JP5998068B2 - Image processing apparatus, measurement system, and image processing program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus.

  Conventionally, a technique for extracting a contour line from an observation image such as an SEM image obtained by photographing a semiconductor pattern is called edge extraction or contour line extraction, and is widely used. For example, Patent Document 1 below discloses a technique that can eliminate not only the surplus, overlap, or beard of the contour line of the sample pattern but also the break of the contour line.

JP 2011-128070 A

  In the observed image, the lower layer part of the sample, that is, the lower layer pattern formed in the part corresponding to the inner layer of the sample when viewed from the side irradiated with the charged particle beam, may be included together with the upper layer pattern formed on the sample surface side. is there. In the conventional image processing technique as described in Patent Document 1, it is difficult to suitably extract only the lower layer pattern from the observation image in which the upper layer pattern and the lower layer pattern are mixed.

  The present invention has been made in view of the problems as described above, and provides an image processing technique that can satisfactorily extract only a lower layer pattern from an observation image in which an upper layer pattern and a lower layer pattern of a sample are mixed. The purpose is to provide.

  The image processing apparatus according to the present invention extracts the lower layer pattern from the observation image by removing the upper layer pattern that exists outside the range of the lower layer pattern in the observation image.

According to the image processing apparatus of the present invention, the lower layer pattern can be satisfactorily extracted from the observation image in which the upper layer pattern and the lower layer pattern of the sample are mixed.
Problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will become apparent from the following description of embodiments.

1 is a configuration diagram of a measurement system 1000. FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of design data of the upper layer pattern of the sample which the design database 300 stores. It is a figure which shows the example of design data of the lower layer pattern of the sample which the design database 300 stores. It is a figure which shows the SEM image example of the sample which the electron microscope 200 acquired. It is a figure which shows the example which extracted the outline of the upper layer pattern from the SEM image of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example which made the outline of the upper layer pattern shown in FIG. 5 thick. It is a figure which shows the example which mask-processed the design data of the lower layer pattern with the design data of the upper layer pattern. It is a figure which shows the example which thinned the mask data shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the example which inverted the luminance value of the mask data shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the example which thinned the mask data which reversed the luminance value. It is a figure which shows the example which synthesize | combined thinning mask data and thinning inversion mask data. It is a figure which shows the result of having implemented edge detection with respect to the SEM image shown in FIG. 4 by using the synthetic | combination thinning mask data shown in FIG. 10 as an image marker. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example in which the edge detection result shown in FIG. 11 is masked by the outline of the thicker upper layer pattern shown in FIG. 6. It is a figure which shows the example which interpolated the outline of the part hidden by the upper layer pattern among the lower layer patterns. It is a figure which shows the image which edge-enhanced the SEM image of FIG.

<System configuration>
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a measurement system 1000 according to the present invention. The measurement system 1000 is a system that acquires an observation image of a sample, and includes an image processing apparatus 100, an electron microscope 200, and a design database 300. These devices are connected by an appropriate communication network and can transmit and receive data to and from each other.

  The electron microscope 200 obtains an observation image by irradiating a charged particle beam to a sample to be measured, and transmits image data of the observation image to the image processing apparatus 100. In the following description, the above-described upper layer pattern and lower layer pattern formed on a semiconductor substrate are handled as a sample, and the electron microscope 100 acquires the SEM image. However, the sample is not limited to the semiconductor pattern, and may be any sample that can observe the upper layer pattern and the lower layer pattern. Further, the images of the upper layer pattern and the lower layer pattern are not limited to SEM images, and it is sufficient that similar images can be acquired.

  The design database 300 is a database that stores design data of an upper layer pattern and a lower layer pattern formed on a sample. It is assumed that each pattern on the sample is formed according to the design data stored in the design database 300.

  The image processing apparatus 100 is an apparatus that analyzes an observation image acquired by the electron microscope 200 and extracts a lower layer pattern. Each functional unit included in the image processing apparatus 100 will be described later. Each functional unit can be configured by using hardware such as a circuit device that realizes the function, or is configured by executing an arithmetic unit such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) on which the function is implemented. You can also.

<Explanation of sample>
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of design data of the upper layer pattern of the sample stored in the design database 300. The white (or high luminance value) part is an area where the upper layer pattern is formed, and the black (or low luminance value) part is a background area outside the upper layer pattern.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of design data of the lower layer pattern of the sample stored in the design database 300. As shown in FIG. The black and white design data is the same as the upper layer pattern shown in FIG.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of an SEM image of a sample acquired by the electron microscope 200. When the electron microscope 200 acquires the SEM image of the sample, both the upper layer pattern and the lower layer pattern of the sample can be photographed, so that both the upper layer pattern and the lower layer pattern exist in the image shown in FIG. The image processing apparatus 100 extracts only the lower layer pattern from the SEM image according to the operation principle described below.

<Operation Principle of Image Processing Apparatus 100>
In general, a pattern formed on a sample can be extracted by performing edge detection on an observation image. However, if edge detection is performed as it is on an SEM image including both the upper layer pattern and the lower layer pattern as shown in FIG. 4, both patterns are detected. Therefore, the image processing apparatus 100 tries to perform edge detection while avoiding only the portion where the upper layer pattern is formed according to the concept described below.

  When the SEM image shown in FIG. 4 is observed as a whole, the lower layer pattern extends in the horizontal direction of the image, and the upper layer pattern in the vertical direction is formed at the center. If the upper layer pattern and the lower layer pattern do not overlap, that is, if the upper and lower end portions of the image where the upper layer pattern protrudes from the lower layer pattern can be removed, the lower layer pattern is photographed as the entire image, and the upper layer pattern is part of the lower layer pattern. Becomes an image that is superimposed. Thereafter, it is considered that only the lower layer pattern can be extracted by removing the superimposed upper layer pattern.

  Specifically, a part where the upper layer pattern overlaps the upper layer pattern by placing an image marker that displays that fact in the part where the upper layer pattern protrudes from the lower layer pattern, and performing edge detection while avoiding the image marker It is considered that an image obtained by photographing only the image is obtained. In order to remove the superposed upper layer pattern, for example, only the upper layer pattern may be extracted from the original SEM image, and mask processing may be performed using this.

  An image marker to be arranged at a portion where the upper layer pattern protrudes from the lower layer pattern can be created using design data. The protruding portion can be identified by using an image processing process by inverting and superimposing the brightness of the design data. Specific examples will be described later.

<Operation Procedure of Image Processing Apparatus 100>
Hereinafter, a processing procedure in which the image processing apparatus 100 extracts a lower layer pattern from the SEM image illustrated in FIG. 4 will be described.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example in which the contour line of the upper layer pattern is extracted from the SEM image of FIG. The extraction processing unit 140 creates an image obtained by extracting the upper layer pattern from the observation image taken by the electron microscope 200 as shown in FIG. Since the method of extracting the upper layer pattern is known, it is omitted here. The image shown in FIG. 5 is used to remove the upper layer pattern superimposed on the lower layer pattern in the steps described later.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example in which the outline of the upper layer pattern shown in FIG. 5 is bolded. The extraction processing unit 140 can use the upper layer pattern shown in FIG. 5 as it is. However, in order to more reliably remove the upper layer pattern superimposed on the lower layer pattern, it is desirable to use a thicker upper layer pattern. . Since the method of thickening is well known, it is omitted here.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example in which the lower layer pattern design data is masked by the upper layer pattern design data. The mask processing unit 110 masks the design data of the upper layer pattern and the lower layer pattern acquired from the design database 300 as described above, and generates mask data as illustrated in FIG.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example in which the mask data shown in FIG. 7 is thinned. The thinning processing unit 120 generates thinning mask data as illustrated in FIG. 8 by performing thinning processing on the mask data. Thinning here refers to thinning a portion of mask data having a high luminance (corresponding to a region where a lower layer pattern is formed). The thinning process is a technique that is generally known, for example, a process of thinning a character line, for example, and therefore a specific method is omitted. By performing the thinning process on FIG. 7, the lower layer pattern portion is narrowed. The reason for performing the thinning process will be described later.

  In the example shown in FIG. 8, finally, a mask pattern is formed in which the black bold “T” is inverted and connected. Since the black portion is formed by masking the lower layer pattern with the upper layer pattern, it generally corresponds to a region where the lower layer pattern does not exist on the SEM image. However, it has a certain width due to thickening.

  FIG. 9A is a diagram showing an example in which the luminance value of the mask data shown in FIG. 7 is inverted. This data is thinned as shown in FIG. 9B.

  FIG. 9B is a diagram illustrating an example in which the mask data obtained by inverting the luminance value is thinned. The thinning processing unit 120 performs thinning after inverting the luminance value of the mask data shown in FIG. 7 in addition to the thinning mask data shown in FIG. Invert mask data is generated. Since thinning is performed after the luminance value is reversed, unlike FIG. 8, thin vertical lines are arranged in the region where the upper layer pattern is formed.

  In the example shown in FIG. 9B, since the luminance value is inverted from FIG. 8, a mask pattern is formed in which white (or high luminance color) fine characters “T” are vertically inverted and connected. Similar to the black portion in FIG. 8, the white portion generally corresponds to a region where no lower layer pattern exists. However, in the thinning process, portions where high luminance values intersect with each other remain without being thinned completely as in the triangular regions shown in the upper and lower ends of FIG. 9B. This is common in thinning processing. As a result, in the mask data shown in FIG. 9B, the portion where the upper layer pattern overlaps with the region where the lower layer pattern is not arranged, that is, the portion where the upper layer pattern protrudes from the lower layer pattern is arranged without being thinned. It will be a thing.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example in which thinning mask data and thinning inversion mask data are combined. The synthesizing processing unit 130 synthesizes the thinning mask data shown in FIG. 8 and the thinning inversion mask data shown in FIG. 9B to generate synthetic thinning mask data illustrated in FIG. This combined thinning mask data functions as the image marker described above. That is, the extraction processing unit 140 regards a portion (and a predetermined range around it) corresponding to a region whose luminance value is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold in the synthetic thinning mask data in the region in the SEM image as an image marker, Edge detection is performed avoiding this region.

  In the example shown in FIG. 10, the extraction processing unit 140 performs edge detection along the black portion of the thinning mask data shown in FIG. 8 as a whole. However, for the portion where the upper layer pattern protrudes from the lower layer pattern, the edge detection is performed by avoiding this by using the image marker arranged in the remaining portion without being thinned as described in FIG. 9B. . Similarly, a portion where the upper layer pattern and the lower layer pattern overlap is also avoided. As a result, the edge detection trajectory has a shape such that “c” is reversed and connected.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a result of edge detection performed on the SEM image illustrated in FIG. 4 using the combined thinning mask data illustrated in FIG. 10 as an image marker. Although the portion where the upper layer pattern protrudes from the lower layer pattern is avoided, the upper layer pattern remains superimposed on the lower layer pattern.

  FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example in which the edge detection result shown in FIG. 11 is masked by the outline of the thicker upper layer pattern shown in FIG. The extraction processing unit 140 removes the upper layer pattern superimposed in the lower layer pattern using the image of the upper layer pattern illustrated in FIG. 6 that has been generated in advance.

  FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a contour line of a portion hidden by the upper layer pattern in the lower layer pattern is interpolated. Since the upper layer pattern is disposed above the lower layer pattern, a part of the lower layer pattern may be hidden by the upper layer pattern. At this time, if the upper layer pattern superimposed on the lower layer pattern is removed, a lower layer pattern image in which a part is interrupted is obtained. The extraction processing unit 140 completely reproduces the lower layer pattern by interpolating the interrupted portion. Since the interpolation method is known, it will not be mentioned here.

  FIG. 14 is a view showing an image obtained by edge-enhancing the SEM image of FIG. In the above process, each functional unit of the image processing apparatus 100 may perform each process after performing an edge enhancement process once on the SEM image.

<Summary of the present invention>
As described above, the image processing apparatus 100 according to the present invention removes the portion of the observation image where the upper layer pattern protrudes from the lower layer pattern by using the image marker described with reference to FIGS. Extract the lower layer pattern from the image. Thereby, only a lower layer pattern can be extracted satisfactorily.

  The image processing apparatus 100 according to the present invention uses the thinning mask data described with reference to FIG. 8 and the thinning reversal mask data described with reference to FIG. 9B as the above-described image marker. Thereby, since the image marker can be arranged within the range of the image processing, the lower layer pattern can be extracted without largely changing the existing image processing.

  The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and includes various modifications. The above embodiment has been described in detail for easy understanding of the present invention, and is not necessarily limited to the one having all the configurations described. Further, with respect to a part of the configuration of each embodiment, another configuration can be added, deleted, or replaced.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100: Image processing apparatus, 110: Mask processing part, 120: Thinning processing part, 130: Composition processing part, 140: Extraction processing part, 200: Electron microscope, 300: Design database, 1000: Measurement system

Claims (7)

An image processing apparatus for extracting the lower layer pattern from an observation image obtained by photographing both the upper layer pattern formed in the upper layer portion of the sample and the lower layer pattern formed in the lower layer portion of the sample,
A mask processing unit for generating mask data obtained by masking the design data of the lower layer pattern with the design data of the upper layer pattern;
A thinning processing unit that generates thinning mask data obtained by thinning the mask data and thinning reversal mask data obtained by reversing luminance of the mask data and thinning the mask data;
A synthesizing processing unit for creating a synthetic thinning mask data obtained by superimposing the thinning mask data and the thinning inversion mask data;
Using the image pattern corresponding to the upper layer pattern included in the composite thinning mask data, removing the upper layer pattern that exists outside the range of the lower layer pattern in the observation image, thereby removing the upper layer pattern from the observation image. An extraction processing unit that extracts a lower layer pattern,
An image processing apparatus comprising: The extraction processing unit
By searching for an edge portion avoiding an image pattern corresponding to the upper layer pattern in the synthetic thinning mask data among regions in the observation image, the upper layer pattern and the lower layer pattern are overlapped from the observation image. Extract the image pattern of the
The image pattern corresponding to the upper layer pattern is removed from the observation image by masking the image pattern of the portion where the upper layer pattern and the lower layer pattern overlap with the image pattern obtained by extracting the upper layer pattern from the observation image. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lower layer pattern is extracted. The extraction processing unit
Corresponding to the upper layer pattern from the observed image by masking the image pattern of the portion where the upper layer pattern and the lower layer pattern overlap with the thickened image pattern after extracting the upper layer pattern from the observed image The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the lower layer pattern is extracted by removing an image pattern. The extraction processing unit
Performing the search by avoiding an image pattern corresponding to the upper layer pattern by avoiding a portion corresponding to an area having a luminance of a predetermined threshold value or more in the synthetic thinning mask data among the regions in the observation image. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein: The extraction processing unit
When an image pattern obtained by removing the image pattern corresponding to the upper layer pattern from the observed image and extracting the lower layer pattern has a portion interrupted by overlapping with the upper layer pattern, the portion is interpolated. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the lower layer pattern maintaining continuity is acquired. An electron microscope that generates an observation image of the sample by irradiating the sample with a charged particle beam;
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lower layer pattern is extracted from the observation image.
A measurement system comprising: A program for causing a computer to execute an image processing method for extracting the lower layer pattern from an observation image obtained by photographing both an upper layer pattern formed on an upper layer portion of a sample and a lower layer pattern formed on a lower layer portion of the sample, On the computer,
A mask step of generating mask data obtained by masking the design data of the lower layer pattern with the design data of the upper layer pattern;
A thinning step for generating thinned mask data obtained by thinning the mask data and a thinned inverted mask data obtained by reversing the luminance of the mask data and thinning the mask data;
A synthesizing step of creating a synthetic thinning mask data obtained by superimposing the thinning mask data and the thinning inversion mask data;
Using the image pattern corresponding to the upper layer pattern included in the composite thinning mask data, removing the upper layer pattern that exists outside the range of the lower layer pattern in the observation image, thereby removing the upper layer pattern from the observation image. An extraction step for extracting a lower layer pattern;
An image processing program for executing

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