Claims
- 1. A method for inspecting a pattern formed on a substrate, comprising the steps of:
moving a table along a first direction on which a substrate to be inspected is mounted; irradiating a converged electron beam on the substrate by scanning the converged electron beam along a second direction which is perpendicular to the first direction; detecting an electron radiated from the substrate by the irradiation of the converged electron beam in which the movement of the table and the scanning of the converged electron beam is synchronized; forming a digital image of the substrate from the detected electron; improving a quality of the digital image by filtering the compensated digital image; and detecting a defect of a pattern formed on the substrate by using the improved quality digital image.
- 2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:
optically detecting a height of the table; and controlling a focus of the converged electron beam to focus onto the substrate.
- 3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of detecting a defect includes comparing a first improved quality digital image with a second improved quality digital image which are essentially the same image.
- 4. A method for inspecting a pattern formed on a substrate, comprising the steps of:
irradiating a converged electron beam on the substrate by scanning the converged electron beam; obtaining a digital image of the substrate by detecting an electron radiated from the substrate by the irradiation of the converged electron beam; compensating at least one of a brightness and shading of the digital image; detecting a candidate defect by comparing compensated digital images with one another; and detecting a true defect among the candidate defect.
- 5. A method according to claim 4, wherein true defect candidate is detected by aligning the compensated digital images which are essentially the same image with one another.
- 6. A method according to claim 4, wherein the true defect is detected by using an information of coordinate data of the candidate defect.
- 7. A method according to claim 4, wherein a distortion of the digital image is also compensated in the compensating step.
- 8. A method for inspecting a pattern formed on a substrate, comprising the steps of:
irradiating a converged electron beam on the substrate by scanning the converged electron beam; obtaining a digital image of the substrate by detecting an electron radiated from the substrate by the irradiation of the converged electron beam; compensating at least a brightness of the digital image; improving a quality of the digital image by filtering the compensated digital image; detecting a candidate defect from the compensated digital images; and outputting an information regarding to a true defect among the detected candidate defect.
- 9. A method according to claim 8, wherein the candidate defect is detected by comparing the compensated digital image with another compensated digital image which are essentially the same image.
- 10. A method according to claim 8, wherein the information of the true defect is obtained from a coordinate data of the candidate defect.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
9-131460 |
May 1997 |
JP |
|
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/610,954, filed Jul. 6, 2000, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/081,636, filed May 20, 1998 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,087,673), the subject matter of which is incorporated by reference herein.
Continuations (2)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09610954 |
Jul 2000 |
US |
Child |
09848422 |
May 2001 |
US |
Parent |
09081636 |
May 1998 |
US |
Child |
09610954 |
Jul 2000 |
US |