Patents by Inventor Yutaka Hojo
Yutaka Hojo 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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Patent number: 10445875Abstract: A pattern-measuring apparatus and a semiconductor-measuring system are provided which are able to obtain an evaluation result for suitably selecting processing with respect to a semiconductor device. In particular, there is proposed a pattern-measuring apparatus including an arithmetic device which compares a circuit pattern of an electronic device with a reference pattern, in which the arithmetic device classifies the circuit pattern in processing unit of the circuit pattern on the basis of a comparison of a measurement result between the circuit pattern and the reference pattern with at least two threshold values.Type: GrantFiled: April 27, 2018Date of Patent: October 15, 2019Assignee: Hitachi High-Technologies CorporationInventors: Yasutaka Toyoda, Norio Hasegawa, Takeshi Kato, Hitoshi Sugahara, Yutaka Hojo, Daisuke Hibino, Hiroyuki Shindo
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Publication number: 20180247400Abstract: A pattern-measuring apparatus and a semiconductor-measuring system are provided which are able to obtain an evaluation result for suitably selecting processing with respect to a semiconductor device. In particular, there is proposed a pattern-measuring apparatus including an arithmetic device which compares a circuit pattern of an electronic device with a reference pattern, in which the arithmetic device classifies the circuit pattern in processing unit of the circuit pattern on the basis of a comparison of a measurement result between the circuit pattern and the reference pattern with at least two threshold values.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 27, 2018Publication date: August 30, 2018Inventors: Yasutaka TOYODA, Norio HASEGAWA, Takeshi KATO, Hitoshi SUGAHARA, Yutaka HOJO, Daisuke HIBINO, Hiroyuki SHINDO
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Patent number: 9990708Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a pattern-measuring apparatus and a semiconductor-measuring system which are able to obtain an evaluation result for suitably selecting processing with respect to a semiconductor device. In the present invention for attaining the object described above, there is proposed a pattern-measuring apparatus including an arithmetic device which compares a circuit pattern of an electronic device with a reference pattern, in which the arithmetic device classifies the circuit pattern in processing unit of the circuit pattern on the basis of a comparison of a measurement result between the circuit pattern and the reference pattern with at least two threshold values.Type: GrantFiled: February 5, 2014Date of Patent: June 5, 2018Assignee: Hitachi High-Technologies CorporationInventors: Yasutaka Toyoda, Norio Hasegawa, Takeshi Kato, Hitoshi Sugahara, Yutaka Hojo, Daisuke Hibino, Hiroyuki Shindo
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Patent number: 9536170Abstract: An error of an outline point due to a brightness fluctuation cannot be corrected by a simple method such as a method of adding a certain amount of offset. However, in recent years as the miniaturization of the pattern represented by a resist pattern has progressed, it has been difficult to appropriately determine a region that serves as a reference. An outline of the resist pattern is extracted from an image of the resist pattern obtained by a charged particle beam apparatus in consideration of influence of the brightness fluctuation. That is, a plurality of brightness profiles in the vicinity of edge points configuring the outline are obtained and an evaluation value of a shape of the brightness profile in the vicinity of a specific edge is obtained based on the plurality of brightness profiles, and the outline of a specific edge point is corrected, based on the evaluation value.Type: GrantFiled: May 27, 2013Date of Patent: January 3, 2017Assignee: Hitachi High-Technologies CorporationInventors: Takeyoshi Ohashi, Junichi Tanaka, Yutaka Hojo, Hiroyuki Shindo, Hiroki Kawada
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Publication number: 20160005157Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a pattern-measuring apparatus and a semiconductor-measuring system which are able to obtain an evaluation result for suitably selecting processing with respect to a semiconductor device. In the present invention for attaining the object described above, there is proposed a pattern-measuring apparatus including an arithmetic device which compares a circuit pattern of an electronic device with a reference pattern, in which the arithmetic device classifies the circuit pattern in processing unit of the circuit pattern on the basis of a comparison of a measurement result between the circuit pattern and the reference pattern with at least two threshold values.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 5, 2014Publication date: January 7, 2016Inventors: Yasutaka TOYODA, Norio HASEGAWA, Takeshi KATO, Hitoshi SUGAHARA, Yutaka HOJO, Daisuke HIBINO, Hiroyuki SHINDO
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Publication number: 20150146967Abstract: The present invention relates to a setting method for an image capture area on the occasion of evaluation of a circuit pattern using a scanning charged particle microscope. A circuit pattern that is to be evaluated using an actual image or design data is determined, a plurality of image capture areas are set such that the circuit pattern to be evaluated is included in a section of the field of vision, and images are captured of the plurality of image capture areas. When setting the image capture areas, a permissible value for the distance between adjacent first and second images is set, and the positions of the image capture areas are optimized so as to correspond as closely as possible with the permissible value for distance. As a result, it is possible to improve the throughput of image capture of wide inspection areas that do not fit in the field of vision of the scanning charge particle microscope, and to efficiently carry out determination of an inspection area that may cause electrical failure.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 24, 2013Publication date: May 28, 2015Inventors: Atsushi Miyamoto, Toshikazu Kawahara, Akihiro Onizawa, Yutaka Hojo
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Publication number: 20150110406Abstract: An error of an outline point due to a brightness fluctuation cannot be corrected by a simple method such as a method of adding a certain amount of offset. However, in recent years as the miniaturization of the pattern represented by a resist pattern has progressed, it has been difficult to appropriately determine a region that serves as a reference. An outline of the resist pattern is extracted from an image of the resist pattern obtained by a charged particle beam apparatus in consideration of influence of the brightness fluctuation. That is, a plurality of brightness profiles in the vicinity of edge points configuring the outline are obtained and an evaluation value of a shape of the brightness profile in the vicinity of a specific edge is obtained based on the plurality of brightness profiles, and the outline of a specific edge point is corrected, based on the evaluation value.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 27, 2013Publication date: April 23, 2015Inventors: Takeyoshi Ohashi, Junichi Tanaka, Yutaka Hojo, Hiroyuki Shindo, Hiroki Kawada
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Patent number: 8959461Abstract: A pattern measurement device includes: a storage section storing mask edge data of a circuit pattern and image data obtained by imaging the circuit pattern; an SEM contour extracting section receiving the image data, SEM contour of the circuit pattern, and cause an exposure simulator to generate estimated SEM contour data of an estimated SEM contour on the basis of the mask edge data and SEM contour data of the extracted SEM contour; a shape classifying section receiving the mask edge data, the SEM contour data, and the estimated contour data to classify the SEM contour data and the estimated SEM contour data into a one-dimensionally shaped contour and a two-dimensionally shaped contour; and an SEM contour sampling section receiving the SEM contour data and the estimated SEM contour data to sample the SEM contour data on the basis of types of the one-dimensionally and two-dimensionally shaped contours.Type: GrantFiled: March 23, 2012Date of Patent: February 17, 2015Assignee: Hitachi High-Technologies CorporationInventors: Takuma Shibahara, Michio Oikawa, Yutaka Hojo, Hitoshi Sugahara, Hiroyuki Shindo
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Patent number: 8942464Abstract: The present invention provides a pattern measuring apparatus (600) that: acquires the image contour of a circuit pattern formed by transferring design data; classifies the acquired image contour into shape structures; calculates normal vectors for each shape structure; maps the shape structures to the image contour; uses at least one normal direction for each shape structure to stabilize the normal directions to the image contour; and uses the normal vectors for each shape structure to determine the position of a SEM contour.Type: GrantFiled: March 28, 2011Date of Patent: January 27, 2015Assignee: Hitachi High-Technologies CorporationInventors: Takuma Shibahara, Tsuyoshi Minakawa, Michio Oikawa, Yutaka Hojo, Hitoshi Sugahara, Hiroyuki Shindo
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Publication number: 20140224986Abstract: A pattern measurement device includes: a storage section storing mask edge data of a circuit pattern and image data obtained by imaging the circuit pattern; an SEM contour extracting section receiving the image data, SEM contour of the circuit pattern, and cause an exposure simulator to generate estimated SEM contour data of an estimated SEM contour on the basis of the mask edge data and SEM contour data of the extracted SEM contour; a shape classifying section receiving the mask edge data, the SEM contour data, and the estimated contour data to classify the SEM contour data and the estimated SEM contour data into a one-dimensionally shaped contour and a two-dimensionally shaped contour; and an SEM contour sampling section receiving the SEM contour data and the estimated SEM contour data to sample the SEM contour data on the basis of types of the one-dimensionally and two-dimensionally shaped contours.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 23, 2012Publication date: August 14, 2014Inventors: Takuma Shibahara, Michio Oikawa, Yutaka Hojo, Hitoshi Sugahara, Hiroyuki Shindo
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Publication number: 20130223723Abstract: The present invention provides a pattern measuring apparatus (600) that: acquires the image contour of a circuit pattern formed by transferring design data; classifies the acquired image contour into shape structures; calculates normal vectors for each shape structure; maps the shape structures to the image contour; uses at least one normal direction for each shape structure to stabilize the normal directions to the image contour; and uses the normal vectors for each shape structure to determine the position of a SEM contour.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 28, 2011Publication date: August 29, 2013Inventors: Takuma Shibahara, Tsuyoshi Minakawa, Michio Oikawa, Yutaka Hojo, Hitoshi Sugahara, Hiroyuki Shindo
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Patent number: 8199191Abstract: There is provided an electron microscope which is capable of making a significant contribution to accomplishment of efficiency in investigating causes for pattern abnormalities found out. The electron microscope including an I/O for capturing image data on a microscopic image acquired by another electron microscope, a computation processing unit for generating a display signal based on the image data on the microscopic image acquired by another electron microscope and captured via the I/O and image data on a microscopic image acquired by the electron microscope itself, in order that the microscopic image acquired by another electron microscope and the microscopic image acquired by the electron microscope itself are displayed at the same scale and under the same display condition, and a display unit for displaying both of the microscopic images based on the display signal from the computation processing unit.Type: GrantFiled: January 29, 2007Date of Patent: June 12, 2012Assignee: Hitachi High-Technologies CorporationInventors: Hidetoshi Sato, Takumichi Sutani, Yutaka Hojo
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Patent number: 7772554Abstract: To provide a charged particle system capable of facilitating comparison between an actual pattern and an ideal pattern using not only two-dimensional CAD data but also three-dimensional CAD data. According to the present invention, using information about the angle of irradiation of a sample with a charged particle beam, a two-dimensional display of an ideal pattern (design data, such as CAD data, for example) is converted into a three-dimensional display, and the three-dimensional ideal pattern is displayed with an observation image. If the three-dimensional ideal pattern is superimposed on the observation image, comparison thereof can be easily carried out.Type: GrantFiled: April 4, 2008Date of Patent: August 10, 2010Assignee: Hitachi High-Technologies CorporationInventors: Akiyuki Sugiyama, Hidetoshi Morokuma, Yutaka Hojo, Yukio Yoshizawa
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Publication number: 20080245965Abstract: To provide a charged particle system capable of facilitating comparison between an actual pattern and an ideal pattern using not only two-dimensional CAD data but also three-dimensional CAD data. According to the present invention, using information about the angle of irradiation of a sample with a charged particle beam, a two-dimensional display of an ideal pattern (design data, such as CAD data, for example) is converted into a three-dimensional display, and the three-dimensional ideal pattern is displayed with an observation image. If the three-dimensional ideal pattern is superimposed on the observation image, comparison thereof can be easily carried out.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 4, 2008Publication date: October 9, 2008Applicant: Hitachi High-Technologies CorporationInventors: Akiyuki Sugiyama, Hidetoshi Morokuma, Yutaka Hojo, Yukio Yoshizawa
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Publication number: 20080024601Abstract: There is provided an electron microscope which is capable of making a significant contribution to accomplishment of efficiency in investigating causes for pattern abnormalities found out. The electron microscope including an I/O for capturing image data on a microscopic image acquired by another electron microscope, a computation processing unit for generating a display signal based on the image data on the microscopic image acquired by another electron microscope and captured via the I/O and image data on a microscopic image acquired by the electron microscope itself, in order that the microscopic image acquired by another electron microscope and the microscopic image acquired by the electron microscope itself are displayed at the same scale and under the same display condition, and a display unit for displaying both of the microscopic images based on the display signal from the computation processing unit.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 29, 2007Publication date: January 31, 2008Inventors: Hidetoshi Sato, Takumichi Sutani, Yutaka Hojo