公开(公告)号：US07074628B2

公开(公告)日：2006-07-11

申请号：US10947069

申请日：2004-09-22

申请人： Bradley J. Albers ,  Thomas Craig Esry ,  Daniel Charles Kerr ,  Edward Paul Martin, Jr. ,  Oliver Desmond Patterson

发明人： Bradley J. Albers ,  Thomas Craig Esry ,  Daniel Charles Kerr ,  Edward Paul Martin, Jr. ,  Oliver Desmond Patterson

IPC分类号： H01L31/26 ,  H01L21/66

CPC分类号： H01L22/34 ,  G01R31/2648 ,  G01R31/2884 ,  G01R31/307

摘要： A method and apparatus for identifying crystal defects in emitter-base junctions of NPN bipolar transistors uses a test structure having an NP junction that can be inspected using passive voltage contrast. The test structure eliminates the collector of the transistor and simulates only the emitter and base. Eliminating the collector removes an NP junction between collector and substrate of a wafer allowing charge to flow from the substrate to emitter if the emitter-base junction is defective since only one NP junction exists in the test structure. In one embodiment, the test structures are located between dies on a wafer and may be formed in groups of several thousand.

公开(公告)号：US07547560B2

公开(公告)日：2009-06-16

申请号：US11519614

申请日：2006-09-12

申请人： Oliver Desmond Patterson ,  David M. Shuttleworth ,  Bradley J. Albers ,  Werner Weck ,  Gregory Brown

发明人： Oliver Desmond Patterson ,  David M. Shuttleworth ,  Bradley J. Albers ,  Werner Weck ,  Gregory Brown

IPC分类号： H01L21/00

CPC分类号： H01L22/20 ,  G01R31/2894 ,  H01L21/76892

摘要： A method for improving semiconductor yield by in-line repair of defects during manufacturing comprises inspecting dies on a wafer after a selected layer is formed on the dies, identifying defects in each of the dies, classifying the identified defects as killer or non-critical, for each killer defect determining an action to correct the defect, repairing the defect and returning the wafer to a next process step. Also disclosed is a method for determining an efficient repair process by dividing the die into a grid and using analysis of the grid to find a least invasive repair.

摘要翻译： 通过在制造过程中对缺陷的在线修复来提高半导体产量的方法包括：在模具上形成所选择的层之后检查晶片上的管芯，识别每个管芯中的缺陷，将所识别的缺陷分类为杀伤或非关键的， 对于每个杀手缺陷，确定纠正缺陷的动作，修复缺陷并将晶片返回到下一个处理步骤。 还公开了一种通过将模具分成网格并利用网格分析来找到最小侵入性修复来确定有效修复过程的方法。

公开(公告)号：US06906538B2

公开(公告)日：2005-06-14

申请号：US10675581

申请日：2003-09-30

申请人： Oliver Desmond Patterson ,  Michael Scott Twiford

发明人： Oliver Desmond Patterson ,  Michael Scott Twiford

IPC分类号： G01Q30/20 ,  G01Q60/40 ,  G01R31/307 ,  G01R31/305 ,  G01N23/00

CPC分类号： G01R31/307

摘要： Voltage contrast-based apparatuses, methods and systems for detection of continuity are described for use in evaluation of conducting components of a microcircuit such as a silicon wafer-based semiconductor chip. Two beams are directed to two separate conducting, electrically floating components on the sample, and are timed and delivered to be alternating pulses. One lower energy beam elicits its target to emit secondary electrons that are detected by an electron detector to produce an image. A second high-energy beam creates a virtual ground at its target. Voltage contrast images indicate whether there is continuity between the two conducting components.

摘要翻译： 描述用于检测连续性的基于电压对比度的装置，用于检测连续性的方法和系统用于评估诸如硅晶片的半导体芯片之类的微电路的导电部件。 两个光束被引导到样品上的两个分离的导电的，电浮动的部件，并被定时和传送成交替的脉冲。 一个较低的能量束引发其目标以发射由电子检测器检测以产生图像的二次电子。 第二个高能束在其目标上创建虚拟地面。 电压对比图像指示两个导电组件之间是否存在连续性。