There is provided a method for manufacturing a semiconductor structure, including: preparing a plate-like semiconductor structure; and inspecting the semiconductor structure, the inspection of the semiconductor further including: performing a measurement of irradiating a surface of the semiconductor structure with a light from a light source in an oblique direction to the surface, and detecting a reflected light reflected or scattered by the surface by a two-dimensional detector, at a plurality of locations within at least a predetermined range of the surface of the semiconductor structure, to acquire a reflected light distribution that is a distribution of an integrated value obtained by integrating intensity of the reflected light measured at the plurality of locations, with respect to a position at the detector; and fitting the reflected light distribution by a multiple Gaussian function obtained by adding at least a first Gaussian function and a second Gaussian function distributed more widely than the first Gaussian function, to acquire a parameter of the second Gaussian function as an index corresponding to a surface roughness of the semiconductor structure.

A thickness measuring apparatus that measures a thickness of a workpiece held by a chuck table. The thickness measuring apparatus includes plural image sensors that detect intensity of light spectrally split on each wavelength basis by plural diffraction gratings and generate a spectral interference waveform and a thickness output unit that outputs thickness information from the spectral interference waveform generated by the plural image sensors. The thickness output unit includes a reference waveform recording section in which spectral interference waveforms corresponding to plural thicknesses are recorded as reference waveforms and a thickness deciding section that compares plural spectral interference waveforms generated by the plural image sensors with the reference waveforms recorded in the reference waveform recording section and decides the thickness corresponding to each spectral interference waveform from the reference waveform that corresponds to the spectral interference waveform in the waveform shape.

Provided is an X-ray analysis system with which it is possible to set appropriate conditions for vapor phase decomposition with ease. The X-ray analysis system includes an X-ray spectrometer and a vapor phase decomposition apparatus. The X-ray spectrometer includes: an X-ray source configured to irradiate a measurement sample having a thin film present on its surface with primary X-rays; a detector configured to measure an intensity of reflected X-rays, or an intensity of fluorescent X-rays; and a calculation unit configured to calculate a film thickness or a coating mass of the thin film based on the intensity of the reflected X-rays or the fluorescent X-rays. The vapor phase decomposition apparatus includes: a vapor phase decomposition portion configured to perform vapor phase decomposition on the thin film; and a control portion configured to determine a vapor phase decomposition time based on the film thickness or the coating mass.

A substrate inspection system is provided to monitor characteristics of a substrate, while the substrate is disposed within (or being transferred into/out of) a processing unit of a liquid dispense substrate processing system. The inspection system is integrated within a liquid dispense substrate processing system and includes one or more optical sensors of a reflectometer (such as a spectrometer or laser-based transceiver) configured to obtain spectral data from a substrate. A controller is coupled to receive the spectral data from the optical sensors(s). The one or more optical sensors (or one or more optical fibers coupled to the rest of the optical sensor hardware) are coupled at locations within the substrate processing system. The controller analyzes the spectral data received from the optical sensors(s) to detect characteristic(s) of the substrate including, but not limited to, film thickness (FT), refractive index changes, and associated critical dimension (CD) changes.

An apparatus and method for die defect detection are disclosed. The apparatus includes: a light source unit (10) for emitting light of at least two wavelengths; a beam splitter (40) for receiving the light emitted by the light source unit (10) and splitting it into a first portion and a second portion, the first portion of the light reflected by a die (60) surface under inspection and thereby forming a detection beam; a reference unit (70) for receiving the second portion of the light and processing it into a reference beam; and a detection unit (90) for receiving the detection beam and the reference beam. The reference beam crosses the detection beam at an angle and thus produces interference fringes on a sensing surface of the detection unit (90), based on which a defect parameter of the die (60) surface under inspection is determined. This apparatus is capable of measuring a die with improved accuracy and efficiency and is suitable for the measurement of large dies.

Embodiments described herein provide apparatus, software applications, and methods of a coating process, such as an Electron Beam Physical Vapor Deposition (EBPVD) of thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) on objects. The objects may include aerospace components, e.g., turbine vanes and blades, fabricated from nickel and cobalt-based super alloys. The apparatus, software applications, and methods described herein provide at least one of the ability to detect an endpoint of the coating process, i.e., determine when a thickness of a coating satisfies a target value, and the ability for closed-loop control of process parameters.

Embodiments described herein provide apparatus, software applications, and methods of a coating process, such as an Electron Beam Physical Vapor Deposition (EBPVD) of thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) on objects. The objects may include aerospace components, e.g., turbine vanes and blades, fabricated from nickel and cobalt-based super alloys. The apparatus, software applications, and methods described herein provide at least one of the ability to detect an endpoint of the coating process, i.e., determine when a thickness of a coating satisfies a target value, and the ability for closed-loop control of process parameters.

An inspection system is disclosed. In one embodiment, the inspection system includes an interferometer sub-system configured to acquire an interferogram of a sample. The inspection system may further include a controller communicatively coupled to the interferometer sub-system. The controller is configured to: receive the interferogram from the interferometer sub-system; generate a phase map of the sample based on the received interferogram, wherein the phase map includes a plurality of pixels; select a sub-set of pixels of the plurality of pixels of the phase map to be used for phase unwrapping procedures; perform one or more phase unwrapping procedures on the sub-set of pixels of the phase map to generate an unwrapped phase map; and generate a surface height map of the sample based on the unwrapped phase map.

Provided is an X-ray analysis system with which it is possible to set appropriate conditions for vapor phase decomposition with ease. The X-ray analysis system includes an X-ray spectrometer and a vapor phase decomposition apparatus. The X-ray spectrometer includes: an X-ray source configured to irradiate a measurement sample having a thin film present on its surface with primary X-rays; a detector configured to measure an intensity of reflected X-rays, or an intensity of fluorescent X-rays; and a calculation unit configured to calculate a film thickness or a coating mass of the thin film based on the intensity of the reflected X-rays or the fluorescent X-rays. The vapor phase decomposition apparatus includes: a vapor phase decomposition portion configured to perform vapor phase decomposition on the thin film; and a control portion configured to determine a vapor phase decomposition time based on the film thickness or the coating mass.

A method of grinding a workpiece is carried out by a grinding apparatus including a spindle for rotating a grinding wheel, a servomotor for moving the spindle, and a servo driver for sending signals to the servomotor. The method includes a depth-of-cut command issuing step of issuing a command representing a projected depth of cut to the servo driver and a grinding step of grinding the workpiece. In the grinding step, the servo driver finishes movement of the spindle when the spindle has moved by a target distance corresponding to the projected depth of cut.