METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DISPLAYING DETECTED DEFECTS

Abstract

Defect image display screens are capable of accurately presenting features of defects. On a thumbnail display screen of a defect, images likely to most clearly indicating features of the defect are determined in units of the defect from, for example, inspection information and a defect type, and then are displayed. On a detail display screen of a defect, for example, images for being displayed so as to clearly indicate features of the defect, and the display sequence thereof are determined in accordance with, for example, inspection information and a defect type, and then are displayed. Further, steps for acquiring a display image during or after defect image acquisition by using, for example, a different defect image acquisition apparatus and a different imaging condition in accordance with preliminarily specified rules are added to an imaging sequence (procedure).

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 shows a basic construction of a review SEM in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2A shows a sequence (procedure) for automatic acquisition of a defect image in a review SEM, and is descriptive of an example case not including a step of imaging the defect with an optical microscope;

FIG. 2B shows a sequence (procedure) for automatic acquisition of a defect image in a review SEM, and is descriptive of an example case not including the step of imaging the defect with the optical microscope;

FIG. 3 shows one embodiment of a thumbnail display screen of defect images;

FIG. 4 shows one embodiment of a thumbnail display screen of defect images;

FIG. 5 shows one embodiment of a detail display screen of defect images;

FIG. 6A shows one embodiment of a detail display screen in a state where a fixed display region is removed, but only a variable display region is displayed;

FIG. 6B shows one embodiment of a detail display screen of defect images, specifically, a high-magnification SEM image and optical system image displayed in a side-by-side arrangement;

FIG. 7 shows one embodiment of a display screen of defect images;

FIG. 8 shows one embodiment of a setup screen for specifying a display image in units of a defect;

FIG. 9 is a sequence (procedure) for later acquiring a display image by necessity, in accordance with an example of the present invention; and

FIG. 10 is one embodiment of a setup screen for determining whether a display image is later acquired.

Claims

1. A method for displaying defect images, comprising the steps of: acquiring a plurality of images (or, “per-defect images,” hereinbelow) of respective ones of a plurality of defects by performing imaging processing under respective ones of a plurality of conditions in accordance with position information of the respective ones of the plurality of defects detected on a sample by inspection preliminarily performed using an inspection apparatus;extracting images for being displayed corresponding to the respective defects from the plurality of per-defect images acquired on the plurality of defects; anddisplaying the extracted per-defect images in a side-by-side arrangement on a screen together with information of types of the respective images.

2. A method for displaying defect images, as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the step of extracting images, either feature values or defect types on the respective ones of plurality of per-defect images are obtained, images indicative of features of the respective defects are extracted corresponding to the respective defects in accordance with the obtained feature values or defect types.

3. A method for displaying defect images, as claimed in claim 1, wherein the information of the types of the respective images for being displayed in the side-by-side arrangement on the screen together with the extracted per-defect images includes any of an optical system image, low magnification SEM (scanning electron microscope) image, and high magnification SEM image.

4. A method for displaying defect images, as claimed in claim 1, wherein the images extracted for being displayed are a plurality of per-defect images, and the extracted plurality of per-defect images are displayed on the screen in a side-by-side arrangement together with information of types of the images.

5. A method for displaying a defect image, comprising the steps of: acquiring an optical image of a defect by performing imaging processing through an optical microscope in accordance with position information of the defect detected on a sample by inspection preliminarily performed using an inspection apparatus;acquiring an SEM image of the defect by performing imaging processing of the defect through an SEM in accordance with the position information of the defect; anddisplaying the optical image and SEM image of the defect on a screen in a side-by-side arrangement together with information identifying the defect.

6. A defect review apparatus comprising: optical image acquisition means that acquires a plurality of optical images by performing optical imaging processing of a sample in accordance with position information of respective ones of plurality of defects detected on the sample by inspection preliminarily performed using an inspection apparatus;SEM image acquisition means that acquires a plurality of SEM images of a sample in accordance with either position information of respective ones of plurality of defects detected on the sample by inspection preliminarily performed using an inspection apparatus or the position information of the respective ones of the plurality of defects detected on the sample by inspection preliminarily performed using the inspection apparatus;image processing means that processes the optical images acquired by the optical image acquisition means and the SEM images acquired by the SEM image acquisition means; anddisplay means including a display screen that displays the images processed by the image processing means,wherein:the image processing means extracts images for being displayed on the display screen of the display means in correspondence to the respective ones of the plurality of defects from among the plurality of optical images of the plurality of defects on the sample, which optical images have been acquired by the optical image acquisition means, and the plurality of SEM images of the plurality of defects on the sample, which SEM images have been acquired by the SEM image acquisition means; andthe display means displays the extracted images corresponding to the respective defects in a side-by-side arrangement on display screen together with information of types of the respective images.

7. A defect review apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the image processing means processes the plurality of optical images of the plurality of defects on the sample, which optical images have been acquired by the optical image acquisition means, and the plurality of SEM images of the plurality of defects on the sample, which SEM images have been acquired by the SEM image acquisition means, thereby to obtain either respective feature values or defect types of the optical images and the SEM images that correspond to the respective defects (which images hereinbelow will be referred to as “per-defect images”), and displays images indicative of features of the respective ones of the plurality of defects in accordance with the obtained feature values or defect types on the display screen of the display means.

8. A defect review apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the information of the types of the respective images for being displayed in the side-by-side arrangement on the screen together with the per-defect images includes any of an optical system image, low magnification SEM image, and high magnification SEM image.

9. A defect review apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the images extracted by the image processing means for being displayed are a plurality of images corresponding to the respective defects, and the extracted plurality of per-defect images are displayed on the screen in a side-by-side arrangement together with information of types of the images.

10. A defect review apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the display means displays on the display screen a specification portion that specifies the types or features of the images that are displayed on the display screen

11. A defect review apparatus, comprising: optical image acquisition means that acquires an optical image by performing optical imaging processing of a sample in accordance with position information of a defect detected on the sample by inspection preliminarily performed using an inspection apparatus;SEM image acquisition means that acquires an SEM image of the sample in accordance with either position information of the defect detected on the sample by inspection preliminarily performed using the inspection apparatus or the position information of the defect detected on the sample by inspection preliminarily performed using the inspection apparatus;image processing means that processes the optical image acquired by the optical image acquisition means and the SEM image acquired by the SEM image acquisition means; anddisplay means including a screen that displays defect information including the images processed by the image processing means,wherein the display means displays on the screen the optical image of the defect which is acquired by the optical image acquisition means and the SEM image of the defect which is acquired by the SEM image acquisition means in a side-by-side arrangement together with information identifying the defect.