JP2001091840A - Microscope system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a microscope system in which the relative size, the positional relation and the kinds of plural defects on an examinee can be visually recognized. SOLUTION: This microscope system is provided with a CCD camera 25 picking up the observation image of the examinee and constituted so that the high-magnification observation image can be obtained based on the observation image of the examinee picked up with low magnification. Besides, it is provided with a stage 22 on which the examinee is placed and which outputs the coordinate of the observation image as scale information. When a desired area is designated on the low-magnification observation image, an image range is decided by an image processor 26 based on the scale information and the magnification information of the stage 22. Besides, the image picked up by the camera 25 is obtained as the high-magnification observation image and the high- magnification observation image is stored in a storage device 30 stepwise with respect to the low-magnification image.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a microscope system used for analyzing a pattern defect of a semiconductor wafer, a liquid crystal substrate, and the like, and for analyzing dust and scratches.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this kind of microscope system,
As shown in FIG. 12, the stage 4 is moved by the motorized stage control device 3 controlled by the computer 2 with respect to the microscope main body 1, and the autofocus control device 5 focuses on the stage 4 via the optical system.
The optical image of the subject 13 above is picked up by the CCD camera 6 and displayed on the TV monitor 7, and the image information at this time is taken into the defect analyzer 9 and the computer 2 via the TV image input device 8, and Is detected. This defect is moved to the center in the observation field of view, enlarged to an appropriate size for defect observation, displayed on the monitor 10, and simultaneously stored in the data storage device 11 and printed by the printing device 12. There is something.

[0003]

However, according to the microscope system configured as described above, for example, FIG.
As shown in (a), a plurality of defects 14a, 1
In the case where 4b and 14c are present, FIG.
As shown in (d), for each of the defects 14a, 14b, and 14c, each defect is moved to the center in the observation visual field, and is enlarged and displayed to an appropriate size for observation. There is a problem that it is difficult to visually grasp the relative positional relationship and the size of these defects 14a, 14b, 14c.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide a microscope system that can visually recognize the relative size, positional relationship, and type of a plurality of defects on a subject. .

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
In a microscope system having an imaging unit that captures an observation image of the subject and enabling acquisition of a high-magnification observation image based on the observation image of the subject captured at a low magnification, A stage that outputs the coordinates of the observation image as scale information, and when a desired area is specified on the low magnification observation image, an image range is determined based on the scale information and magnification information of the stage,
Image processing means for acquiring an image captured by the imaging means as a high-magnification observation image, and storage for hierarchically storing the high-magnification observation image acquired by the image processing apparatus with respect to the low-magnification observation image Means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the image processing means has a function of outputting coordinates of a designated area on a low-magnification observation image. The stage is moved based on the coordinates of (1).

A third aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the first aspect of the present invention, different types of indices can be inserted for each defect on the observation image at low magnification and high magnification.

As a result, according to the first aspect of the present invention,
Since multiple high-magnification image candidate areas can be displayed in the low-magnification image, it is possible to visually recognize which part is being enlarged, and to display the final high-magnification image. By storing hierarchically from low magnification to high magnification, the relative sizes and positional relationships of defects can be visually compared from these images.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, even when a plurality of candidate areas for a high-magnification image exist in a low-magnification image,
The stage can be automatically moved to a target candidate area.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, different indices can be inserted according to the type of defect, so that a plurality of types of defect can be visually recognized.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a microscope system to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, reference numeral 21 denotes a microscope main body.
The stage 22 is made of a so-called scaled microscope capable of moving the stage 22 in the X and Y directions and obtaining the XY coordinates of the stage 22 at this time. The objective lens 23 is focused while performing autofocusing (not shown). An optical image of the subject 24 on the stage 22 is captured by the CCD camera 25 via an observation system having

The image picked up by the CCD camera 25 is
The scale information corresponding to the XY coordinates of the stage 22 of the microscope main body 21 and the magnification information of the objective lens 23 are output to the image processing device 26.

The image processing device 26 includes the first display device 2
7, a second display device 28, a third display device 29, and a storage device 30 are connected. Here, the first display device 27
Is for displaying the image captured by the CCD camera 25 on a monitor. The second display device 28 displays a predetermined low-magnification image. The third display device 29 displays a high-magnification image corresponding to the area specified on the second display device 28.

Next, the operation of the embodiment configured as described above will be described.

First, the capture of a defective image will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In this case, in step 201, the image captured by the CCD camera 25 is taken into the image processing device 26, and in step 202, the low magnification image A set to a low magnification is displayed on the second display device 28 (FIG. 3 ( a)). At this time, the image information taken into the image processing device 26 includes the coordinate information of the image center obtained from the scale information of the microscope main body 21.

Next, in step 203, it is determined whether or not a part (defect group or isolated defect) of the low-magnification image A displayed on the second display device 28 is to be enlarged. Here, if the image does not need to be enlarged, the object 2
It is determined whether or not to continue the other region inspection on the sample 4. If the inspection is to be continued, the stage 22 is moved to another region of the subject 24 by moving the stage 22 in step 205, and the process returns to step 201 to return to step 201. Repeat the operation.

On the other hand, when the image is to be enlarged, areas B and C are designated on the low-magnification image A displayed on the second display device 28 so as to include a defective portion. Here, when the area B is designated (FIG. 3A), this designation information is sent to the microscope main body 21, and in step 206, the magnification of the objective lens 23 of the microscope main body 21 is increased.
5 is taken into the image processing device 26, and
At 08, the captured image is displayed on the third display device 29 as the first-stage enlarged image B '(FIG. 3B). In this case, the range of the enlarged image B ′ is the area B in the second display device 28.
And the magnification information of the objective lens 23. Also, the first-stage enlarged image B ′ is
The image is stored in the storage device 30 as a lower image of the low-magnification image A.

Next, in step 209, it is determined whether or not the first-stage enlarged image B 'displayed on the third display device 29 is further enlarged. Here, if the second-stage image enlargement is not required, in step 210, the second display device 2
It is determined whether the image enlarging process has also been completed for the region C in the entire image A of No. 8 and, if not, the process moves to the next region C in step 211 and returns to step 207 to execute the above-described operation. repeat. If the first-stage image enlargement processing has been completed for the area C, step 212
Then, the whole image A shown in FIG.
Is displayed, and the process returns to step 204 to repeat the above-described operation for another range.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 209 that the first-stage enlarged image B ′ displayed on the third display device 29 is further enlarged, then in step 213 the third display device 2 is determined.
9 is displayed on the second display device 28 (FIG. 3C), and the second display device 2
A plurality of areas B1, B2, and B3 that need to be enlarged are designated in the first-stage enlarged image B 'displayed in FIG. Here, when the area B1 is designated, this designation information is sent to the microscope main body 21, and the process returns to step 206, where the magnification of the objective lens 23 of the microscope main body 21 is further increased, and the CCD camera 25
Is captured by the image processing device 26, and the captured image is displayed on the third display device 29 as a second-stage enlarged image B1 '(FIG. 3D).

Hereinafter, the same applies to the regions B2 and B3.
The captured images corresponding to the areas B2 and B3 are displayed on the third display device 29 as second-stage enlarged images B2 ′ and B3 ′ (FIGS. 3E and 3F).

Then, these second-stage enlarged images B
1 ′, B2 ′, and B3 ′ are stored in the storage device 3 as lower images of the first-stage enlarged image B ′ displayed on the second display device 28.
0 is stored.

As a result, the storage device 30 stores the first-stage enlarged image B ′ and the low-magnification image A as shown in FIG.
C ′ and further enlarged images B1 ′, B2 ′, and B of the second stage
3 'will be imported hierarchically.

Next, the retrieval of defective images hierarchically stored in the storage device 30 as shown in FIG. 4 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In this case, in step 501, the low-magnification image A is read from the storage device 30 and displayed on the second display device 28 (FIG. 6A). next,
In step 502, it is determined whether to view an enlarged image. If the user does not see the enlarged image, the process ends. on the other hand,
If the user wants to view the enlarged image, the process proceeds to step 503, where a desired area is designated among the plurality of areas B and C in the low-magnification image A of the second display device 28. Here, when the area B is specified (FIG. 6A), the first-stage enlarged image B ′ corresponding to the area B is read from the storage device 30 and the step 204 is performed.
Is displayed on the third display device 29 (FIG. 6B).

Next, in step 505, it is determined whether or not the first-stage enlarged image B 'displayed on the third display device 29 is further enlarged. Here, if the image does not need to be enlarged, it is determined in step 506 whether or not the enlarged image of the area C of the low-magnification image A on the second display device 28 is to be viewed. If the user wants to view an enlarged image, the process returns to step 503 to repeat the above-described operation.

On the other hand, when it is determined that the first-stage enlarged image B 'is to be further enlarged, in step 507, the enlarged image B' of the third display device 29 is displayed on the second display device 28 (FIG. 6 (c)). )), Returning to step 503 to repeat the above-described operation. In this case, the plurality of regions B1, B2, B in the first-stage enlarged image B 'displayed on the second display device 28
3 to specify a desired area. Here, when the area B1 is designated, the second-stage enlarged image B corresponding to the area B1
1 'is read from the storage device 30, and the third display device 29
(FIG. 6D).

Hereinafter, the same applies to the areas B2 and B3.
By simply indicating the respective areas B2 and B3, the captured images corresponding to the respective areas B2 and B3 are the second-stage enlarged images B2 ′ and B3 ′.
Is displayed on the third display device 29 (FIG. 3E).
(F)).

Accordingly, in this way, a plurality of inspection areas of the high magnification image can be displayed in the low magnification image, so that it is possible to visually recognize which part is enlarged. . In addition, since up to the final high-magnification image can be hierarchically stored from low magnification to high magnification, and both the low-magnification image and the enlarged image can be displayed, the relative defect can be determined from these hierarchical images. The visual size and positional relationship can be compared visually.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 7 shows a schematic configuration of a second embodiment of the present invention, and the same parts as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

In this case, the image processing device 26 has a function of outputting the coordinates of the area specified on the image, for example, the center coordinates, and the microscope main body 21 moves the stage based on the coordinates given from the image processing device 26. A microscope with a motorized stage having a function of moving 22 is used.

In such a configuration, the acquisition of a defective image is performed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 8. Steps 801 to 813 are the same as those described in the flowchart shown in FIG. Also,
Display examples on the second display device 28 and the third display device 29 are the same as those in FIG.

In this case, if it is determined in step 809 that the first-stage enlarged image B ′ displayed on the third display device 29 is to be further enlarged, the third
The first-stage enlarged image B ′ displayed on the display device 29 is displayed on the second display device 28, and subsequently, a plurality of areas B1, B2, and so on in the enlarged image B ′ on the second display device 28 are displayed. A desired area is designated in B3. Here, when the region B1 is designated, the designation information is sent to the microscope main body 21, and in step 814, the center coordinates of the designated region B1 are output from the image processing device 26. Are controlled so as to match.

Then, returning to step 806, the magnification of the objective lens 23 of the microscope main body 21 is further increased, and the CCD
The captured image of the camera 25 is taken into the image processing device 26, and the captured image is displayed on the third display device 29 as a second-stage enlarged image B1 '(FIG. 3D).

Hereinafter, the same applies to the areas B2 and B3.
The captured images corresponding to the areas B2 and B3 are displayed on the third display device 29 as second-stage enlarged images B2 ′ and B3 ′ (FIGS. 3E and 3F).

The extraction of the image is the same as that described in the flowchart shown in FIG. 5, and the description is omitted here.

Therefore, according to this configuration, the image processing device 26 is provided with a function of outputting the center coordinates of the area specified on the image, and the microscope main body 21 is controlled based on the coordinates given from the image processing device 26. By providing the function of moving the stage 22 to position the designated area at the center of the field of view of the observation system, even if a plurality of candidate areas for high-magnification images exist in the low-magnification image, the target position can be set. The stage 22 can be automatically moved, so that it is not necessary to move the stage 22 to a target position, and an efficient board inspection can be realized.

(Third Embodiment) FIG. 9 shows a schematic configuration of a third embodiment of the present invention, and the same parts as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

In this case, a defect registration device 31 is connected to the image processing device 26. This defect registration device 31
Indices of different types are inserted into the inspection location for each defect, and the indices for each defect can be registered. Further, the image processing device 26 has a function of calculating defect coordinates based on the above-described index information, including the scale information of the microscope main body 21 and the magnification information of the objective lens 23 as described above.

In such a configuration, a flow chart shown in FIG. 10 is executed for taking in a defective image. In this case, in step 1001, the image picked up by the CCD camera 25 is taken into the image processing device 26, and step 1 is executed.
At 002, the low-magnification image A is displayed on the second display device 28 (FIG. 11A). Next, in step 1003, it is determined whether or not the type of defect can be determined on the low-magnification image A. If it can be determined, a different index is inserted for each type of defect. Register with.

If it is difficult to determine the type of defect, a low magnification image A in the second display device 28 is displayed in step 1005.
It is determined whether or not a part of is enlarged. Here, if the image does not need to be enlarged, in step 1006, the subject 2
It is determined whether or not to continue the other area inspection on the object 4. If the inspection is to be continued, the stage 22 is moved to another area of the subject 24 by moving the stage 22 in step 1007.
Returning to step 1, the above operation is repeated.

On the other hand, when the image is to be enlarged, a desired area is designated among a plurality of areas B and C of the low-magnification image A of the second display device 28. Here, when the area B is designated (FIG. 11A), this designation information is sent to the microscope main body 21, and in step 1008, the magnification of the objective lens 23 of the microscope main body 21 is increased. Is captured by the image processing device 26, and in step 21010, the captured image is displayed on the third display device 29 as a first-stage enlarged image B '(FIG. 11B). In this case, the range of the enlarged image B ′ is obtained from the scale information corresponding to the area B in the second display device 28 and the magnification information of the objective lens 23. Also, the enlarged image B ′ is
Is stored in the storage device 30 as a lower image of the low-magnification image A of the display device 28.

Next, in step 1011, the enlarged image B ′
It is determined whether the type of the defect can be determined, and if it can be determined, a different index is inserted for each defect, and the defect is registered in the defect registration device 31 in step 1012.

If it is difficult to determine the defect type, it is determined in step 1013 whether or not the first-stage enlarged image B ′ displayed on the third display device 29 is further enlarged. Here, if the image enlargement is not required, it is determined in step 1014 whether the image enlargement processing has been completed for the area C in the low magnification image A of the second display device 28,
If not, the next area C is determined in step 1015.
And returns to step 1009 to repeat the above-described operation. If the image enlarging process has been completed for the region C as well, at step 1016, the low magnification image A shown in FIG.
Returning to 006, the operation described above is repeated.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step 1013 that the first-stage enlarged image B ′ displayed on the third display device 29 is further enlarged, in step 1017, the enlarged image B ′ of the third display device 29 is displayed. The image is displayed on the second display device 28 (FIG. 11C), and a plurality of areas B1, B2, B in the first-stage enlarged image B ′ displayed on the second display device 28 are displayed.
3 to specify a desired area. Here, when the area B1 is designated, this designation information is sent to the microscope main body 21, and
Returning to step 1008, the magnification of the objective lens 23 of the microscope main body 21 is further increased, the captured image of the CCD camera 25 is taken into the image processing device 26, and the captured image is displayed as the second-stage enlarged image B1 'in the third display. It is displayed on the device 29 (FIG. 11D). Then, in step 1011,
It is determined whether the type of the defect can be determined on the enlarged image B1 'of the second stage. If the type can be determined, a defect index corresponding to the type is inserted.
Register with. In this case, a film unevenness index x represented by a figure □ is added as a defect index in the vicinity of the defective portion.

Hereinafter, the same applies to the areas B2 and B3.
The captured images corresponding to the respective regions B2 and B3 are displayed on the third display device 29 as enlarged images B2 'and B3', and the film unevenness index x and the graphic △ are respectively displayed as defect indexes. The damaged index y is added in the vicinity of the defective portion (FIGS. 11E and 11F).

The second-stage enlarged image B
1 ′, B2 ′, B3 ′ are stored in the storage device 30 as lower images of the first-stage enlarged image B ′ displayed on the second display device 28.
Is stored.

Therefore, in this way, the index indicating the type of defect can be inserted into the defect image, so that when the stored defect image is reproduced thereafter, the defect type can be visually confirmed. can do. In addition, by reflecting the defect index on a relatively low-magnification original image in which a plurality of regions B and C exist, what kind of defect exists at which position, and the size of the defect Visual comparison of defects, such as comparison of

In this embodiment, the case where the defect index is represented by a graphic has been described. However, the defect index can be represented by using a color.

[0049]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a microscope system capable of visually recognizing the relative size, positional relationship, type, and the like of a plurality of defects on an object.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary view for explaining an example of storage in the storage device according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the third embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an operation of the third embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a conventional microscope system.

FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining the operation of a conventional microscope system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 21 microscope main body 22 stage 23 objective lens 24 subject 25 CCD camera 26 image processing device 27 first display device 28 second display device 29 third display device 30 storage device 31 … Defect registration device

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A microscope system, comprising: an imaging unit that captures an observation image of a subject, wherein the microscope system is capable of acquiring a high-magnification observation image based on a low-magnification observation image of the subject. And a stage that outputs the coordinates of the observation image as scale information, and when a desired region is designated on the low magnification observation image, an image range is set based on the scale information and magnification information of the stage. Image processing means for determining and obtaining an image picked up by the image pickup means as a high-magnification observation image; and hierarchizing the high-magnification observation image obtained by the image processing apparatus with respect to the low-magnification observation image. And a storage means for storing the data in the microscope. 2. The image processing means has a function of outputting coordinates of an area designated on a low-magnification observation image, and moves the stage based on the coordinates output from the image processing means. The microscope system according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The microscope system according to claim 1, wherein different types of indices can be inserted for each defect on the observation images at low magnification and high magnification.