system from that location, acquiring the output for all other modes. All of the acquired output can then be used to select mode(s) for inspection of the specimen or another specimen of the same type.

Abstract: A method and a system for determining one or more parameters for electrical testing of a wafer are provided. One method includes determining electrical test paths through a device being formed on a wafer and physical layout components in different layers of the device corresponding to each of the electrical test paths. The method also includes determining one or more parameters of electrical testing for the wafer based on one or more characteristics of the electrical test paths. In addition, the method includes acquiring information for one or more characteristics of a physical version of the wafer. The information is generated by performing an inline process on the physical version of the wafer. The method further includes altering at least one of the one or more parameters of the electrical testing for the wafer based on the acquired information.

Abstract: Computer-implemented methods, computer-readable media, and systems for classifying defects detected in a memory device area on a wafer are provided.