Patents by Inventor Masaaki Nojiri
Masaaki Nojiri has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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Publication number: 20220260930Abstract: A computation device is provided for measuring the dimensions of patterns formed on a sample based on a signal obtained from a charged particle beam device. The computation device includes a positional deviation amount calculation unit for calculating the amount of positional deviation in a direction parallel to a wafer surface between two patterns having different heights based on an image acquired at a given beam tilt angle; a pattern inclination amount calculation unit for calculating an amount of pattern inclination from the amount of positional deviation using a predetermined relational expression for the amount of positional deviation and the amount of pattern inclination; and a beam tilt control amount calculation unit for controlling the beam tilt angle so as to match the amount of pattern inclination. The pattern measurement device sets the beam tilt angle to a calculated beam tilt angle, reacquires an image and measures the patterns.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 29, 2022Publication date: August 18, 2022Inventors: Takuma Yamamoto, Hiroya Ohta, Kenji Tanimoto, Yusuke Abe, Tomohiro Tamori, Masaaki Nojiri
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Patent number: 11353798Abstract: The present invention has a computation device for measuring the dimensions of patterns formed on a sample on the basis of a signal obtained from a charged particle beam device. The computation device has a positional deviation amount calculation unit for calculating the amount of positional deviation in a direction parallel to a wafer surface between two patterns having different heights on the basis of an image acquired at a given beam tilt angle; a pattern inclination amount calculation unit for calculating an amount of pattern inclination from the amount of positional deviation using a predetermined relational expression for the amount of positional deviation and the amount of pattern inclination; and a beam tilt control amount calculation unit for controlling the beam tilt angle so as to match the amount of pattern inclination. The pattern measurement device sets the beam tilt angle to a calculated beam tilt angle, reacquires an image and measures the patterns.Type: GrantFiled: October 13, 2017Date of Patent: June 7, 2022Assignee: Hitachi High-Technologies CorporationInventors: Takuma Yamamoto, Hiroya Ohta, Kenji Tanimoto, Yusuke Abe, Tomohiro Tamori, Masaaki Nojiri
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Publication number: 20200278615Abstract: The present invention comprises a computation device for measuring the dimensions of patterns formed on a sample on the basis of a signal obtained from a charged particle beam device. The computation device comprises a positional deviation amount calculation unit for calculating the amount of positional deviation in a direction parallel to a wafer surface between two patterns having different heights on the basis of an image acquired at a given beam tilt angle; a pattern inclination amount calculation unit for calculating an amount of pattern inclination from the amount of positional deviation using a predetermined relational expression for the amount of positional deviation and the amount of pattern inclination; and a beam tilt control amount calculation unit for controlling the beam tilt angle so as to match the amount of pattern inclination. The pattern measurement device sets the beam tilt angle to a calculated beam tilt angle, reacquires an image and measures the patterns.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 13, 2017Publication date: September 3, 2020Inventors: Takuma YAMAMOTO, Hiroya OHTA, Kenji TANIMOTO, Yusuke ABE, Tomohiro TAMORI, Masaaki NOJIRI
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Publication number: 20130271595Abstract: Provided are a high speed circuit pattern inspecting method and inspecting device which have a short preparation time for inspection and are capable of determining a defect by detecting only an image of one die. A coordinate which is expected to obtain the same pattern as a corresponding coordinate and an alignment coordinate are selected by referring to design information. The detected image and the design information are aligned using the alignment coordinate to correct the deviated amount and a pattern of the corresponding coordinate is compared with a pattern of the coordinate which is expected to obtain the same pattern to compare the patterns by detecting only an image of one die.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 11, 2011Publication date: October 17, 2013Applicant: HITACHI HIGH-TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATIONInventors: Takashi Hiroi, Masaaki Nojiri, Takuma Yamamoto, Taku Ninomiya
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Patent number: 8421010Abstract: There is provided a substrate inspection device which uses a charged particle beam and is capable of more quickly extracting a defect candidate than ever before. The configuration of the substrate inspection device is such that a substrate having a circuit pattern is irradiated with a primary charged particle beam, the substrate is moved at a constant speed or at an increasing or a decreasing speed, a position resulting from the movement is monitored, the position of irradiation with the primary charged particle beam is controlled according to the coordinates of the substrate, an image in a partial region on the substrate is captured at a speed lower than the velocity of the movement, a defect candidate is detected based on the captured image, and the detected defect candidate is displayed in a map format.Type: GrantFiled: August 28, 2009Date of Patent: April 16, 2013Assignee: Hitachi High-Technologies CorporationInventors: Takashi Hiroi, Yasuhiro Gunji, Hiroshi Miyai, Masaaki Nojiri
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Publication number: 20130082177Abstract: High-speed inspection is performed with appropriate sensitivity according to the pattern density and pattern characteristic of a device. The pixel dimension used in image acquisition is changed in accordance with the pattern density of a device. An image is acquired at high speed by changing the beam scan speed and the stage drive speed in accordance with the pixel dimension and eliminating an error by controlling the amount of beam delay. The acquired image is so resampled that the image dimensions of the acquired image and a reference image are equally sized, and the acquired image and the reference image are then aligned with each other. The aligned images are resampled in accordance with a preset pixel dimension to extract a difference between the images with the sensitivity according to the pixel dimension.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 13, 2011Publication date: April 4, 2013Applicant: HITACHI HIGH-TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATIONInventors: Takashi Hiroi, Mari Nozoe, Takuma Yamamoto, Masaaki Nojiri, Mitsuru Okamura
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Patent number: 8134697Abstract: A degradation in throughput is prevented even in cases where it is necessary to reduce a pixel size during inspection according to a finer circuit pattern. In an inspection method and an inspection apparatus in which an inspected sample having a circuit pattern is irradiated with a charged particle beam to generate a signal, an image is obtained from the signal, and in which a defect of the circuit pattern is detected from the image, the inspection is performed while an inspected pixel size in a direction in which the charged particle beam is scanned relative to the inspected sample and an inspected pixel size in a stage moving direction are separately set. The stage is moved while the inspected sample is placed thereon.Type: GrantFiled: February 5, 2009Date of Patent: March 13, 2012Assignee: Hitachi-High Technologies CorporationInventors: Koichi Hayakawa, Masaaki Nojiri
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Publication number: 20110298915Abstract: In conventional methods, efficient analyses with respect to detected defects were not given consideration. A detected image is matched against pre-obtained partial images of a normal part and a defect part to determine a defect in the detected image. Then, the partial images and the detected image are synthesized to generate a review image in which the identifiability of the detected image is improved. Thus, the operator is able to readily make a determination with respect to the detected defect.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 1, 2010Publication date: December 8, 2011Inventors: Takashi Hiroi, Takeyuki Yoshida, Masaaki Nojiri
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Patent number: 8036447Abstract: A pattern inspection apparatus has a setting unit of a plurality of cell areas A and B of different cell comparison pitches and inspects the plurality of cell areas of the different cell comparison pitches in accordance with settings of the setting unit. As information to read out image data for an inspection image and a reference image from an image memory, in addition to position information of a defective image, identification information showing either a cell comparison or a die comparison and relative position information of the reference image can be set. The apparatus also has a unit for setting a plurality of inspection threshold values every inspection area and inspects a plurality of inspection areas by the plurality of inspection threshold values.Type: GrantFiled: September 22, 2009Date of Patent: October 11, 2011Assignee: Hitachi High-Technologies CorporationInventors: Koichi Hayakawa, Hiroshi Miyai, Masaaki Nojiri, Michio Nakano, Takako Fujisawa, Dai Fujii
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Publication number: 20110163230Abstract: There is provided a substrate inspection device which uses a charged particle beam and is capable of more quickly extracting a defect candidate than ever before. The configuration of the substrate inspection device is such that a substrate having a circuit pattern is irradiated with a primary charged particle beam, the substrate is moved at a constant speed or at an increasing or a decreasing speed, a position resulting from the movement is monitored, the position of irradiation with the primary charged particle beam is controlled according to the coordinates of the substrate, an image in a partial region on the substrate is captured at a speed lower than the velocity of the movement, a defect candidate is detected based on the captured image, and the detected defect candidate is displayed in a map format.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 28, 2009Publication date: July 7, 2011Applicant: HITACHI HIGH-TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATIONInventors: Takashi Hiroi, Yasuhiro Gunji, Hiroshi Miyai, Masaaki Nojiri
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Patent number: 7696487Abstract: The via chain conduction failure due to non-conduction caused by insufficient etching in a contact plug/via plug forming process can be detected precisely in a short time. For its achievement, a defect is detected at high speed by taking advantage of characteristics of a potential contrast method using a via chain defect inspection structure and an electron beam defect detection apparatus which can perform continuous inspection while changing an inspection direction without rotating a wafer. Accordingly, the capturing efficiency of a critical electric defect and search efficiency of a defect point can be improved.Type: GrantFiled: November 9, 2006Date of Patent: April 13, 2010Assignees: Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation, Renesas Technology Corp.Inventors: Koichi Hayakawa, Jiro Inoue, Masaaki Nojiri
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Publication number: 20100019148Abstract: In a circuit pattern inspection apparatus, while an electron beam is irradiated onto a surface of a substrate having a plurality of chips where circuit patterns have been formed, a signal produced from the irradiated substrate is detected so as to form an image, and then, the formed image is compared with another image in order to detect a defect on the circuit patterns. Before the electron beam is irradiated onto either the chip or the plurality of chips so as to acquire the image for an inspection purpose, an electron beam is previously irradiated onto the region to be irradiated, so that charging conditions of the substrate to be inspected are arbitrarily controlled.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 8, 2009Publication date: January 28, 2010Applicant: HITACHI HIGH-TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATIONInventors: Yasuhiko NARA, Masaaki Nojiri, Kouichi Hayakawa, Hiroyuki Shinada, Yukio Hagita
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Publication number: 20100008564Abstract: A pattern inspection apparatus has a setting unit of a plurality of cell areas A and B of different cell comparison pitches and inspects the plurality of cell areas of the different cell comparison pitches in accordance with settings of the setting unit. As information to read out image data for an inspection image and a reference image from an image memory, in addition to position information of a defective image, identification information showing either a cell comparison or a die comparison and relative position information of the reference image can be set. The apparatus also has a unit for setting a plurality of inspection threshold values every inspection area and inspects a plurality of inspection areas by the plurality of inspection threshold values.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 22, 2009Publication date: January 14, 2010Applicant: HITACHI HIGH-TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATIONInventors: Koichi HAYAKAWA, Hiroshi Miyai, Masaaki Nojiri, Michio Nakano, Takako Fujisawa, Dai Fujii
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Publication number: 20090261251Abstract: Inspection apparatus and method adapted to inspect a sample by irradiating it with an electron beam and detecting defects on the sample from an image formed based on a secondary signal generated from the sample. The inspection apparatus includes: a scanning deflector for scanning the sample with a beam having an irradiation energy for imaging irradiation regions of the sample, a blanking deflector for blanking the beam to prevent it from irradiating the sample during scanning, a moving stage for continuously moving the sample during scanning such that the beam is deflected and scanned continuously from one side of the sample to the other, and a controller for sending a deflection command to the blanking deflector to blank the beam over nonirradiation regions of the scanning regions of the sample according to selection of irradiation regions of the sample.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 14, 2009Publication date: October 22, 2009Inventors: Koichi HAYAKAWA, Masaaki NOJIRI
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Publication number: 20090208091Abstract: A degradation in throughput is prevented even in cases where it is necessary to reduce a pixel size during inspection according to a finer circuit pattern. In an inspection method and an inspection apparatus in which an inspected sample having a circuit pattern is irradiated with a charged particle beam to generate a signal, an image is obtained from the signal, and in which a defect of the circuit pattern is detected from the image, the inspection is performed while an inspected pixel size in a direction in which the charged particle beam is scanned relative to the inspected sample and an inspected pixel size in a stage moving direction are separately set. The stage is moved while the inspected sample is placed thereon.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 5, 2009Publication date: August 20, 2009Inventors: Koichi Hayakawa, Masaaki Nojiri
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Patent number: 7532328Abstract: The disclosed subject matter is related to a circuit pattern inspection apparatus for detecting a gradual changing of defect expanding over a large area of the semiconductor wafer. In order to detect a gradual changing of a defect related condition expanding over a large area of the semiconductor wafer, comparison is made between dies on a wafer that are separated from each other by a distance of at least one die width. For example, when a value according to a difference between such dies exceeds a pre-determined value, an existence of the gradual changing can be confirmed.Type: GrantFiled: October 15, 2007Date of Patent: May 12, 2009Assignee: Hitachi High-Technologies CorporationInventors: Yasuhiko Nara, Masaaki Nojiri, Kouichi Hayakawa, Takashi Hiroi
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Publication number: 20080174772Abstract: The disclosed subject matter is related to a circuit pattern inspection apparatus for detecting a gradual changing of defect expanding over a large area of the semiconductor wafer. In order to detect a gradual changing of a defect related condition expanding over a large area of the semiconductor wafer, comparison is made between dies on a wafer that are separated from each other by a distance of at least one die width. For example, when a value according to a difference between such dies exceeds a pre-determined value, an existence of the gradual changing can be confirmed.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 15, 2007Publication date: July 24, 2008Applicant: Hitachi, Ltd.Inventors: Yasuhiko Nara, Masaaki Nojiri, Kouichi Hayakawa, Takashi Hiroi
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Publication number: 20070284526Abstract: In a circuit pattern inspection apparatus, while an electron beam is irradiated onto a surface of a substrate having a plurality of chips where circuit patterns have been formed, a signal produced from the irradiated substrate is detected so as to form an image, and then, the formed image is compared with another image in order to detect a defect on the circuit patterns. Before the electron beam is irradiated onto either the chip or the plurality of chips so as to acquire the image for an inspection purpose, an electron beam is previously irradiated onto the region to be irradiated, so that charging conditions of the substrate to be inspected are arbitrarily controlled.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 25, 2007Publication date: December 13, 2007Applicant: Hitachi High-Technologies CorporationInventors: Yasuhiko Nara, Masaaki Nojiri, Kouichi Hayakawa, Hiroyuki Shinada, Yukio Hagita
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Patent number: 7292327Abstract: The disclosed subject matter is related to a circuit pattern inspection apparatus for detecting a gradual changing of defect expanding over a large area of the semiconductor wafer. In order to detect a gradual changing of a defect related condition expanding over a large area of the semiconductor wafer, comparison is made between dies on a wafer that are separated from each other by a distance of at least one die width. For example, when a value according to a difference between such dies exceeds a pre-determined value, an existence of the gradual changing can be confirmed.Type: GrantFiled: July 23, 2004Date of Patent: November 6, 2007Assignee: Hitachi High-Technologies CorporationInventors: Yasuhiko Nara, Masaaki Nojiri, Kouichi Hayakawa, Takashi Hiroi
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Patent number: 7223975Abstract: In a circuit pattern inspection apparatus, while an electron beam is irradiated onto a surface of a substrate having a plurality of chips where circuit patterns have been formed, a signal produced from the irradiated substrate is detected so as to form an image, and then, the formed image is compared with another image in order to detect a defect on the circuit patterns. Before the electron beam is irradiated onto either the chip or the plurality of chips so as to acquire the image for an inspection purpose, an electron beam is previously irradiated onto the region to be irradiated, so that charging conditions of the substrate to be inspected are arbitrarily controlled.Type: GrantFiled: May 12, 2004Date of Patent: May 29, 2007Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.Inventors: Yasuhiko Nara, Masaaki Nojiri, Kouichi Hayakawa, Hiroyuki Shinada, Yukio Hagita