	US 11,983,867 B2
	Mask inspection of a semiconductor specimen
Ariel Shkalim, DN Sede-Gat (IL); Vladimir Ovechkin, Ashdod (IL); Evgeny Bal, Natanya (IL); Ronen Madmon, Mazkeret Batia (IL); Ori Petel, Ramat-Gan (IL); Alexander Chereshnya, Kfar Saba (IL); Oren Shmuel Cohen, Tel Aviv (IL); and Boaz Cohen, Lehavim (IL)
Assigned to Applied Materials Israel Ltd., Rehovot (IL)
Filed by Applied Materials Israel Ltd., Rehovot (IL)
Filed on Apr. 26, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/730,117.
Application 17/730,117 is a continuation of application No. 16/833,380, filed on Mar. 27, 2020, granted, now 11,348,224.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/898,875, filed on Sep. 11, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0254000 A1, Aug. 11, 2022
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G06T 1/00 (2006.01); G03F 7/00 (2006.01); G06T 7/00 (2017.01); G01N 21/88 (2006.01)

CPC G06T 7/001 (2013.01) [G03F 7/70666 (2013.01); G06T 1/0014 (2013.01); G01N 2021/8854 (2013.01); G06T 2207/10032 (2013.01); G06T 2207/30141 (2013.01); G06T 2207/30148 (2013.01)]

20 Claims

1. A mask inspection system, the system comprising:

an inspection tool configured to:

detect a runtime defect at a defect location on a mask of a semiconductor specimen during runtime scan of the mask; and

acquire, based on the defect location after runtime, a plurality of sets of aerial images of the runtime defect corresponding to a plurality of focus states throughout a focus process window, each set of aerial images acquired at a respective focus state; and

a processing and memory circuitry (PMC) operatively connected to the inspection tool and configured to:

for each set of aerial images, calculate a statistic-based Edge Positioning Displacement (EPD) value of the runtime defect, thereby giving rise to a plurality of statistic-based EPD values each corresponding to a respective focus state; and

determine whether the runtime defect is a true defect based on the plurality of statistic-based EPD values.