SEMVision G5 Defect Review

Defect inspection and review are vital aspects of semiconductor fabrication, providing the means to monitor and control the quality of individual steps in the manufacturing sequence. Inspecting for defects and reviewing them to determine their character, composition, and root cause are essential in enabling chipmakers to ramp up production runs rapidly and achieve high production yields.

The standard procedure involves first optically inspecting a sample of production wafers. This is followed by imaging the defects at high resolution from various angles using the electron beam of a high-speed scanning electron microscope (SEM) to identify their nature and determine appropriate corrective action. In a revolutionary advance, Applied Materials SEMVision technology, introduced in 1998, automated the formerly labor-intensive and time-consuming defect review (DR) process of manually navigating to each defect location and has been progressively enhancing DR capabilities ever since.

The fifth generation of this revolutionary technology, the SEMVision G5 suite of in-line defect review and analysis products (G5, G5 HP, and G5 MAX) extends Applied’s long-established leadership in DR with the fastest, most precise, and smartest SEM system for 22nm and beyond. Besides producing the highest image quality and finest pixel resolution, the SEMVision G5 enables completely operator-free, wafer-in/wafer-out automation of the entire review process from receipt of the wafer from the inspection tool through recipe creation to receipt of a set of high-resolution images of only the true defects. The visible pixel size in production is now 1 nanometer (down from 2), allowing our customers to see defects in images one quarter the size previously available.

The SEMVision G5 platform delivers high-throughput imaging of true defects as small as 20nm, providing production class images in a 0.5µm field of view at unmatched production throughput. The SEMVision G5 ADRTrue™ application automatically separates true defects from false and provides a clean sample of real defects for the final pareto chart that plots frequency of occurrence vs. type of defect. Imaging capabilities include an enhanced SEM column with different detectors for simultaneous imaging of material and topographic perspectives, leading to best topography imaging; novel charging suppression; new imaging of bottom layer defects; and extraction of high aspect ratio images. State-of the-art algorithms support production and engineering applications. In addition, the SEMVision G5 delivers comprehensive defect analysis on the wafer's edge, bevel, and apex, addressing critical defect migration issues associated with advanced immersion lithography.

The novel automatic EDX (Energy Dispersive X-ray) module collects x-rays emitted from defects to determine their elemental composition and enables fast, full-spectrum acquisition material analysis of defects smaller than 30nm. SEM column rotation and tilt flexibility up to 45 degrees relative to the wafer makes available complete 3D data for superior defect visualization and classification.

SEMVision is the sole defect review tool to offer automated in-line Wavelength Dispersive X-ray (WDX) material analysis for definitive identification of all existing elements. Combining the extreme energy resolution of WDX with the full-spectrum coverage and high throughput of novel EDX material analysis, SEMVision enables robust analysis of defects smaller than 30nm at record cycle times.