Patent ID: 9542740
Date: 2017-01-10
CPC Classifications: G06T

Claim:
1. A method of detecting a defect in an actual pattern relative to a target pattern used to form the actual pattern, the method comprising: acquiring a target layout image associated with the target pattern, the target pattern being a computer simulated pattern utilized to form the actual pattern onto a substrate; acquiring a pattern image associated with the actual pattern formed on the substrate; extracting an edge image from the pattern image; producing a first vector form based on the target layout image by forming first vectors originating from a first pixel in the target layout image and terminating at a second pixel in the target layout image adjacent to the first pixel, and vectorizing the first vectors using vector addition; producing a second vector form based on the edge image by forming second vectors originating from pixels in the edge image corresponding to the first pixel and terminating at pixels in the edge image corresponding to the second pixel, and vectorizing the second vectors using vector addition; and comparing the first vector form with the second vector form to detect the defect in the actual pattern relative to the target pattern.