Patent ID: 6258610
Filing Date: 2001-07-10
Classification: H01L

Abstract:
A method for analyzing a semiconductor surface having patterned features on the surface comprising the steps of:scanning at least one patterned feature to produce a scanned waveform signal having signal segments corresponding to characteristic surface portions of the patterned feature;processing the signal segments of the scanned waveform signal using an auto-correlation function to produce an auto-correlation signal for each characteristic surface portion of the patterned feature;providing a reference signal having signal segments corresponding to characteristic surface portions of a known patterned feature; andcomparing each segment of the auto-correlation signal to the respective signal segments of the reference signal by cross-correlating at least one segment of the reference signal and the processed signal to form a cross-correlation signal and converting the cross-correlation signal to an inverse correlation signal to produce an assessment value for a segment corresponding to characteristic portions of the patterned feature.