Semiconductor processing method and apparatus

Abstract

A semiconductor process imaging and inspection method, apparatus and system for performing optical inspection of semiconductor wafers to detect physical features, e.g. defects or other semiconductor process results. In some suitable embodiments, imaging and optical inspection as disclosed herein simultaneously rotates at a constant rotational speed a wafer stage including a wafer attached thereto, and radially images the wafer along a scan line that extends across the radius of the wafer. A wafer edge shift detector method, apparatus and / or system is integrated with the image capture process to laterally adjust the position of the wafer stage, and wafer attached thereto, to compensate for any wafer shift detected and realign the wafer center line relative to a camera / camera’s field of view (FOV), thereby providing a complete radial line scan of the rotating wafer.

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