Abstract: A pattern measuring device ensures highly accurately measuring a depth and a three-dimensional shape irrespective of a formation accuracy of a deep trench and/or a deep hole. Therefore, in the present invention, the measuring system detects backscattered electrons from a pattern caused by an irradiation, compares backscattered electron signal intensities from a top surface, a bottom surface, and a sidewall of the pattern, and calculates a three-dimensional shape (or height information) of the sidewall based on a difference in heights of the top surface and the lower surface. The measuring system compares the calculated three-dimensional shape of the sidewall with a three-dimensional shape of the sidewall estimated based on an intensity distribution (open angle) of a primary electron beam, corrects the estimated three-dimensional shape of the sidewall based on a difference in the comparison, and corrects until the difference in the comparison becomes an acceptable value.

Abstract: A pattern measuring device ensures highly accurately measuring a depth and a three-dimensional shape irrespective of a formation accuracy of a deep trench and/or a deep hole. Therefore, in the present invention, the measuring system detects backscattered electrons from a pattern caused by an irradiation, compares backscattered electron signal intensities from a top surface, a bottom surface, and a sidewall of the pattern, and calculates a three-dimensional shape (or height information) of the sidewall based on a difference in heights of the top surface and the lower surface. The measuring system compares the calculated three-dimensional shape of the sidewall with a three-dimensional shape of the sidewall estimated based on an intensity distribution (open angle) of a primary electron beam, corrects the estimated three-dimensional shape of the sidewall based on a difference in the comparison, and corrects until the difference in the comparison becomes an acceptable value.

Abstract: Provided is a pattern inspecting and measuring device that decreases the influence of noise and the like and increases the reliability of an inspection or measurement result during inspection or measurement using the position of an edge extracted from image data obtained by imaging a pattern as the object of inspection or measurement. For this purpose, in the pattern inspecting and measuring device in which inspection or measurement of an inspection or measurement object pattern is performed using the position of the edge extracted, with the use of an edge extraction parameter, from the image data obtained by imaging the inspection or measurement object pattern, the edge extraction parameter is generated using a reference pattern having a shape as an inspection or measurement reference and the image data.

Abstract: Provided is a pattern inspection device for accurately simulating an electron beam image of a circuit pattern on a wafer from design data, and implementing high-precision defect detection based on the comparison between the simulated electron beam image and a real image. A pattern inspection device comprises: an image capturing unit for capturing an electron beam image of a pattern formed on a substrate; a simulated electron beam image generation unit for generating a simulated electron beam image using a parameter indicating the characteristics of the electron beam image on the basis of design data; and an inspection unit for comparing the electron beam image of the pattern, which is the image captured by the image capturing unit, and the simulated electron beam image generated by the simulated electron beam image generation unit, and inspecting the pattern on the substrate.

Abstract: Provided is a pattern inspecting and measuring device that decreases the influence of noise and the like and increases the reliability of an inspection or measurement result during inspection or measurement using the position of an edge extracted from image data obtained by imaging a pattern as the object of inspection or measurement. For this purpose, in the pattern inspecting and measuring device in which inspection or measurement of an inspection or measurement object pattern is performed using the position of the edge extracted, with the use of an edge extraction parameter, from the image data obtained by imaging the inspection or measurement object pattern, the edge extraction parameter is generated using a reference pattern having a shape as an inspection or measurement reference and the image data.

Abstract: Provided is a pattern inspection device for accurately simulating an electron beam image of a circuit pattern on a wafer from design data, and implementing high-precision defect detection based on the comparison between the simulated electron beam image and a real image. A pattern inspection device comprises: an image capturing unit for capturing an electron beam image of a pattern formed on a substrate; a simulated electron beam image generation unit for generating a simulated electron beam image using a parameter indicating the characteristics of the electron beam image on the basis of design data; and an inspection unit for comparing the electron beam image of the pattern, which is the image captured by the image capturing unit, and the simulated electron beam image generated by the simulated electron beam image generation unit, and inspecting the pattern on the substrate.

Abstract: A defect inspection method comprising: picking up an image of a subject under inspection to thereby acquire an inspection image; extracting multiple templates corresponding to multiple regions, respectively from design data of the subject under inspection; finding a first misregistration amount between the inspection image and the design data using a first template as any one template selected from among the plural templates; finding a second misregistration amount between the inspection image and the design data using a second template other than the first template, the second template being selected from among the plural templates, and the first misregistration-amount; and converting the design data, misregistration thereof being corrected using the first misregistration-amount, and the second misregistration-amount, into a design data image, and comparing the design data image with the inspection image to thereby detect a defect of the subject under inspection.

Abstract: Provided is a charged particle beam applied apparatus for observing a sample, provided with: a beam-forming section that forms a plurality of charged particle beams on a sample; an energy control unit that controls the incident energy of the plurality of charged particle beams that are irradiated onto the sample; a beam current control unit that controls the beam current of the plurality of charged particle beams that are irradiated onto the sample; and a beam arrangement control unit that controls the arrangement in which the plurality of charged particle beams is irradiated onto the sample. The beam-forming section includes a beam splitting electrode, a lens array upper electrode, a lens array middle electrode, a lens array lower electrode and a movable stage, and functions as the beam current control unit or the beam arrangement control unit through selection, by the movable stage, of a plurality of aperture pattern sets.

Abstract: A defect inspection method comprising: picking up an image of a subject under inspection to thereby acquire an inspection image; extracting multiple templates corresponding to multiple regions, respectively from design data of the subject under inspection; finding a first misregistration amount between the inspection image and the design data using a first template as any one template selected from among the plural templates; finding a second misregistration amount between the inspection image and the design data using a second template other than the first template, the second template being selected from among the plural templates, and the first misregistration-amount; and converting the design data, misregistration thereof being corrected using the first misregistration-amount, and the second misregistration-amount, into a design data image, and comparing the design data image with the inspection image to thereby detect a defect of the subject under inspection.

Abstract: Provided is a charged particle beam applied apparatus for observing a sample, provided with: a beam-forming section that forms a plurality of charged particle beams on a sample; an energy control unit that controls the incident energy of the plurality of charged particle beams that are irradiated onto the sample; a beam current control unit that controls the beam current of the plurality of charged particle beams that are irradiated onto the sample; and a beam arrangement control unit that controls the arrangement in which the plurality of charged particle beams is irradiated onto the sample. The beam-forming section includes a beam splitting electrode, a lens array upper electrode, a lens array middle electrode, a lens array lower electrode and a movable stage, and functions as the beam current control unit or the beam arrangement control unit through selection, by the movable stage, of a plurality of aperture pattern sets.

Abstract: 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.

Abstract: Disclosed is a charged particle beam device, wherein multibeam secondary electron detectors (121a, 121b, 121c) and a single beam detector (140; 640) are provided, and under the control of a system control unit (135), an optical system control circuit (139) controls a lens and a beam selecting diaphragm (141) and switches the electrooptical conditions between those for multibeam mode and those for single beam mode, thereby one charged particle beam device can be operated as a multibeam charged particle device and a single beam charged particle device by switching. Thus, observation conditions are flexibly changed in accordance with an object to be observed, and a sample can be observed with a high accuracy and high efficiency.

Abstract: Disclosed is a charged particle beam device, wherein multibeam secondary electron detectors (121a, 121b, 121c) and a single beam detector (140; 640) are provided, and under the control of a system control unit (135), an optical system control circuit (139) controls a lens and a beam selecting diaphragm (141) and switches the electrooptical conditions between those for multibeam mode and those for single beam mode, thereby one charged particle beam device can be operated as a multibeam charged particle device and a single beam charged particle device by switching. Thus, observation conditions are flexibly changed in accordance with an object to be observed, and a sample can be observed with a high accuracy and high efficiency.

Abstract: An inspection apparatus and method are provided capable of suppressing electron beam focus drifts and irradiation-position deviations caused by sample surface charge-up by irradiation of an electron beam during micropattern inspection to thereby avoid false defect detection and also shorten an inspection time. The apparatus captures a plurality of images of alignment marks provided at dies, stores in a storage device deviations between the central coordinates of alignment mark images and the coordinates of the marks as a coordinate correction value, measures heights at a plurality of coordinates on the sample surface, captures images of the measured coordinates to perform focus adjustment, saves the relationship between such adjusted values and the sensor-measured heights in the storage as height correction values, and uses inspection conditions including the image coordinate correction values saved in the storage and the height correction values to correct the image coordinates and height of the sample.

Abstract: An inspection method and apparatus irradiates a sample on which a pattern is formed with an electron beam, so that an inspection image and a reference image can be generated on the basis of a secondary electron or a reflected electron emitted by the sample. An abnormal pattern is determined based on a difference in halftone values of each pixel between the inspection image and the reference image. A plurality of feature quantities of the abnormal pattern are obtained from an image of the abnormal pattern, and, based on the distribution of the plurality of feature quantities of the abnormal pattern, a range for classifying the type of the abnormal pattern is designated. Thus, a desired defect can be extracted from many defects extracted by inspection.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide an inspection apparatus and an inspection method excellent in that high-sensitivity defect detection performance is achieved without causing throughput degradation even if an adequate contrast of a defective region cannot be obtained due to characteristics of an inspected sample. To achieve the object, according to the present invention, an SEM pattern inspection apparatus for determining defective portions from an image generated based on secondary electrons or reflected electrons generated from the sample after causing an electron beam to repeatedly scan the inspected sample reciprocatingly on a line has a function to use a retrace of the electron beam for image acquisition, precharging, or discharging.

Abstract: An inspection method and apparatus irradiates a sample on which a pattern is formed with an electron beam, so that an inspection image and a reference image can be generated on the basis of a secondary electron or a reflected electron emitted by the sample. An abnormal pattern is determined based on a difference in halftone values of each pixel between the inspection image and the reference image. A plurality of feature quantities of the abnormal pattern are obtained from an image of the abnormal pattern, and, based on the distribution of the plurality of feature quantities of the abnormal pattern, a range for classifying the type of the abnormal pattern is designated. Thus, a desired defect can be extracted from many defects extracted by inspection.

Abstract: An inspection method and apparatus irradiates a sample on which a pattern is formed with an electron beam, so that an inspection image and a reference image can be generated on the basis of a secondary electron or a reflected electron emitted by the sample. An abnormal pattern is determined based on a difference in halftone values of each pixel between the inspection image and the reference image. A plurality of feature quantities of the abnormal pattern are obtained from an image of the abnormal pattern, and, based on the distribution of the plurality of feature quantities of the abnormal pattern, a range for classifying the type of the abnormal pattern is designated. Thus, a desired defect can be extracted from many defects extracted by inspection.

Abstract: An apparatus for inspecting a sample using a scanning electron microscope includes a sample stage, a first electron-optical system to scan an electron beam of a first beam current on the sample, a second electron-optical system to scan an electron beam of a second beam current smaller than the first beam current on the sample, a mechanism to move the sample stage, a detector provided in each of the first and second electron-optical systems to detect a secondary electron. The first electron-optical system is operable in a first mode and the second electron-optical system is operable in a second mode with higher resolution than that of the first mode. In the first mode, the sample is observed while the sample stage is moved continuously, and in the second mode, the sample is observed by detecting a secondary electron using the detector while the sample stage is held stationary.

Abstract: An inspection method and an inspection apparatus using an electron beam enabling more detailed and quantitative evaluation at a high throughput level. The method comprises the steps of irradiating, based on previously prepared information concerning a defect position on the surface of a sample, the defect and its vicinity with an electron beam a plurality of times at predetermined intervals; detecting an electron signal secondarily generated from the sample surface by the electron beam; imaging an electron signal detected by the previously specified n-th or later electron beam irradiation; and measuring the resistance or a leakage amount of the defective portion of the sample surface in accordance with the degree of charge relaxation by monitoring the charge relaxation state of the sample surface based on the electron beam image information.