Invention Grant
- Patent Title: Automated wafer inspection
- Patent Title (中): 自动晶圆检查
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Application No.: US14039639Application Date: 2013-09-27
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Publication No.: US09575012B2Publication Date: 2017-02-21
- Inventor: Hu-Wei Lin , Hsiao-Yu Chen , Jr-Wei Ye , Hong-Hsing Chou , Chih-Hsien Hsu , Tsung-Cheng Huang , Hua-Kuang Teng , Hsieh Chi-Jen , Chun-Chih Chen
- Applicant: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited
- Applicant Address: TW Hsin-Chu
- Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited
- Current Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited
- Current Assignee Address: TW Hsin-Chu
- Agency: Cooper Legal Group, LLC
- Main IPC: G01N21/95
- IPC: G01N21/95

Abstract:
In semiconductor fabrication processes, one or more wafers are often exposed to processes such as chemical vapor deposition to form semiconductor components thereupon. Often, some of the wafers exhibit flaws due to contamination or processing errors occurring before, during, or after component formation. Inspection of the wafers is often performed by direct visual inspection of humans, which is prone to errors due to flaws that are too small to view directly; to particles naturally arising in the human eye; and to fatigue caused by inspection of large numbers of wafers. Presented herein are inspection techniques involving positioning the wafer in a dark chamber exposing the surface of the wafer to a light source at a first angle, and capturing with a camera an image of the light source reflected from the surface of the wafer at a second angle. Wafers identified as exhibiting flaws are removed from the wafer set.
Public/Granted literature
- US20140267692A1 AUTOMATED WAFER INSPECTION Public/Granted day:2014-09-18
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