A semiconductor apparatus includes a transfer chamber, an annealing station, a robot arm, an edge detector and a trigger device. The transfer chamber is configured to interface with an electroplating apparatus. The robot arm is arranged to transfer a wafer from the transfer chamber to the annealing station. The edge detector, disposed over a predetermined location between the transfer chamber and the annealing station, comprises a first charge-coupled device (CCD) sensor and a second CCD sensor. When the robot arm is carrying the wafer to pass through the predetermined location, the first CCD sensor and the second CCD sensor are located over a first portion and a second portion of the edge bevel removal area respectively, and the trigger device is configured to activate the first CCD sensor and the second CCD sensor to capture an image of the first portion and an image of the second portion respectively.

A method for indicating a probing target for a fabricated electronic circuit including: generating an electronic, three-dimensional model based on manufacturing layout information of a fabricated circuit; obtaining, with a vision system, visual environment information for the fabricated circuit; scaling and orienting the three-dimensional model by a scaler and mapper based on the visual environment information; overlaying the three-dimensional model with the visual environment information to produce a correlated image; obtaining an identification of a desired network node of the fabricated circuit; and indicating a probing target, the probing target corresponding to the desired network node of the fabricated circuit.

A semiconductor inspection tool system is disclosed. The system comprises a first illumination setup for generating at least one first illumination radiation and for directing the at least one first illumination radiation to at least one bonding region non-filled volume formed between two layers of a multi-layer stack. The system also comprises a second illumination setup being for generating at least one second illumination radiation and for directing the at least one second illumination radiation at multi-layer stack edges. The second illumination radiation is configured for illuminating at least a normal edge of at least two layers, the second illumination setup has different radiation parameters than the first illumination setup. The system further includes a bonding region sensor unit for collecting reflected electromagnetic radiation from a bonding region volume and generating at least one sensing data being indicative of the bonding region.

The present disclosure provides a method and a system for automatically detecting and controlling defects on a wafer. The method includes the following steps: providing at least one stacked wafer; constructing a defect distribution map based on a defect information on each of the at least one wafer, wherein, the defect information includes the number of defects, types of the defects, and locations of the defects; partitioning at least one predetermined region in the defect distribution map; determining the number of predetermined defects in each of the at least one predetermined region based on the locations of the defects; comparing the number of the predetermined defects in the each of the at least one predetermined region with a set threshold, and determining detection results based on comparison results.

An apparatus for inspecting plate-like bodies to inspect a side surface of a plate-like body with sheeted coating materials on a top side and bottom side of the plate-like body, is provided. The apparatus includes at least one light emitting unit configured to irradiate the side surface of the plate-like body with light. The apparatus includes at least one light receiving unit configured to receive light reflected with respect to the side surface of the plate-like body. The apparatus includes a conveying unit configured to move at least one among the light emitting unit and the plate-like body and to vary a position of the light on the side surface of the plate-like body, emitted by the light emitting unit. The apparatus includes a determining unit configured to determine whether the side surface of the plate-like body has a defect, by using the light emitted by the light emitting unit, upon occurrence of a condition under which the conveying unit varies the position of the light, on the side surface of the plate-like body, emitted by the light emitting unit.

A semiconductor wafer imaging system for imaging a semiconductor wafer includes shroud panels defining a black box, a camera positioned in the black box for imaging the semiconductor wafer, and an illumination panel for directing diffuse light to the semiconductor wafer. A portion of the diffuse light is reflected off the semiconductor wafer and the camera images the semiconductor wafer by detecting the reflected diffuse light.

A semiconductor wafer processing system for processing a semiconductor wafer includes a semiconductor wafer processing station for processing the semiconductor wafer and a semiconductor wafer imaging system that images the semiconductor wafer after the semiconductor wafer processing station processes the semiconductor wafer. The semiconductor wafer imaging system includes shroud panels defining a black box, a camera positioned in the black box for imaging the semiconductor wafer, and an illumination panel for directing diffuse light to the semiconductor wafer. A portion of the diffuse light is reflected off the semiconductor wafer and the camera images the semiconductor wafer by detecting the reflected diffuse light.

A method of detecting defects on a semiconductor wafer includes directing diffuse light to the semiconductor wafer and reflecting the diffuse light off of the semiconductor wafer. The method further includes detecting the diffuse light with a camera to generate an image of the semiconductor wafer and analyzing the image to detect defects on the semiconductor wafer.

A method for inspecting a wafer includes: transferring the wafer from a transfer chamber to an annealing station by a robot arm; and monitoring at least one portion of an edge bevel removal area of the wafer over the robot arm when the wafer is transferred from the transfer chamber to the annealing station. The at least one portion of the edge bevel removal area includes a first portion and a second portion different from the first portion. When the wafer is passing through a predetermined location between the transfer chamber and the annealing station, a first charge-coupled device sensor located over the first portion of the edge bevel removal area is used to capture an image of the first portion, and a second charge-coupled device sensor located over the second portion of the edge bevel removal area is used to capture an image of the second portion.

A substrate inspection method includes: acquiring a feature amount of each of divided areas in an inspection target peripheral edge image, the inspection target peripheral edge image being an image of a peripheral portion of a target substrate as an inspection target, the divided areas being obtained by dividing a predetermined area in the image of the peripheral portion of the target substrate into a plurality of areas; and performing a predetermined determination concerning inspection of the peripheral portion of the target substrate based on an acquisition result in the acquiring the feature amount.