JPS58179343A - Inspection method of figure - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate the need for correction of distortion of a scanner, etc. or positioning of high precision in the inspection of defects in an electronic circuit figure, etc. by making comparison inspection with only the quantity of the figure elements within each divided region. CONSTITUTION:There are two kinds of the figure elements to be inspected in this invention, that is, a patterned part which is subjected to patterning and a blank part which is not subjected to said patterning. If the figure to be inspected is a product such as an IC or transistor, it is necessary to make figure inspection for color elements as well. In such a case, the figure to be inspected is beforehand separated to each color element by using a filter or color camera or the like and is inputted, whereby figure data is obtained with each color element. The quantity of the figure elements 4 contained in an optionally divided region 3 is determined by a known method with respect to the patterned part and the blank part respectively and is compared with the quantity of the figure elements in the same region as the above-described divided region included in the corresponding standard figure. If the quantities are the same, the object to be inspected is decided to be nondefective.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for inspecting figures, particularly mask figures for forming electronic circuits, and electronic circuit figures formed on various substrates. With the rapid progress of high integration and density, the above-mentioned figures tend to become more and more moldy, but in such a situation, it is possible to inspect whether or not these figures have defects. This has become an important problem in the manufacturing of electronic circuit components.

There are various types of defects K14 in mask graphics or electronic circuit graphics, but the most serious one is unspecified continuity or discontinuity contained in a graphic element. This is because these defects can cause fatal consequences such as disconnection or short circuits in electronic circuits, and defects in electrophoretic circuit figures (hereinafter simply referred to as figures) formed on shapes or various substrates.
In particular, the present invention provides a method for efficiently inspecting unspecified continuity and discontinuity included in a graphic element. According to the present invention, since the number of graphical elements included in a pre-divided region, area, or line segment is determined and a comparison inspection is performed, if continuity or discontinuity other than the above-mentioned predetermined continuity exists, Detection is possible because the number of elements is different.

In addition, perform a thinning or thickening operation on the figure to be inspected in advance, and then perform a comparative inspection by calculating the number of the figure elements), and perform a comparison inspection by performing a thinning or thickening operation on the figure to be inspected. , or it is possible to detect incompletely separated locations where the spacing between graphic elements is narrow.

Conventionally, this type of inspection method involves aligning the butterfly, the target figure to be inspected and the standard figure in advance using a generally known method, scanning both with separate scanners, etc., and sequentially comparing the resulting figure data. A testing method was used. In this case, if the alignment accuracy between the figure to be inspected and the standard figure is not maintained, there is a possibility of defective @i[ll.
Furthermore, there are problems in that highly accurate alignment is technically difficult, and it is necessary to correct distortion in a scanner or the like that inputs graphic data.

The method provided here does not require distortion correction using a table scanner or the like or highly accurate positioning as described above, and describes a comparative inspection method of a roughly positioned target figure to be inspected and a standard figure.

The present invention will be explained in detail below with reference to the drawings.

taaa is a diagram showing how to take out a mask diagram for forming an electronic circuit; in the same figure, l indicates a figure to be inspected, and 2Fi indicates a figure element included in the figure to be inspected. The graphical elements targeted by the present invention include:
There are two types: a pattern portion where pattern formation is performed and an indented margin portion where pattern formation is not performed.

Generally, the shape of the object to be inspected is IC (Integrated).
In the case of products such as C1rcuit) or transistors, it is necessary to perform four graphical inspections on color elements.

In such a case, as described in Claims 3, 314, 7, or 8, a filter or an acid color camera or the like is used to examine the figure t to be inspected.
Since To decomposes and inputs each color element in advance,
Graphic data as shown in FIG. 1 is obtained for each color element.

Figure 2 is a companion diagram showing how the nine-figure data obtained by the above method is divided into a plurality of regions). The number of 40 elements is calculated for each of the pattern part and the margin part using a generally known method, and a comparison test is performed with the number of graphic elements in the same area as the nine divided areas included in the corresponding standard figure. If they are the same, it is determined that the product is good.

In this way, the method provided by the present invention is different from the conventional method.Since the method provided by the present invention is a comparative test only for the number of graphic elements in each divided region, it is necessary to perform region division appropriately. There is no need to strictly align the figure to be inspected with the standard figure.

#! Figure 3 shows the divided figure within the required area: g! FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a method for determining whether or not an unspecified continuity or discontinuity exists in the element. In the figure KsP, (a) shows the situation when the graphic element is non-defective, and (b) shows the situation when an unspecified discontinuous point 5 exists in the graphic element, and the pattern part in the graphic element It shows how the number of graphic elements increases and the number of graphic elements in the margin decreases, (C
)a This shows how an unspecified continuous portion 6 exists in the graphic element, the number of pattern parts in the graphic element decreases, and the number of margin parts increases. Thus, one K as provided by the present invention.

The number of graphical elements included in the divided areas is determined by a generally known method, and the O ratio I2 is calculated with the number of graphical elements in the same area included in the corresponding standard figure. If the results are not equal, it can be determined that there is an unspecified discontinuity or continuity.

As described in the fourth drawing line, claims 2, 4, 6, and 8, the figure to be inspected is subjected to a narrowing operation in advance to avoid imperfections in the figure element. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a method K'') for inspecting whether there is a continuous portion.

In the same figure, -) indicates the situation when the graphic element is in good condition, (baa indicates the situation when the incomplete continuous part 7 exists in the graphic element, Gc) -)K in the same figure, respectively. Fig. 9 shows the appearance of the graphic element 9 obtained by applying a narrowing operation by a predetermined translation amount to the image. It is shown that the number of pattern parts in the graphic element increases and the number of blank parts decreases as a continuous part lo occurs.

In this way, in the ninth step of determining whether the graphical elements are completely continuous, perform a narrowing operation by a predetermined distance to find incompletely continuous points.

After performing the seven operations, the figure becomes a discontinuous point and the number of cylinders of the figure element changes, which can be detected as a defect.

JIIs diagrams are created by performing a thickening operation on the figure to be inspected in advance so that the distance between each figure element is perfect, as described in Sections 2, 4, 6, and 8 of Section IIi of the S patent claim. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a method of inspecting whether or not the two are separated.

In the same figure, (a) shows the situation when the graphic element is a good product, (b) shows the situation when there is an incomplete separation point 11 between the graphic elements, and (C) a
In the same figure, (a) shows the shape obtained by thickening K by a predetermined amount, and (d) shows an incomplete figure obtained by performing the same operation on Fi in (b). This figure shows how the separated parts become continuous parts, the number of pattern parts in the graphic element decreases, and the number of blank parts increases.

In this way, if the 1% thickening operation is performed by a predetermined amount in order to determine whether the graphic elements are completely separated from each other, the incompletely separated parts will be changed to the shape after the above operation. ◇ In Figure 6, as stated in claim 5, the figure to be inspected is scanned by a plurality of line segments pointing in arbitrary directions, and the defect is detected as a continuous defect on each line segment. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a method of comparing and inspecting the number of graphic elements to be compared with a predetermined value determined from a standard graphic.

In the same figure, %15 indicates the line segment to be scanned, and each
(1) shows the situation when the graphic element on the line segment is a good item,
(b) is an unspecified continuous location 1 in the graphic element on the line segment.
6 exists, the number of pattern parts in the graphic element decreases,
The number of blank spaces also decreases, and (C) shows that an unspecified discontinuous point 17 exists in the graphic element on the line segment, and the number of pattern parts in the graphic element increases, resulting in a decrease in the margin. The number of parts also increases.

In this way, it is divided into the multiple areas mentioned above.

If we survey the figure l existing in each region (instead of finding the number of LIA) and find the number of figure elements existing on each line segment, then ,
It is possible to find unspecified continuous locations or discontinuous locations.

Furthermore, as described in Claims 6 and 18, 1, by performing a thickening or thinning operation on the figure to be inspected in advance, and then scanning with a plurality of line segments as described above, It is possible to inspect incompletely continuous locations of graphical elements or incompletely separated locations between graphical elements.

11 shows how to extract it as graphic data using
Figure 2 shows how the extracted graphic data is divided into a plurality of regions, and Figure 3 shows whether or not there is unspecified continuity or discontinuity in the graphic elements within the nine divided regions. This figure is for explaining the determination method. (c) shows a case where an unspecified continuous part exists in the graphic element, and FIG. This is a diagram for explaining the method of testing, and in the diagram, (a) t';
j, if the graphic element is a good item, all are shown, (b) is a case where there is an incompletely continuous part in the graphic element, (C
) U The same figure (a) shows the figure obtained as a result of performing a narrowing operation on K, and (d) shows the figure obtained as a result of performing a narrowing operation on K in the same figure (b). Figure 5 is a rounded diagram that briefly explains the method of performing a thicker operation on the figure to be inspected in advance to check whether there is an incompletely separated part. In the figures, (a) shows the case where the graphic element is in good condition, (2) shows the case where there is an incompletely separated part in the graphic element, and (C) shows the case where the graphic element is defective, and (C) shows the case where the graphic element is in good condition. 6(d) shows the figure obtained as a result of thickening operation on 9 in the same figure (b), and as a result of 9 performing thickening operation on 9, incompletely separated parts become continuous parts. FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a method of scanning a figure to be inspected using a plurality of line segments and performing a comparative inspection of the number of figure elements that fall on each line segment.

In the figure, l is the figure to be inspected, 2 is the figure element included in the figure to be inspected, %3 is the butterfly, divided into 9 areas, 4 is the figure element included in the divided area, and 5 is an unspecified discontinuous point. , 6 is an unspecified continuous location, 7 is an incomplete continuous location, 8
10 is a divided region to which a thinning operation is performed, a graphical element subjected to a 9-line thinning operation, 10 is a discontinuous point resulting from the thinning operation, 11 is an incomplete separation point, and 12 is a thickening operation 13 is a graphical element subjected to the Fi thickening operation, 14 is a continuous location resulting from the line thickening operation, 15 is a line segment that scans the figure to be inspected, 16 is an unspecified continuous location, 17 is a Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 C (X) (C) Figure 4 (α) (b) Figure 4 (C) (d) Figure 5 (α) (t)) 5 Figure (C) Cd)

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a figure inspection method that performs a comparative inspection between a figure to be inspected and a standard figure, the figure to be inspected is divided into a plurality of arbitrary areas, and each divided area is divided into n areas. Compare the number of figures and shape elements that exist independently within the area with a predetermined value determined from the standard figure, and determine whether there is any unspecified continuity or discontinuity in the figure elements within the area. A figure inspection method characterized by determining whether or not it exists. (2) When carrying out all the comparative inspections between the figure to be inspected and the standard figure, the figure to be inspected is thinned or thickened in advance, and then the comparison inspection is carried out, so that the figure elements are busy, incomplete, continuous, etc. 2. The graphic inspection method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of determining whether or not sluggish incomplete separation exists. (3) When performing a comparative inspection between the figure to be inspected and the standard figure, the figure to be inspected is first separated into color elements using a filter or a color camera, and then the comparative inspection is carried out. A pattern inspection method according to claim 1. (4) In step 9, in which the figure to be inspected is compared with the standard figure, the figure to be inspected is first separated into color elements using a t-filter or a camera, and then further narrowed or thickened. 2. The graphical inspection method according to claim 1, further comprising: performing a comparative inspection after the comparison, and determining whether incomplete continuity or incomplete separation exists in the graphical elements. (5) When performing a comparative inspection between the figure to be inspected and the standard figure, the figure to be inspected is scanned in all arbitrary directions using the same (multiple line partial pressures), and independently on each scanning line. 2. The graphic inspection method according to claim 1, wherein the number of existing graphic elements is calculated and compared with a predetermined value determined from a standard graphic to obtain ft% mold. (6) When performing a comparative inspection between the figure to be inspected and the standard figure, the figure to be inspected is thinned or thickened in advance and then exists on multiple line segments pointing in arbitrary directions. 2. A graphic inspection method according to claim 1, characterized in that by comparing and inspecting the number of graphic elements, it is determined whether or not incomplete continuity or incomplete separation exists in K and II elements. (η When performing a comparative inspection between the figure to be inspected and the standard figure, the figure to be inspected is separated into color elements using a filter or a cuckoo camera, etc., and then multiple line segments pointing in arbitrary directions are The figure inspection method according to claim #I1, characterized in that the number of figure elements existing on the figure is comparatively inspected. (8) When performing a comparative inspection between the figure to be inspected and the standard figure, The figure to be inspected is separated into color elements using a filter or a color camera, etc., and then thinned or thickened. After that, the number of figure elements existing on multiple line segments pointing in arbitrary directions is compared and inspected. A graphical inspection method O according to claim 1, wherein t4111 determines whether incomplete continuity or incomplete separation exists in the graphical element.