A method of inspecting a wafer quality includes injecting ions into a wafer using an ion beam in an ion implantation process, collecting data about the ion beam by using a Faraday cup, extracting first data from the data about the ion beam, extracting a wafer section from the first data, calculating a feature value of a wafer from the wafer section, and evaluating a quality of the wafer by comparing the feature value with a predetermined threshold or range.

A semiconductor metrology tool for analyzing a sample is disclosed. The semiconductor metrology tool includes a particle generation system, a local electrode, a particle capture device, a position detector, and a processor. The particle generation system is configured to remove a particle from a sample. The local electrode is configured to produce an attractive electric field and to direct the removed particle towards an aperture of the local electrode. The particle capture device is configured to produce a repulsive electric field around a region between the sample and the local electrode and to repel the removed particle towards the aperture. The position detector is configured to determine two-dimensional position coordinates of the removed particle and a flight time of the removed particle. The processor is configured to identify the removed particle based on the flight time.

A multi-beam inspection apparatus including an improved source conversion unit is disclosed. The improved source conversion unit may comprise a micro-structure deflector array including a plurality of multipole structures. The micro-deflector deflector array may comprise a first multipole structure having a first radial shift from a central axis of the array and a second multipole structure having a second radial shift from the central axis of the array. The first radial shift is larger than the second radial shift, and the first multipole structure comprises a greater number of pole electrodes than the second multipole structure to reduce deflection aberrations when the plurality of multipole structures deflects a plurality of charged particle beams.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a pattern inspection apparatus includes a circuit configured to perform, for each direction, filter processing on the image, using a plurality of two-dimensional spatial filter functions with different orientations; a circuit configured to extract a plurality of pixels each having a predetermined value larger than a first threshold, in pixel values each for the each direction of after the filter processing, as a plurality of outline pixel candidates through which an outline of the figure pattern passes; and a circuit configured to extract a plurality of outline pixels from the plurality of outline pixel candidates by excluding outline pixel candidates each of which has a differential value, greater than or equal to a second threshold, obtained by differentiating a pixel value of before the filter processing in a second direction orthogonal to a first direction corresponding to the predetermined value.

A wafer inspection system includes a controller in communication with an electron-beam inspection tool. The controller includes circuitry to: acquire, via an optical imaging tool, coordinates of defects on a sample; set a Field of View (FoV) of the electron-beam inspection tool to a first size to locate a subset of the defects; determine a position of each defect of the subset of the defects based on inspection data generated by the electron-beam inspection tool during a scanning of the sample; adjust the coordinates of the defects based on the determined positions of the subset of the defects; and set the FoV of the electron-beam inspection tool to a second size to locate additional defects based on the adjusted coordinates.

A processing system and a charged particle beam apparatus for the purpose of determining the degree of growth or the presence or absence of a defect in an epitaxial layer grown in a groove or a hole such as between inner spacers from an image of the groove or the hole are proposed. In a processing system including a computer system, the computer system calculates a distance and a brightness value related to a layer between a plurality of structures from a signal profile in accordance with one direction on a two-dimensional plane related to the layer, which is obtained by irradiating the layer with an electron beam, and determines or outputs a state of the layer based on the distance and the brightness value.

Disclosed herein is an inspection tool and a method for identifying defects in a sample. The method includes steps of scanning a first area of a sample with a first detector-beam and scanning a second area of the sample with a second detector-beam, then receiving first and second signals that are derived from the first and second detector-beams. The first and second signals are compared to determine whether a defect is present in the sample.

A charged particle beam apparatus for inspecting a sample is provided. The apparatus includes a pixelized electron detector to receive signal electrons generated in response to an incidence of an emitted charged particle beam onto the sample. The pixelized electron detector includes multiple pixels arranged in a grid pattern. The multiple pixels may be configured to generate multiple detection signals, wherein each detection signal corresponds to the signal electrons received by a corresponding pixel of the pixelized electron detector. The apparatus further includes a controller includes circuitry configured to determine a topographical characteristic of a structure within the sample based on the detection signals generated by the multiple pixels, and identifying a defect within the sample based on the topographical characteristic of the structure of the sample.

A method for scanning a sample by a charged particle beam tool is provided. The method includes providing the sample having a scanning area including a plurality of unit areas, scanning a unit area of the plurality of unit areas, blanking a next unit area of the plurality of unit areas adjacent to the scanned unit area, and performing the scanning and the blanking the plurality of unit areas until all of the unit areas are scanned.

Disclosed herein is an apparatus comprising: a source configured to emit charged particles, an optical system and a stage; wherein the stage is configured to support a sample thereon and configured to move the sample by a first distance in a first direction; wherein the optical system is configured to form probe spots on the sample with the charged particles; wherein the optical system is configured to move the probe spots by the first distance in the first direction and by a second distance in a second direction, simultaneously, while the stage moves the sample by the first distance in the first direction; wherein the optical system is configured to move the probe spots by the first distance less a width of one of the probe spots in an opposite direction of the first direction, after the stage moves the sample by the first distance in the first direction.