A method for automatically classifying one or more defects based on electrical design properties includes receiving one or more images of a selected region of a sample, receiving one or more sets of design data associated with the selected region of the sample, locating one or more defects in the one or more images of the selected region of the sample by comparing the one or more images of the selected region of the sample to the one or more sets of design data, retrieving one or more patterns of interest from the one or more sets of design data corresponding to the one or more defects, and classifying the one or more defects in the one or more images of the selected region of the sample based on one or more annotated electrical design properties included in the one or more patterns of interest.

A set of test key layout including multiple test keys and method of monitoring layout pattern misalignments using the test keys is provided. Each test key is composed of a testing electrode, an operating voltage (V.sub.dd) line and a grounding voltage (V.sub.ss) line, wherein the patterns of test keys are defined by an overlapped portion of a first exposure pattern and a second exposure pattern, and the position of testing electrode is shifted sequentially in one direction in order of the test keys.

Apparatuses, systems, and methods for providing beams for classifying and identifying failure mechanisms associated with a sample of charged particle beam systems. In some embodiments, a method may include analyzing a first plurality of voltage contrast images of a sample to identify a plurality of defects; and analyzing a pattern of a subset of the plurality of defects to determine a failure mechanism for the subset of the plurality of defects.

Optically determining whether metallic features in different layers in a structure are in electrical contact with each other. When the metallic features include different metals and/or have different dimensions, which cause one or more resonances in reflected radiation to be detected, the metallic features in the different layers are determined to be in contact or out of contact with each other based on the spectral positions of the one or more resonances. When the metallic features are formed from the same metal and have the same dimensions, the metallic features in the different layers are determined to be in contact with each other responsive to detection of a single resonance associated with the metallic features and out of contact with each other responsive to detection of two or more resonances associated with the metallic features.

There is provided a method and a system configured to obtain metrology data D.sub.metrology informative of a plurality of structural parameters of a semiconductor specimen, obtain a model informative of a relationship between at least some of said structural parameters and one or more electrical properties of the specimen, use the model and D.sub.metrology to determine, for at least one given electrical property of the specimen, one or more given structural parameters among the plurality of structural parameters, which affect the given electrical property according to an impact criterion, and generate a recipe for an examination tool, wherein the recipe enables a ratio between a first acquisition rate of data informative of the one or more given structural parameters, and a second acquisition rate of data informative of other structural parameters of the plurality of structural parameters, to meet a criterion.

An information processing apparatus includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire information including a processing result of processing a substrate by a substrate processing apparatus configured to perform substrate processing at a first timing, event information about an event having occurred in the substrate processing apparatus at a second timing after the first timing, and a processing result of processing the substrate by the substrate processing apparatus at a third timing after the second timing, and a display control unit configured to perform control so that a display device displays a chronological graph of a processing result including the processing result at the first timing and the processing result at the third timing based on the information acquired by the acquisition unit, wherein the display control unit performs control to display information in a superimposed manner on the graph, the information indicating the second timing.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium stores a set of instructions for performing operations to design a mark for assessing a lithographic process. The operations include determining an overlay step that represents a difference between different overlay distances of the different overlay configurations for a design of the mark. The mark includes a first layer mark with first layer components and a second layer mark with second layer components. The first layer mark and the second layer mark are to be projected onto each other via the lithographic process. Each overlay configuration has different overlay distance at which each first layer component is arranged in a first direction of an associated second layer component of the second layer components. The operations include determining a largest overlay distance. The operations also include determining a number of first layer components and/or a number of associated second layer components in each overlay configuration.

A method for manufacturing a batch of silicon balance springs from SOI (Silicon On Insulator) plates, designed to keep the value of the resilient torque of the balance springs within a given range. This method includes, in order, the following steps: aPhotolithography and deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) of at least one SOI plate, on which there is at least one balance spring structure and a measurement structure, bMeasuring a parameter of the measurement structure, the value of the measurement parameter being correlated to the value of the resilient torque of the balance spring in a manner known per se, cPrecision adjusting the photolithography and DRIE parameters based on the value of said measurement parameter dIterating steps a, b and c so as to continuously control the dissipation of the resilient torque of the balance springs.

A semiconductor structure includes vertical conductive features disposed over a substrate, and horizontal conductive features disposed over the vertical conductive features. The horizontal conductive features include first and second conductive lines respectively electrically connected to the first and second vertical conductive features, a first conductive segment disposed between the first vertical conductive feature and the second conductive line, and a second conductive segment disposed between the first conductive line and the second vertical conductive feature. The first conductive segment is electrically isolated from the vertical conductive features. The second conductive segment is electrically isolated from the vertical conductive features.