Claims
- 1-95. Cancelled.
- 96. A system for inspecting a semiconductor wafer of dies for a defect, the system comprising: a pulsed light source, for illuminating at least one area in each of at least two dies; a camera, acquiring images of the at least one area in each of the at least two dies; and a processor, detecting a wafer defect by comparing the images using a die-to-die comparison method.
- 97. The system according to claim 96, further comprising a mechanical stage for moving the wafer along an inspection path.
- 98. The system according to claim 96, wherein said pulsated light source sequentially illuminates the at least one area in each of the at least two dies.
- 99. The system according to claim 96, wherein the camera sequentially acquires images of the at least one area in each of the at least two dies.
- 100. The system according to claim 96, wherein the camera comprises at least one two-dimensional matrix photo-detector.
- 101. The system according to claim 100, wherein the camera comprises at least two two-dimensional matrix photo-detector.
- 102. The system according to claim 100, wherein the at least one two-dimensional matrix photo-detector comprises a two-dimensional CCD matrix photo-detector.
- 103. The system according to claim 96, wherein the processor detects misalignment between the images.
- 104. The system according to claim 96, wherein the processor compares corresponding pixels of the images.
- 105. The system according to claim 96 wherein the processor compares images, pixel by pixel, using surrounding pixels.
- 106. The system according to claim 105 wherein the processor performs the comparison in response to adaptive thresholds.
- 107. The system of claim 106 wherein the adaptive thresholds are responsive to process variations.
- 108. A system for inspecting a semiconductor wafer of dies for a defect, the system comprising: a pulsating light source, illuminating at least one area in at least one die; wherein the at least one area comprises at least one repetitive pattern; a camera, acquiring at least one image of the at least one area in the at least one die; and a processor, detecting a wafer defect by using a repetitive-pattern-comparison method.
- 109. The system of claim 108 further comprising a stage for moving the wafer along an inspection path.
- 110. The system according to claim 108, wherein the pulsating light source sequentially illuminates the at least one area.
- 111. The system according to claim 108, wherein the camera comprises at least one two-dimensional matrix photo-detector.
- 112. The system according to claim 111, wherein the at least one two-dimensional matrix photo-detector comprises a two-dimensional CCD matrix photo-detector.
- 113. The system of claim 108 wherein the processor determines a distance between compared pixels.
- 114. The system of claim 108 wherein the processor compares between pixels positioned along a scanning line.
- 115. The system of claim 108 wherein the processor determines an amount of shift between reference pixels and types and corresponding inspected pixels and types.
- 116. A device for inspecting a patterned semiconductor wafer of dies for a defect, comprising an imaging assembly including at least one detector ensemble, said detector ensemble including at least one two-dimensional matrix photo-detector; acquiring images of at least one illuminating area in each of at least two dies.
- 117. The device according to claim 116, further comprising a processor detecting misalignment between the images.
- 118. The device according to claim 117, wherein the processor is adapted to detects a defect by comparing corresponding pixels of the images.
- 119. The device according to claim 117 wherein the processor compares images, pixel by pixel, using surrounding pixels.
- 120. The device according to claim 119 wherein the comparison is responsive to adaptive thresholds.
- 121. The device of claim 120 wherein the adaptive thresholds are responsive to process variations.
- 122. The device of claim 120 wherein the adaptive thresholds are responsive to illumination variations.
- 123. The device according to claim 116, further comprising a stage for moving the wafer along an inspection path.
- 124. The device according to claim 116 further comprising a pulsating light source.
- 125. The device according to claim 124, wherein the imaging assembly sequentially acquires images of the at least one area in each of the at least two dies.
- 126. A device for inspecting a patterned semiconductor wafer of dies for a defect, comprising: an imaging assembly including at least one detector ensemble, said detector ensemble including at least one two-dimensional matrix photo-detector.
- 127. The device of claim 126 further comprising a processor, detecting a wafer defect by using a repetitive-pattern-comparison method.
- 128. The device of claim 126 further comprising a stage for moving the wafer along an inspection path.
- 129. The device according to claim 126, wherein the device comprises a pulsating light source that sequentially illuminates at least one area in at least one of the dies.
- 130. The device according to claim 126, wherein the at least one two-dimensional matrix photo-detector comprises a two-dimensional CCD matrix photo-detector.
- 131. The device of claim 127 wherein the processor determines a distance between compared pixels.
- 132. The device of claim 127 wherein the processor compares between pixels positioned along a scanning line.
- 133. A system for inspecting a semiconductor wafer of dies for a defect, the system comprising: a pulsating light source, illuminating at least one area in at least one die; and a processor, selecting a comparison method from the group consisting of a die to die comparison method and a repetitive pattern comparison method, and applying the selected comparison method to detect a defect.
- 134. The system of claim 133 further comprising a camera for acquiring at least one image of the at least one illuminated area.
- 135. The system of claim 133 further comprising an imaging assembly including at least one detector ensemble, said detector ensemble including at least one two-dimensional matrix photo-detector.
- 136. The system of claim 133 wherein if the selected comparison method is the die to die comparison method then the pulsating light source sequentially illuminates at least one area in each of at least two dies.
- 137. The system of claim 133 wherein if the selected comparison method is the die to die comparison method then the processor detects a defect by comparing corresponding pixels of two images.
- 138. The system of claim 133 wherein if the selected comparison method is the die to die comparison method then the processor detects a defect by comparing images, pixel by pixel, using surrounding pixels.
- 139. The system of claim 138 wherein the comparison is responsive to adaptive thresholds.
- 140. The system of claim 133 wherein if the selected comparison method is the repetitive pattern comparison method then the processor determines a distance between compared pixels.
- 141. The system of claim 133 wherein if the selected comparison method is the repetitive pattern comparison method then the processor detects a defect by comparing between pixels positioned along a scanning line.
- 142. The system of claim 133 wherein if the selected comparison method is the repetitive pattern comparison method then the processor determines an amount of shift between reference pixels and types and corresponding inspected pixels and types.
- 143. The system of claim 96 wherein at least one of the images is a bright-field image.
- 144. The system of claim 96 wherein at least one of the images is a dark-field image.
- 145. The system of claim 108 wherein the at least one image is a bright-field image.
- 146. The system of claim 108 wherein the at least one image is a dark-field image.
- 147. The device of claim 116 wherein at least one of the images is a bright-field image.
- 148. The device of claim 116 wherein at least one of the images is a dark-field image.
- 149. The device of claim 126 wherein said imaging assembly acquires at least one bright-field image.
- 150. The device of claim 126 wherein said imaging assembly acquires at least one dark-field image.
- 151. The system of claim 134 wherein the at least one image is a bright-field image.
- 152. The system of claim 134 wherein the at least one image is a dark-field image.
Priority Claims (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
96362 |
Nov 1990 |
IL |
|
99823 |
Oct 1991 |
IL |
|
Parent Case Info
[0001] This application is a divisional of application Ser. No. 09/765,995 filed Jan. 19, 2001, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/298,501 (Confirmation No. 5857) filed Apr. 23, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,178,257, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/984,558 filed Dec. 3, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,982,921, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/790,871 filed Nov. 12, 1991, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,699,447. The disclosures of all of these are incorporated herein by reference.
Divisions (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09765995 |
Jan 2001 |
US |
Child |
10852798 |
May 2004 |
US |
Continuations (3)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09298501 |
Apr 1999 |
US |
Child |
09765995 |
Jan 2001 |
US |
Parent |
08984558 |
Dec 1997 |
US |
Child |
09298501 |
Apr 1999 |
US |
Parent |
07790871 |
Nov 1991 |
US |
Child |
08984558 |
Dec 1997 |
US |