US 12,332,186 B2
Method and system for inspecting semiconductor wafer and method of fabricating semiconductor device using the same
Q-Han Park, Seoul (KR); Sung Yoon Ryu, Seoul (KR); Seunghyeok Son, Suwon-si (KR); Sujin Lee, Gwangmyeong-si (KR); Chan Gi Jeon, Hwaseong-si (KR); Su-Hyun Gong, Seoul (KR); DongGun Lee, Seoul (KR); and Younghoon Sohn, Seoul (KR)
Assigned to SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD., Suwon-si (KR); and KOREA UNIVERSITY RESEARCH AND BUSINESS FOUNDATION, Seoul (KR)
Filed by SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD., Suwon-si (KR)
Filed on Jun. 9, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/836,678.
Claims priority of application No. 10-2021-0130981 (KR), filed on Oct. 1, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2023/0103349 A1, Apr. 6, 2023
Int. Cl. G01N 21/95 (2006.01); G06T 7/00 (2017.01); H01L 21/66 (2006.01)
CPC G01N 21/9501 (2013.01) [G06T 7/001 (2013.01); H01L 22/12 (2013.01); G06T 2207/30148 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A semiconductor wafer inspection method, comprising:
providing a wafer comprising a target die and a reference die;
obtaining a candidate image of a first region of the target die;
obtaining a reference image of a second region of the reference die, the second region corresponding to the first region;
performing an imaging process on the candidate image to obtain a high resolution candidate image comprising sub-pixels for each pixel of the candidate image;
performing the imaging process on the reference image to obtain a high resolution reference image comprising sub-pixels for each pixel of the reference image;
shifting the high resolution reference image in units of the sub-pixels;
obtaining a difference image based on a difference between the high resolution candidate image and the high resolution reference image;
transforming the difference image to a spatial frequency domain to obtain a first spatial frequency component;
generating a defect signal based on the first spatial frequency component; and
detecting whether the defect signal exceeds a threshold value.