E-beam tool-to-tool matching methodology: DI: Defect inspection and reduction

E-beam inspection has become more critical to rapid yield learning in semiconductor manufacturing, especially for 20nm-and-below nodes where defect dimensions shrink to levels below traditional bright field (BF) or dark field (DF) inspection capabilities. With increasing inspection capacity needs for high-volume manufacturing, multiple e-Beam tool sets are required for in-line monitoring. It is necessary to have tool-to-tool matching before guaranteeing equivalent capability across the fleet and thereby avoiding results variations from different tools. To date, e-beam tool matching has not yet been achieved due to the complexity of controlling charging and brightness/contrast variations. This paper reports a successful e-beam inspection tool matching methodology that has been implemented for the first time successfully in an advanced, high volume wafer fab manufacturing environment. A practical standard method and quantization procedure will be presented.