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Mask inspection

About: Mask inspection is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1072 publications have been published within this topic receiving 8696 citations.


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Patent
Shintaro Kawata1
10 Feb 1998
TL;DR: In this paper, an electron-beam scanner is used to scan a mask and then remove the contamination from the mask by a mask-cleaning system, after which the mask is used for exposing a sensitized substrate.
Abstract: Electron-beam projection-exposure apparatus are disclosed that allow a mask pattern to be transferred to a sensitized substrate without defects. An apparatus includes an electron-beam scanner, housed in a vacuum chamber, that scans an electron beam over the mask. As the mask is scanned, an emitted-electron detector senses electrons emitted from the mask at a point of contamination. The contamination is then removed from the mask by a mask-cleaning system, after which the mask is used for exposing a sensitized substrate. The scanner as well as the mask-cleaning system are housed in the same vacuum chamber where projection-exposure of the substrate are performed. Thus, the mask is not exposed to the external environment during inspection, cleaning, and projection-exposure, and inspection, cleaning and projection-exposure of the mask are performed more rapidly than conventionally. The mask-cleaning system, which can utilize a laser beam or a locally delivered reactive gas, cleans the mask at only the points of contamination, rather than the entire mask. Thus, cleaning time is shortened.

46 citations

Proceedings ArticleDOI
10 May 1994
TL;DR: In this article, a hybrid color filter inspection system was developed to increase the production yield of color filters, which contributes to increasing the yield of the color filters in TFT panels.
Abstract: We developed a hybrid color filter inspection system which contributes to increasing the production yield of color filters. As LCD production consists of many processes, the following topics are required: further decrease of the inspection time; grain defect repairement; photomask inspection accuracy improvement; quick feedback of the results for each process; and defect analysis. In addition to this, TFT panel production also requires automatic inspection system and repair system. >

45 citations

Patent
04 Oct 2002
TL;DR: In this article, a method for inspecting multilayer masks to detect any defects includes illuminating a pixel region on a mask to be inspected, using illuminating light having a peak wavelength that is close to that of light reflected by the mask.
Abstract: A method for inspecting multilayer masks to detect any defects includes illuminating a pixel region on a mask to be inspected, using illuminating light having a peak wavelength that is close to that of light reflected by the mask. The illuminating light specularly reflected by the mask is blocked. Scattered reflected illuminating light is collected and used to form an enlarged image. An image detector having a large plurality of pixels is used to observe the enlarged image to detect whether there are defects on the mask. The method is implemented using an mask inspection apparatus including a plasma light source for generating radiant rays, an illuminating light collecting optical system that collects radiated light from the light source for enlarged image formation illumination of a subject inspection region, a Schwarzschild optical system including convex and concave mirrors for collecting scattered light from the subject inspection region and forming an enlarged image of the inspection region, an image detector having a large plurality of pixels for recording the enlarged image that is obtained, and an analyzer that analyzes the images obtained to determine whether there is a defect.

45 citations

Patent
27 May 1999
TL;DR: In this paper, a method for determining whether a defect that is detected by photomask inspection will adversely affect a semiconductor device, such as a wafer, is proposed, which has the ability of relating defect specifications directly to device performance and wafer yields and assessing the impact of combining the defect with the critical dimension error using standard inspection tools.
Abstract: A method for determining whether a defect that is detected by photomask inspection will adversely affect a semiconductor device, such as a wafer. The method has the ability of relating defect specifications directly to device performance and wafer yields, and assessing the impact of combining the defect with the critical dimension error using standard inspection tools. More specifically, the method includes the steps of: inspecting the photomask for defects; measuring the size and location of the defects relative to features on the photomask; classifying the defects by type of defect; assigning an equivalent mask critical dimension error (EME) value to each of the features based on size, location and type of defect; assigning a total mask error to each of the features by adding EME values to each defect impacting the features; and comparing the equivalent critical dimension error to a mask critical dimension error tolerance to determine whether the defects adversely affect the performance of the semiconductor device.

45 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
J.H. Bruning1, M. Feldman1, T.S. Kinsel1, E.K. Sittig1, R.L. Townsend1 
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe an automated mask inspection system (AMIS) used for inspection of step-and-repeat masks used in the fabrication of silicon integrated circuits, which is used to inspect both masters and copies for defects as small as 2 µm and is capable of measuring individual feature linewidths to less than M 1 µm.
Abstract: Photolithographic masks used in the fabrication of silicon integrated circuits must be inspected for defects If the density of defects on a given mask is excessive, the mask is discarded This paper describes an automated mask inspection system (AMIS) used for inspection of step-and-repeat masks The limitations of human inspectors are outlined, and the considerations that led to the development of the present system are indicated Detailed discussions are given of the optical, mechanical, and electronic subsystems, along with a description of the software, including control systems and data processing AMIS is routinely used to inspect both masters and copies for defects as small as 2 µm, and is capable of measuring individual feature linewidths to less than M 01 µm The long-term stability of AMIS and the absence of human fatigue assure consistently accurate measurement of 1) mask defect density, and 2) the fraction of chip sites which are free of defects of size greater than 2 µm

44 citations

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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
202110
202016
201924
201819
201727
201632