Patent SG-11201906281R-A (SG)
Title: Activation of wafer particle defects for spectroscopic composition analysis
Inventor: HALLER KURT
IPC: H01L21/66
Filed: 2018-01-26
Abstract: WO 18/140805 Al FIG. 1 WAFER POSITIONING SYSTEM 125 (12) INTERNATIONAL APPLICATION PUBLISHED UNDER THE PATENT COOPERATION TREATY (PCT) (19) World Intellectual Property Organization International Bureau (43) International Publication Date 02 August 2018 (02.08.2018) WIP0 I PCT olimion °nolo olomon mollm Imiou oimIE (10) International Publication Number WO 2018/140805 Al (51) International Patent Classification: HO1L 21/66 (2006.01) (21) International Application Number: PCT/US2018/015570 (22) International Filing Date: 26 January 2018 (26.01.2018) (25) Filing Language: English (26) Publication Language: English (30) Priority Data: 15/419,355 30 January 2017 (30.01.2017) US (71) Applicant: KLA-TENCOR CORPORATION [US/US]; Legal Department, One Technology Drive, Milpitas, Cali- fornia 95035 (US). (72) Inventor: HALLER, Kurt; 890 Sylvaner Drive, Pleasan- ton, California 94566 (US). (74) Agent: MCANDREWS, Kevin et al.; KLA-TENCOR CORPORATION, Legal Department, One Technology Dri- ve, Milpitas, California 95035 (US). (81) Designated States (unless otherwise indicated, for every kind of national protection available): AE, AG, AL, AM, AO, AT, AU, AZ, BA, BB, BG, BH, BN, BR, BW, BY, BZ, CA, CH, CL, CN, CO, CR, CU, CZ, DE, DJ, DK, DM, DO, DZ, EC, EE, EG, ES, FI, GB, GD, GE, GH, GM, GT, HN, HR, HU, ID, IL, IN, IR, IS, JO, JP, KE, KG, KH, KN, KP, KR, KW, KZ, LA, LC, LK, LR, LS, LU, LY, MA, MD, ME, MG, MK, MN, MW, MX, MY, MZ, NA, NG, NI, NO, NZ, OM, PA, PE, PG, PH, PL, PT, QA, RO, RS, RU, RW, SA, SC, SD, SE, SG, SK, SL, SM, ST, SV, SY, TH, TJ, TM, TN, TR, TT, TZ, UA, UG, US, UZ, VC, VN, ZA, ZM, ZW. (84) Designated States (unless otherwise indicated, for every kind of regional protection available): ARIPO (BW, GH, GM, KE, LR, LS, MW, MZ, NA, RW, SD, SL, ST, SZ, TZ, UG, ZM, ZW), Eurasian (AM, AZ, BY, KG, KZ, RU, TJ, TM), European (AL, AT, BE, BG, CH, CY, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HR, HU, IE, IS, IT, LT, LU, LV, MC, MK, MT, NL, NO, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SI, SK, SM, TR), OAPI (BF, BJ, CF, CG, CI, CM, GA, GN, GQ, GW, KM, ML, MR, NE, SN, TD, TG). Published: with international search report (Art. 21(3)) (54) Title: ACTIVATION OF WAFER PARTICLE DEFECTS FOR SPECTROSCOPIC COMPOSITION ANALYSIS (57) : Methods and systems for detecting a particle defect on a wafer surface, transforming the particle to a spectroscopically active state, and iden- tifying a material composition of the activated particle by a spectroscopic tech- nique are described herein. Particle defects are transformed by chemical treat- ment, thermal treatment, photochemical treatment, or a combination thereof, such that an activated particle exhibits atomic vibrational bands that can be observed spectroscopically. In one embodiment, a surface inspection system detects the presence of a particle defect on a wafer surface, activates observ- able Raman bands in one or more of the detected particles, and identifies the material composition of the activated particle by a spectroscopic technique. By performing both defect detection and composition analysis on the same inspection tool, it is not necessary to transfer a wafer to a different review tool, or combination of tools, to perform composition analysis of particle defects deposited on semiconductor wafers.