Scanning electron microscope with measurement function

Abstract

A scanning electron microscope which efficiently makes measurements for plural measurement items at a time and allows easy entry, confirmation and revision of auto measurement parameters. Parameters for creation of a line profile from an image captured by the scanning electron microscope are entered as auto measurement parameters (AMP) to be used as common conditions for all measurement items. Also, plural combinations of edge detection methods and measurement calculation methods are entered as auto measurement parameters to make measurements for plural items.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates to a scanning electron microscope with a measurement function and a measurement method which uses it. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] The following patent documents (gazettes) describe conventional techniques in this field: [0003] Patent Document 1: JP-A No. 347246 / 1994 [0004] Patent Document 2: JP-A No. 22794 / 1996 [0005] Patent Document 3: JP-A No. 237231 / 1999 [0006] Patent Document 4: JP-A No. 213427 / 1998 [0007] Patent Document 5: JP-A No. 201919 / 1999 [0008] A scanning electron microscope with a measurement function (hereinafter called a measurement SEM) has been used for control of semiconductor sample dimensions or other similar purposes. There are two dimensional measurement modes: a manual measurement mode and an auto measurement mode. In the manual measurement mode, an operator visually makes a measurement using a measurement cursor. In the auto measurement mode, a measurement SEM captures an image of a pattern to...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0015] An object of the present invention is to provide a scanning electron microscope which efficiently and easily makes measurements for plural measurement items and a measurement method which use it.

[0016] Another object of the present invention is to make it easy to store, check, and revise auto measurement parameters to make measurements for plural measurement items.

[0017] According to one aspect of the present invention, parameters for creation of a line profile from an SEM image are specified for common use for plural measurement items and entered as auto measurement parameters (AMP entry). Here, “AMP entry” means that parameters are specified in an AMP window and saved in a storage. Also, plural edge detection methods and measurement calculation methods can be entered in the AMP window so that measurements for plural items can be made easily.

Problems solved by technology

Therefore, in semi-auto measurement, if several types of measurements are to be made, it is necessary to specify a set of AMP for each measurement type, which is very troublesome.

In full-auto measurement, if several types of measurements are to be made, required AMP data is stored in a recipe file and thus operation is easy, but it is troublesome to revise and check the stored AMP data.

A resulting measurement value is displayed in a window of the SEM upon execution of measurement; when several types of measurements are made, it is not easy to check numerical measurement values so the operator has to wait for completion of the whole measurement process until a list of measurement results appears.

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