This article presents the evolution of the first fully automated simulation based mask defect dispositioning and defect management system used since late 2002 in a production environment at Intel Mask Operation (IMO). Given that inspection tools flag defects which may or may not have any lithographic significance, it makes sense to repair only those defects that resolve on the wafer. The system described here is a fully automated defect dispositioning system, where the lithographic impact of a defect is determined through computer simulation of the mask level image. From the simulated aerial images, combined with image processing techniques, the system can automatically determine the actual critical dimension (CD) impact (in nanometers). Then, using the product specification as a criteria, can pass or fail the defect. Furthermore, this system allows engineers and technicians in the factory to track defects as they are repaired, compare defects at various inspection steps and annotate repair history. Trends such as yield and defect commonality can also be determined. The article concludes with performance results, indicating the speed and accuracy of the system, as well as the savings in the number of defects needing repair.

Date Published: 6 December 2004
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 5567, 24th Annual BACUS Symposium on Photomask Technology, (6 December 2004); doi: 10.1117/12.569096

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 5567:
24th Annual BACUS Symposium on Photomask Technology
Wolfgang Staud; J. Tracy Weed, Editor(s)