Patent ID: 9508611
Filing Date: 2016-11-29
CPC Classification: G01R,H01L

Claim Text:
1. A semiconductor inspection method, which inspects a semiconductor wafer by using a semiconductor inspection device that inspects the semiconductor wafer by carrying out an image processing by detecting secondary electrons generated by irradiating the semiconductor wafer with a charged particle beam, the semiconductor wafer being a single crystal wafer or a wafer with an epitaxial layer formed thereon, the method comprising: a first step of applying a positive potential or a negative potential determined based on a potential of the semiconductor wafer to a counter electrode provided between the semiconductor wafer and an objective lens; a second step of calculating a secondary electron yield based on the charged particle beam and a current amount of the secondary electrons; a third step of determining an incident energy that makes the secondary electron yield greater than 1, the negative potential that makes the secondary electron yield smaller than 1 and the positive potential that makes the secondary electron yield greater than 1 at the incident energy; a fourth step of selecting the incident energy and the negative potential; a fifth step, which is carried out after the fourth step, of scanning an inspection surface of the semiconductor wafer with the charged particle beam to detect the secondary electrons; and a sixth step of acquiring a first inspection image obtained in the fifth step and discriminating a macro defect, stacking faults, a basal plane dislocation and a threading dislocation contained in the first inspection image based on a threshold value of a signal amount of the secondary electrons determined in advance.