Patent ID: 7019292
Filing Date: 2006-03-28
Classification: H01J,H01L

Abstract:
1. A method for robustly detecting a defective high aspect ratio (HAR) feature, the method comprising: charging a surface area of a semiconductor specimen with HAR features thereon; impinging a primary beam onto the surface area; extracting from the surface area scattered electrons that are generated due to the impingement of the primary beam; applying an energy filter to remove the scattered electrons with lower or higher energies; detecting the filtered electrons; generating image data from the detected electrons; and applying an intensity threshold to the image data, wherein the intensity threshold is applied to remove image data with intensity levels above the intensity threshold if said charging induces a positive charge onto the surface area, and wherein the intensity threshold is applied to remove image data with intensity levels below the intensity threshold if said charging induces a negative charge onto the surface area.