Detector Array Current Summation for High-Rate Particle Counting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing inspection systems, such as optical microscopes, struggle to achieve high-resolution imaging of sub-100 or sub-10 nanometer IC components, and traditional charged particle beam microscopes face limitations in accurately counting particles at high frame rates, dynamic ranges, and power consumption.
Innovation Solution
A detector system with a plurality of detection elements, current sources, and an ADC that converts combined current to digital values, allowing for analog particle counting at high frame rates with reduced power consumption and increased accuracy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional charged particle beam microscopes are used for particle counting, then imaging resolution is improved, but power consumption increases and counting accuracy at high frame rates deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The detector is divided into multiple independent detection elements (e.g., 1024 pixels arranged in 32x32 grid), each capable of independently detecting particles. This segmentation allows parallel processing of particle counts across multiple elements, achieving high frame rate counting while distributing power consumption across many low-power individual elements rather than requiring high power for a single element.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple detection elements are combined into a single detector array that processes particle counts collectively. The system merges the outputs of multiple detection elements through current summation and analog-to-digital conversion, enabling high-accuracy particle counting across the entire detector area while maintaining manageable power consumption through efficient signal processing architecture.
2Productivity
If detection elements are used for particle counting, then counting speed is improved, but noise increases and measurement accuracy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
A current source acts as an intermediary between the detection element and the readout circuitry. When a particle is detected, the current source generates a standardized current pulse that is summed across all detection elements before digital conversion. This intermediary approach converts discrete detection events into a continuous current signal, reducing quantization noise and improving measurement accuracy at high frame rates.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces traditional digital counting methods with an analog current summation approach. Instead of digitally counting particles in each pixel and then summing the counts, the system uses current sources to convert particle detections into analog current signals that are summed continuously, then converted to digital values. This substitution of digital processing with analog processing reduces noise and improves accuracy.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple detection elements are combined, then dynamic range is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The current sources serve multiple functions: they convert particle detection events into standardized current signals, sum the currents from all detection elements, and provide a linear response across the dynamic range. This multi-functional design achieves wide dynamic range capability while minimizing the addition of separate circuitry, thereby controlling overall device complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system enables high-accuracy, high-speed particle counting with a scalable architecture, reducing noise and accommodating a wide dynamic range, thereby improving inspection systems and alignment techniques.
Implementation Method 1
a detector including a plurality of detection elements configured to generate an electrical signal in response to a particle being incident on a detection element
Implementation Method 2
a plurality of current sources configured to drive a current in response to the electrical signal
Implementation Method 3
an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) configured to convert the combined current to a digital value that is indicative of the electrical signals output by the plurality of detection elements
Data Source
AI summary
Systems, apparatuses, and methods include a detector including a plurality of detection elements configured to generate an electrical signal in response to a particle being incident on a detection element of the plurality of detection elements; a plurality of current sources configured to drive a current in response to the electrical signal, outputs of the plurality of current sources being connected to enable combining current output by the plurality of current sources to create a combined current, the plurality of current sources being connected to respective ones of the plurality of detection elements; and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) configured to convert the combined current to a digital value that is indicative of the electrical signals output by the plurality of detection elements.