KLA Corporation
ENABLING SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE IMAGING WHILE PREVENTING SAMPLE DAMAGE ON SENSITIVE LAYERS USED IN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING PROCESSES

Abstract:

During electron beam imaging of a semiconductor wafer, the electron beam is adjusted to a first electron dose/nm.sup.2/time value below a damage threshold for an image frame grab of a site on the semiconductor wafer. Then the electron beam is adjusted to a second electron dose/nm.sup.2/time value different from the first electron dose/nm.sup.2/time value for a second image frame grab of the site. The second electron dose/nm.sup.2/time value can be above the damage threshold.