Modulated Wafer Inspection Sensitivity Tuning

The patent combines multiple separate defect scans into a single unified scan by merging the care area regions of multiple dies. Instead of performing separate scans for each die modulation, the system identifies overlapping care areas and performs one consolidated scan that captures all relevant regions, thereby maintaining measurement precision while dramatically improving productivity by eliminating redundant scanning operations.

The patent creates a universal inspection approach that handles multiple die modulations simultaneously through a single scan configuration. The care area region definition and defect detection methodology is made multi-functional, allowing one scan to serve multiple dies with different modulations, thus resolving the contradiction between precise individual die inspection and overall inspection efficiency.

The patent performs sensitivity estimation and care area identification in advance during the first pass scan, before the actual defect inspection. By pre-determining the care area regions and sensitivity parameters from initial scan data, the system eliminates the need for time-consuming preliminary scans of every modulated die during subsequent inspections, thus reducing time loss while maintaining precision through pre-calculated sensitivity values.

The system uses the scan data itself to automatically determine care areas and sensitivity parameters without requiring external preliminary testing. The first pass scan results are self-sufficient for generating the care area definitions and sensitivity estimates needed for optimized inspection, eliminating redundant preliminary operations and reducing overall inspection time while maintaining measurement precision.

The patent merges multiple process window characterization scans into a single comprehensive scan by combining care area regions across different process conditions. Instead of performing separate characterization iterations for each process parameter variation, the system consolidates the inspection into one scan that evaluates all process window conditions simultaneously, maintaining manufacturing precision while dramatically improving characterization throughput and reducing resource consumption.

The patent transitions from iterative sequential scanning to a parallel multi-dimensional approach by defining care area regions that span multiple process conditions in a single scan. This dimensional change allows the system to characterize the entire process window in one pass rather than through multiple sequential iterations, resolving the contradiction between accurate process window determination and characterization efficiency.