A semiconductor analysis system includes a machining device that machines a semiconductor wafer to prepare a thin film sample for observation, a transmission electron microscope device that acquires a transmission electron microscope image of the thin film sample, and a host control device that controls the machining device and the transmission electron microscope device. The host control device evaluates the thin film sample based on the transmission electron microscope image, updates acquisition conditions of the transmission electron microscope image based on an evaluation result of the thin film sample, and outputs the updated acquisition conditions to the transmission electron microscope device

The present invention may include acquiring a plurality of overlay metrology measurement signals from a plurality of metrology targets distributed across one or more fields of a wafer of a lot of wafers, determining a plurality of overlay estimates for each of the plurality of overlay metrology measurement signals using a plurality of overlay algorithms, generating a plurality of overlay estimate distributions, and generating a first plurality of quality metrics utilizing the generated plurality of overlay estimate distributions, wherein each quality metric corresponds with one overlay estimate distribution of the generated plurality of overlay estimate distributions, each quality metric a function of a width of a corresponding generated overlay estimate distribution, each quality metric further being a function of asymmetry present in an overlay metrology measurement signal from an associated metrology target.

A method of performing x-ray spectroscopy material analysis of a region of interest within a cross-section of a sample using an evaluation system that includes a focused ion beam (FIB) column, a scanning electron microscope (SEM) column, and an x-ray detector, including: forming a lamella having first and second opposing side surfaces in the sample by milling, with the FIB column, first and second trenches in the sample to expose the first and second sides surface of the lamella, respectively; depositing background material in the second trench, wherein the background material is selected such that the background material does not include any chemical elements that are expected to be within the region of interest of the sample; generating a charged particle beam with the SEM column and scanning the charged particle beam across a region of interest on the first side surface of the lamella such that the charged particle beam collides with the first side surface of the lamella at a non-vertical angle; and detecting x-rays generated while the region of interest is scanned by the charged particle beam.

A material analysis method is provided. A plurality of wafers processed from a plurality of ingots are measured by a measuring instrument to obtain an average of a bow of each of the wafers processed from the ingots and a plurality of full widths at half maximum (FWHM) of each of the wafers. Key factors respectively corresponding to the ingots are calculated according to the FWHM of the wafers. A regression equation is obtained according to the key factors and the average of the bows.

Roughness measurement corrects a machine difference utilizing first PSD data indicating power spectral density of a line pattern measured for a line pattern formed on a wafer for machine difference management by a reference machine in roughness index calculation and second PSD data indicating power spectral density of a line pattern measured for the line pattern formed on the wafer for machine difference management by a correction target machine are used to obtain a correction method for correcting the power spectral density of the second PSD data to the power spectral density of the first PSD data, power spectral density of a line pattern is measured as third PSD data from a scanning image of the line pattern, and corrected power spectral density obtained by correcting the power spectral density of the third PSD data by the obtained correction method is calculated.

An inspection device includes control unit that acquires pre-charging irradiation amounts for inspection areas on an inspection target. The pre-charging irradiation amounts are based on pattern information for each of the inspection areas. An irradiation unit is provided to control a plurality of first beams to supply the pre-charging irradiation amounts to each of the inspection areas using a corresponding one of the plurality of first beams. After supplying the respective pre-charging irradiation amount to at least one of the inspection areas, irradiation unit controls one of a plurality of second beams to irradiate a pre-charged one of the inspection areas. A generation unit generates images of each of the plurality of inspection areas based on the respective irradiation of the inspection areas with the second beams.

A method for analyzing at least one bounded object in an electron microscope image that includes segmenting the image to provide a segmented image and measuring a dimension relative to the at least one bounded object in the segmented image. The electron microscope image can be an image of a semiconductor device that includes a pattern of bounded objects or structure of the semiconductor device.

An improved charged particle beam inspection apparatus, and more particularly, a particle beam inspection apparatus including an improved alignment mechanism is disclosed. An improved charged particle beam inspection apparatus may include a second electron detection device to generate one or more images of one or more beam spots of the plurality of secondary electron beams during the alignment mode. The beam spot image may be used to determine the alignment characteristics of one or more of the plurality of secondary electron beams and adjust a configuration of a secondary electron projection system.

A method, an apparatus, and a program for more appropriately determining a condition for appropriately recognizing a semiconductor pattern are provided. A method for determining a condition related to a captured image of a charged particle beam apparatus including: acquiring, by a processor, a plurality of captured images, each of the captured images being an image generated by irradiating a pattern formed on a wafer with a charged particle beam, and detecting electrons emitted from the pattern, each of the captured images being an image captured according to one or more imaging conditions, the method further including: acquiring teaching information for each of the captured images; acquiring, by the processor, one or more feature determination conditions; calculating, by the processor, a feature for each of the captured images based on each of the feature determination conditions, at least one of the imaging condition and the feature determination condition being plural.

A method is provided. The method includes the following steps: introducing a first physical vapor deposition (PVD) target and a second PVD target in a PVD system, the first PVD target containing a boron-containing cobalt iron alloy (FeCoB) with an initial boron concentration, and the second PVD target containing boron; determining parameters of the PVD system based on a target boron concentration larger than the initial boron concentration; and depositing a FeCoB film on a substrate according to the parameters of the PVD system.