Efficient killer-defect control using reliable high-throughput SEM-ADC

An efficient killer-defect control method using a reliable high throughput scanning electron microscope and automatic defect classification (ADC) is described. The concept of ADC system-class is used to facilitate recipe set-up (defect imageless tuning). Experiments demonstrated that the performance of this method exceeds that specified by the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors. This method is applicable to both application-specific IC and system-on-chip production lines.